TR EMERITUS

作者：南洋視界 中国籍的新加坡永久居民张元元参加中国国庆阅兵游行，在新加坡引发的争议，显示出新加坡媒体和网民 (netizens) 之间出现了严重的分歧。 张元元在新加坡幼儿中心当华文老师，并取得了新加坡永久居民的资格。她于去年回返中国，并在今年中国国庆六十周年的阅兵典礼上，作为女民兵方队的一员，接受了中国国家主席胡锦涛的检阅。 张元元在接受中央电视台访问时说：“报效祖国是我的最大心愿”. 消息传到新加坡，引起轩然大波。 在互联网上，一些网民质疑张元元作为永久居民的身份认同，但更多的网民则质疑新加坡政府的移民政策。他们表示，张元元学历很低，政府为何要给她永久居民身份。 新加坡近年来引进大量的新移民，使得新加坡人口逼近500万人口。新加坡人抱怨，新移民的涌入导致了房价飙升，公共交通拥挤不堪，以及和本地人士争抢工作机会。张元元事件再度挑起了社会上这种抱怨的情绪。 但是，同样是针对张元元事件，新加坡的报纸则力挺张元元，抨击网民的言论是错误的。 继新移民之前发表文章，指责那些在张元元事件中持批评态度的网友是“非主流”之后，新加坡联合早报，星期六发表该报副总编辑严孟达的文章，指“网上攻击张元元参加中国国庆大阅兵的言论不值得一驳。” 文章写道：“博客者，足不出户，臀不离席，弹指之间，可谤人于无声，伤人于千里之外。” 他说：新加坡人“向以‘融入’为准绳，求诸新来乍到之移民，以致不口操新式英语不足示其融入，不数典忘宗不足示其融入，不日日作融入状，不足示其融入。融入二字几成紧箍咒，新之移民颇受折腾。” 从整个文章来看，严文主要还是聚焦于网民诉求张元元的身份认同上，但对网民提出的新加坡移民政策，则几乎没有着墨。 在批评日本“长期排外”的同时，严文写道：“新国博客自视忠良，责人爱国。爱国岂有专利，岛国心态，莫甚于此。” 时隔一天，新加坡发行量最大的英文海峡时报星期天版发表社论，力挺张元元。 社论指出，社论说，一个国家的永久居民是在这个国家居住相当时段的外国人，主要是工作或经商，他们没有放弃自己的国籍。他们享有居民利益，但他们享有的并非 东道国公民的利益。在新加坡，这样的差别是很明显的。他们缴税，为社会作出经济和社会的贡献。他们最后可能成为公民，也有一些人选择回国或移居其他国家。 并非新加坡一个国家在吸引专业人士、创业人士和特殊技能的人士。这些人士具有高度的流动性，并适应这个全球化的时代。很多国家为吸引他们展开竞争，因为这些人才为本地人口增加额外的层次。对新加坡这样的小国，这样的额外层次是很重要的。 但是，新加坡网民们则似乎和报纸的论调不咬弦。网民们开始要求国会讨论张元元事件。 一名博客在《淡马锡论坛》上要求，国会议员应把张元元事件提交到国会上去。他要求知道，为何低学历的张元元能在提出申请后不到两个月就获准成为永久居民。 在海峡时报网站上，张元元事件成为该网站读者发表评论最多的内容。 一些网民提出，新加坡发出的永久居民资格是否太过宽松。有网民建议申请者必须居住超过八年，才能发给其永久居民资格。 在南洋视界论坛上，一位网民写道：“海峡时报睁眼说瞎话，张元元算什么专业人士，创业人士和特殊技能人才了？要学历没学历，要事业没事业，……这样的人有高度的流动性？除了新加坡会给她永久居民，还有那个国家会给？离开新加坡，除了回中国，她还能流动到哪儿去？” 他写道，现在中国的移民到新加坡变成了一种“权利”，只要想来新加坡就要张开双臂热烈欢迎？否则就是不认同？新加坡人要认同的是自己的国家和社会，什么时候新加坡人要认同中国了？ 张元元事件在新加坡引发辩论已经近两周，但从各方的言论来看，看法上的差距不但没缩小，反而有扩大之势。 而且，一个明显的趋势是，报纸所反应的为其中的一派，而网民则反映的是另一派。 来源：http://www.nanyangpost.com  Read More →

By Debra Chong from The Malaysian Insider Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand told the coroner’s court this morning that there was an 80 per cent probability that Teoh Beng Hock’s death was homicide and not suicide, and suggested that some of his injuries were sustained before his fatal fall. Under questioning from Selangor state lawyer, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Dr Pornthip testified that the political aide was indeed alive when he hit the ground but added that he was unconscious, judging from the lack of injuries to his wrists and ankles. She explained that if he were still conscious when he fell, there would have been “reaction wounds” to show he had instinctively tried to stop from hitting the ground. She said that Teoh’s injuries showed he could have been strangled and that he sustained anal penetration before he fell to his death on July 16. Dr Pornthip added that Teoh could have passed out as a result of the strangulation or from the pain from injuries to his anal region. She told the court that the likelihood that Teoh had committed suicide — the theory previously put forward by the two pathologists who examined Teoh’s body after death — was only 20 per cent. The stunning testimony made by the forensic expert, who gained international prominence from her work in identifying the 2004 Asian tsunami victims and more recently in the death of Hollywood star David Carradine, appeared to suggest Teoh was assaulted before his death. Using a graphics presentation, the 54-year-old who has carried out over 10,000 autopsies over the last 27 years, told the court that not all the injuries sustained by Teoh were consistent with those caused by a fall. The anal tear, which she described as a “penetrating injury”, appeared to have happened before he fell. Dr Pornthip noted that the tear measured 6cm-wide by 2cm-long. She rejected the idea that the anus was penetrated by a bone fragment, which had been put forward by local pathologist, Dr Khairul Aznam Ibrahim from the Hospital Tengku Rahimah Ampuan in Klang. She reasoned that if that had happened, the force would have punctured the area opposite its entry and not as what was shown in the autopsy photos taken. She suggested that they were caused by an object inserted into Teoh’s anus from a bottom-up direction, which she indicated with a blue arrow on a picture slide projected on a white screen in the darkened courtroom this morning. “This kind of injury, I’ve not seen in cases of fall from height,” the director-general of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) said. However, she could not say what the object was. She also said that the depth of the tear was not measured or mentioned in the autopsy report. Dr Khairul had jointly written the autopsy report with Indian pathologist Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar who is currently based at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Several stripes on Teoh’s upper thighs, just below the buttocks were also pointed out as inconsistent with injuries caused by a fall. Dr Pornthip suggested the horizontal lines were the result of a beating with a stick. She added that if she had carried out the autopsy on Teoh, she would have cut open the thighs just under the skin to check for internal bleeding in order to confirm her theory. She also pointed out several “round” bruises on Teoh’s neck, which could mean “manual strangulation” by fingers. Her lengthy explanation on Teoh’s neck injuries was peppered with graphic references to her own case studies of strangulation victims. The skull fracture on Teoh’s head, she said, was not typical of an injury from a fall, but more compatible with the result of blunt force applied directly to the skull. “I found contusion on fracture line, so the fracture could be caused by blunt force injury directly on skull,” she said, explaining why she disagreed with Dr Khairul’s and Dr Prashant’s theory. The two doctors who performed Teoh’s autopsy had previously put forward the idea that the head injury may have been caused by the momentum of the landing. “For transfer of force, (you) only find ring fracture at base of the skull along (the) spinal column, not a linear fracture and not a cervical spine fracture,” she added. She said that her assessment was based on Teoh’s autopsy report, the photographs of his injuries and from snapshots taken at the site where his body was found. Dr Pornthip who had earlier suggested that Teoh may have been dragged before he plunged to his death told the coroner’s court after lunch break that she no longer held the view. In her testimony earlier, she had contradicted Dr Prashant’s idea that it was caused by the impact on the ground. She explained that she had been allowed to view the original pictures of the shoe, which are of a better quality than the copies she had been provided, and confirmed that the marks on the sole were indeed caused by the impact when Teoh landed on the hard and rough ground feet first. She told the court she would like to carry out her own autopsy on Teoh, but magistrate Azmil Muntapha Abas who is acting as coroner in the inquest, indicated that it may be too late to do so at this stage. Dr Pornthip had also previously sent two assistants to join the court to survey where Teoh’s body was found on a 5th-floor landing outside the offices of the Selangor branch of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Plaza Masalam here. Teoh, who was the political secretary to a DAP state executive councillor, had been questioned overnight on July 15 to help an ongoing investigation into claims his boss had misused state funds. Dr Pornthip was engaged as an expert witness by the Selangor state government. She had been among the first names suggested to carry out a joint autopsy on Teoh, but was rejected by his family whose reasons remain unknown. Earlier, she told the court that she had conducted over 10,000 autopsies in her career, of which more than 100 dealt with fatal falls from high places. She estimated Teoh to have died between 6am and 8am on July 16. - The Malaysian Insider  Read More →

作者：英国《金融时报》 汉妮•桑德尔 译者：何黎 2009-10-16 上月，中国的主权财富基金(SWF)中投公司(CIC)以10亿美元购入了香港来宝集团(Noble Group)的少数股权——一家大型大宗商品装运、贸易与加工公司。 此举在欧洲或美国几乎算不上重要新闻。不过，它彰显了一个可能会对未来几年西方世界投资流产生惊人影响的趋势。 就在两年前，当中投刚成立时，它还追随着多数亚洲主权财富基金聚焦西方的传统盛行理念，将自身不断膨胀的资金罐中的大部分资金投向美国的金融资产。 然而，信贷危机爆发后，中投明显转变了策略。其中最值得注意的是，与中国其他政府部门以及新加坡和中东的同行一样，中投开始担忧，美国国债等以美元计价的证券不再是值得信赖的价值储藏手段。 因此，怀揣着2000亿美元资金，中投开始在全球范围内搜寻投资于自然资源和能源公司（如来宝集团）的机会。据知情人士介绍，它还考虑将资金投入其它实体资产，比如它认为同样具有保值功能的房地产。 实际上，据摩根大通(JP Morgan)估计，到今年年底，在类似于来宝交易的投资上，中投投入的资金可能会达到500亿美元——转移了（比方说）曾经注定会用在美国债券市场的资金。 这种转变有可能产生更为重大的宏观经济影响——不仅是对于美元和美国债券市场的前景，而且包括众多其它领域。中投的巨资来自于中国极为出色的制造业出口机器，这台机器已经创造了大约2万亿美元的外汇储备。 大多数经济学家预计，世界将在未来几年实现再平衡，而且再平衡的方式意味着中国将减少出口和储蓄，增加支出。但尽管如此，中投和亚洲的其他主权财富基金——比如韩国的——似乎必定会变得更强大，因为任何再平衡可能都会是缓慢的，同时伴随着本国货币的走强。 按照人们的推测，中东主权财富基金或许并不在此之列，因为它们的状况往往取决于油价。然而，即使它们的财富缩水，主权财富基金如今普遍在做的一些事情，也会提升它们的影响力。 首先，这些基金之间的交流更直接，而且在相互学习。这意味着，它们相互之间彼此较量，或者某些基金从（比如说）寻找救助资金的机构手中获得比其它人更差的交易，这种几率将会降低。 例如，当卡塔尔投资局(Qatar Investment Authority)考虑投资时，“新加坡政府投资有限公司(Government of Singapore Investment Corporation)和淡马锡控股(Temasek)是我们首先停靠的港口，”卡塔尔投资局的一位高管表示。卡塔尔投资局与中投联手投资伦敦金丝雀码 头，开启了各位高管表示有意继续进行下去的对话。 此外，这些基金公司的鉴别力正在提高——由于犯过一些代价高昂的错误，它们了解了谁才值得信赖。比如，花旗集团(Citigroup)和美林 （Merrill Lynch，现属美国银行(Bank of America)）的高管在寻求救援资金时所做的陈述，至今仍令它们深感不快。“他们就像二手车经销商，”一位美林交易的主要投资者在谈及与该公司的对话时忿忿不平地表示。 在刚开始提供救援融资时，参与这些交易的某些主权投资者能够获得比其它投资者更优惠的条款，包括反稀释条款和重订条款的权利，而其它投资者却与之无 缘。最近，科威特投资局(KIA)和新加坡政府投资公司通过修改条款，部分挽救了它们的投资，而淡马锡却在今年2月的绝对底部售出了所持美国银行股份（尽管一些同行曾建议它不要这么做），这一灾难性举动导致淡马锡出现了数十亿亏损。 这些惨痛经历并没有促使基金公司完全放弃对美国的投资。今年早些时候，当拉里•芬克(Larry Fink)需要筹集数十亿资金，为贝莱德(BlackRock)收购巴克莱全球投资者(BGI)融资时，他在不到一天的时间里就从新加坡政府投资公司、中投和科威特投资局筹得了所需资金，因为这几家基金都了解并信任他。 据双方人士透露，由于对高盛(Goldman Sachs)及其首席执行官劳埃德•布兰克费恩(Lloyd Blankfein)评价颇高，科威特投资局原本很乐意投资高盛，但高盛最终求助于沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)，原因是巴菲特与基金公司不同，他可以迅速行动，在短短几小时内就做出交易承诺。 不过，主权财富基金如今在选择交易时，要比过去挑剔得多。他们也变得更为活跃。以中投为例，在投资于收购公司或对冲基金时，就像对投资老手克里斯• 弗劳尔斯(Chris Flowers)投资32亿美元，对洛杉矶投资公司橡树资本(Oaktree Capital)投资10亿美元时那样，它更有可能以分立账户的形式进行操作。 “中国人是在利用这些人给自己上课，”一家私人股本公司的主管表示。“等他们学成了，就会把这些人甩到一边。” 其它基金公司正在效仿中国。“主权财富基金希望获得更多控制权，”咨询公司达石(StepStone)的创始人蒙特•布莱姆(Monte Brem)表示，他同时还在全球一些最资深的咨询公司担任顾问。“它们坚持要求更高的参与度。” 但这转而又给中投等主权财富基金带去了如何应付政治压力的新问题。摆在所有主权基金面前的最大讽刺或许是，虽然外界认为它们带有政治色彩，但其中许多其实正在竭力摆脱本土的政治根基和政治干预，做出纯属经济方面的决定。 不过，它们的行动对投资格局的影响越是明显，这种政治压力——以及审查力度——可能就越大，不仅是在本土市场，在美国亦是如此。  Read More →