[Daim masih membuat penganalis terteka-teka masa-depannya. Beliau bercuti sehingga hujung bulan ini tetapi tidak pula pasti akan hadir dalam perhimpunan agung Umno pada 20hb Jun nanti. Daim tidak hadir pada mesyuarat MT pada hari Isnin baru-baru ini dan beberapa mesyuarat lain lagi. Yang menariknya Umno banyak bermesyuarat mengenai disiplin dan politik wang sejak akhir-akhir ini. Rencana AFP menyebut lapuran siasatan terhadap Khalil Yacob sedang disiapkan padahal Tengku Rithaudeen sudah pun membuat keputusan dari awal lagi. Mengapa ia tidak diumumkan masih menjadi misteri.

Selain politik wang, banyak isu berbau kaum berhembus dari mulut Mahathir dan menteri yang baru ditambahnya sekarang ini. Mahathir seperti sengaja mengacau riak selepas GPMS melenyap kerana kaum Cina menjadi penentu undi sebagaimana terbukti di Lunas tempoh hari. Pembukaan pendaftaran pengundi baru oleh SPR di saat krisis kuota kaum nampaknya akan memancing pengundi kaum Cina untuk mengimbangi kekuatan undi kaum Melayu nanti yang banyak menolak BN.

Umno dan Mahathir nampaknya ingin mempamirkan strategi mesra kaum Cina dengan perlantikkan penasihat istimewa dan penerimaan kaum Cina dari parti Akar sebagai ahli. Dua strategi ini bertujuan untuk mengubah persepsi, memancing undi dan mengurangkan liabiliti. Begitu juga dengan khabar angin Daim yang mahu menguji beberapa reaksi. Pada 21/5/2001 lepas Mahathir dilapurkan sebagai berkata ada kemungkinan Ku Li dipanggil balik semula di dalam kabinetnya

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan saham Tenaga Nasional Bhd jatuh 3.9% ke paras RM7.45 kesan daripada susun-atur baru MSCI yang menitik beratkan apungan bebas. Saham gergasi BSKL ini dijangka akan jatuh meruncing dari 12.4% kepada 7.5% dalam paparan baru MSCI. Sahamnya kini berada di paras 2-tahun terendah selepas 25% terkoyak pada 2/5/2001 akibat kebimbangan ia terlibat dalam projek Bakun dan hutang luar yang meningkat jika ringgit dinilai semula. Kini MSCI pula menjerut nasibnya - menjadikan ia semakin tidak menarik buat pelabur luar. Tanpa sokongan yang kuat Tenaga akan menghadapi masa depan yang sukar. Lebih baik ia meminggirkan sahaja wawasan sewel Mahathir - jika tidak banyak harapan akan hancur berderai.
- Editor]

http://livenews.lycosasia.com/cgi-bin/get.pl? pi_news_id=649746&pi_ctry=my&pi_lang=en

Malaysia's Daim says undecided on staying in government

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, who is currently on leave, said on Tuesday he was still resting and was undecided on whether to return to office.

Speculation about Daim's future emerged last month when Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced his finance minister was on two month's leave because he was tired.

"It's too early to decide. I'm still resting," Daim told journalists in reply to questions on whether he would return to his job.

"Be patient," he said when asked when Malaysia would know whether it still had a finance minister.

He was speaking prior to the opening of the Asia/Pacific Group annual meeting on Money Laundering.

Repeated talk that Daim was suffering from health problems or had fallen out with Mahathir has made the rounds in Kuala Lumpur political and financial circles.

Daim, who began his second stint as finance minister in January 1999, shortly after Mahathir's rival Anwar Ibrahim was sacked and jailed, also holds the powerful party position of treasurer in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

Daim has been in Washington over the past week after attending an annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Honolulu earlier this month.

Despite taking leave Daim occasionally visited his office, saying he had a backlog of paperwork on important projects to clear.

But he has cut back on his appointments. He skipped an UMNO Supreme Council meeting on Monday, after missing several other recent meetings of the party's top leaders.

"He's on leave until the end of this month. The end of this month is not here so he's entitled not to be here," Mahathir told a news conference after Monday's meeting.

On Tuesday, Daim said he was unsure whether he would be fully back at work by the time UMNO's general assembly convenes on June 20.

Both Mahathir and Daim have voiced impatience with the media's persistent questioning of the motives for Daim's long leave.

But neither has said outright whether the finance minister intends to stay in the government, fuelling apprehension that Daim's extended break could be a prelude to leaving government.

Malaysia's economy is expected to slow sharply from last year's blistering 8.5 percent growth, as it feels the backlash of contracting U.S. and Japanese demand for its goods.

There was speculation last month that the country could be forced to scrap its 3.8 ringgit per dollar fixed exchange rate, adopted in 1998 in the wake of the Asian crisis, if currency reserves continued the fall seen in recent months.

Foreign investors, who pulled out $3 billion from Malaysian markets in the latter half of 2000, have raised concerns about the standards of corporate governance and a lack of progress on reforms and restructuring to address lingering corporate debt problems.

http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/010522/15/ps0q.html

DOW JONES NEWSWIRE EXCERPTS

Tuesday May 22, 11:40 AM

MARKET TALK/SG/KL: Tenaga Shrs Down 3.9%; At 2-Yr Low

1139 [Dow Jones] MALAYSIA: Tenaga Nasional (5347) down 3.9% at MYR7.45 on continued reverberations from MSCI reweighting based on free float. KLCI heavyweight Tenaga's weighting to drop sharply from around 12.4% to 7.5% in new MSCI indices, estimates RHB Research. Stock now at 2-year low after shedding 25% since May 2 on worries about Bakun dam project, foreign debt exposure if MYR repegged and now MSCI reweighting making less attractive to foreign funds.(TUP)

1134 [Dow Jones] MALAYSIA: Finance Minister Daim scheduled to address seminar on South African investment next Tuesday, source tells Dow Jones; expected to shed more light on his future as finance minister and UMNO party treasurer. Earlier in day, Daim noncommittal about plans, saying "it's too early to tell"; market likely to watch seminar closely for new developments.(JRE)

1044 [Dow Jones] MALAYSIA: Finance Minister Daim says he hasn't yet made up his mind on whether to extend leave of absence from cabinet meetings, party functions into June, saying it's "too early to tell"; unclear also if he'll attend UMNO meeting June 19-23. Remarks likely to spark renewed talk of Daim retiring, although note he's continued in his role as finance minister uninterrupted; previously, Daim indicated leave needed to focus on speeding up government-funded projects.(NHW)