East Timor's SWF puts Temasek & GIC to shame
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http://business.theage.com.au/business/struggling-on-a-6bn-pot-that-keeps-growing-20090422-afhe.html?page=-1 Struggling on a $6bn pot that keeps growing Eric Ellis April 23, 2009 East Timor's oil fund is thriving thanks to boring investment. IN THE East Timorese capital's joke of a "financial district", roosters scratch in the dust as a family of goats bleat at vendors selling porn CDs, "jiggy-jig" as they sleazily hiss at passers-by. It's a sad and unlikely place to spawn a master of the global financial universe, inasmuch as any still exist after the economic conflagration. But in his makeshift office by the bank building, Timorese civil servant Venancio Alves Maria is doing something the storied Temaseks, the Warren Buffets and Citigroups in more sophisticated time zones away can't boast. He's making money. Alves Maria is the executive director of the Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste, the Government authority entrusted to invest the oil and gas royalties deriving from the Timor Sea fields between East Timor and the Northern Territory. After barely four years, the fund has about $6 billion invested, about eight times East Timor's non-resources GDP. The fund gets about $250-300 million added to it every month, and has returned 3 to 5 per cent annually since its inception in mid-2005. In a world where the trillions of investments lost by crooks, frauds and desk-jockey cowboys require responding trillions in taxpayer-funded government bail-outs, Venancio and his fund stand out as stellar performers. So what's his secret? The short answer is bad politicians. Such is the chaos East Timor has descended to in the decade since it broke free from its Indonesian military colonisers, its warring political clans can't agree on how to diversify their petrodollar bounty. So Indonesia-educated Venancio and his board take the only legally required default option open to them, plunging it all in the most boring investment around — US Treasury bonds. The Timor fund is a minnow in the world's sovereign fund ocean, but its returns make it one of the world's best-performing sovereign wealth fund in the past year. Its performance has shamed whale SWFs like the Norway pension fund, Singapore's Temasek and the Government Investment Corporation, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, all hammered after huge, ill-fated punts in US and European banks and property. Temasek lost 31 per cent of its $350 billion-plus portfolio last year, a loss that claimed its executive officer, a member of Singapore's long-ruling Lee family, while Norway took a $140 billion hit on its $440 billion fund, wiping out most of the gains it made since it started investing North Sea oil royalties in the 1990s. Ironically, the Timorese fund has Norwegian advisers on its board. Some fund watchers believe it should be the other way round. "We are the Steven Bradbury of sovereign wealth funds," says fund director Kevin Bailey, East Timor's honorary consul in Melbourne, where he runs a financial planning company. "If only Singapore had put its hard-earned in T-bills and not Merrill Lynch." Alves Maria monitors the royalties that roll into the fund from US resources major ConocoPhillips' Bayu Undan gas fields, and executes the Treasury bond purchases in New York. It's all transparent, East Timor's unreliable power and internet access permitting, and any Timorese can view what's going on by logging on, or making an appointment to visit the fund's office. That's another area where the East Timorese could teach Wall Street's big shots a thing or two — transparency. An economics graduate of a university in East Java when East Timor was still Indonesia's 27th province, Alves Maria is part of Dili's "postconflict generation", young technocrats schooled abroad who've returned to take key posts in an administration short on skills. It hasn't always been easy. He reconciled the fund's 2006 accounts while living in a refugee camp after rioters tore through the capital. He proudly tells how his wife gave birth to their first child in a makeshift camp hospital on June 30, 2006, the last day of the fiscal year. Every quarter Alves Maria compiles a report in East Timor's official Tetum and Portuguese, as well as English, and publishes it to the fund's website. And every quarter he uses the same template. "The only things I change are the date of the report and whatever the financial data is for that quarter." The Timorese experience, so far, contrasts to that of a tiny Australian island neighbour that squandered its natural bounty: Nauru, and its excess of seafowl guano. When Nauru became the "Kuwait of the Pacific" in the 1970s, it belatedly set up a fund to preserve the wealth that had made Nauru one of the world's richest nations. Soon Nauru had a huge international real estate portfolio, led by Nauru House (or Birdshit Tower, as Melburnians prosaically called it) at the top of Collins Street, one of Australia's tallest buildings when it was finished in 1977. But misgovernance allowed Nauruans to insert their collective noses in their fund's trough — frivolous foreign travel and a fatal susceptibility to carpetbaggers, such as its infamous investment in an ill-fated West End musical about an affair between Leonardo da Vinci and his muse Mona Lisa. Possibly apocryphal stories have Nauruans flying jets to Sydney for pizza delivery, Hawaii and Singapore for shopping and to Melbourne for footy weekends. By the mid-'90s, the money was gone and Nauru ranked close to the bottom of global GDP rankings. The East Timorese say they are very much aware of the curse of oil. The country's Finance Minister, Emilia Pires, educated at Moreland High and a former Victorian public servant, says East Timor has the choice of becoming Norway or Abu Dhabi, or Nauru and Equatorial Guinea, the West African basket case wasting its oil bounty. "With proper and smart use of the fund," Pires says, "my hope and intention is to be better than Norway." Still, with unique wealth comes unique problems. No company dominates a national economy's income as much as ConocoPhillips does in East Timor, which the World Bank ranks as the ninth-poorest nation. The country's dependence on oil and gas is near total, and Pires wants to diversify from resources, using more of the fund to improve infrastructure and develop a land-based economy to try to raise incomes above the current $1 a day most of East Timor's 1.1 million people survive on. But former prime minister Mari Alkatari, on whose watch the fund was created, and who feels a certain proprietorship towards it, is having none of it. He heads the Fretilin party, which though in opposition, remains a powerhouse in Parliament. He says the fund should not be touched "for a very long time". He says it is generally well managed but frets about the encroaching cronyism; cushy advisory gigs and procurement backhanders. Says a Western diplomat in Dili: "Do you think after a few centuries of Portuguese rule and a few decades under Suharto they didn't learn anything about corruption?" Bailey says the investment strategy, while proven to have been prudent in this economic climate, is effectively another dependency — on the US dollar. He said the debate is about how best to safely diversify and hedge the fund, while preserving and enhancing its reserves. A big part of Alves Maria's job is devouring enough financial literature for the day when East Timor does decide to diversify the fund, while keeping carpetbaggers at bay. His job for the moment is more as a bookkeeper. He has no discretionary power to invest the fund and any decision to spend the money — other than for routine government expenses — requires layers of approval. East Timorese recently protested vocally about Parliament's decision to gift itself a fleet of new vehicles. As the fund grows, so too its status as a political football. But consensus is unlikely, given the near-constant political turmoil in East Timor. But with up to $50 billion in oil and gas royalties expected to be collected in the decades ahead, East Timor could, on paper, become one of Asia's richest nations. It's a bounty that Pires says was "paid for by the lives of 200,000 of our people, and we must use it wisely". ------------------------------- Latest updates at Singapore News Alternative: 1. East Timor's SWF puts Temasek and GIC to shame 2. Crisis of global capitalism hits Singapore hard 3. The issues involving the separation of conjoined twins 4. In Singapore, a More Progressive Islamic Education 5. Further restrictions on rights in Singapore 6. S'pore to gun for the arms industry as head of US-based defense company invited to EDB's international advisory board 7. S'pore investors shunned S'pore-listed China stocks 8. PSA CEO says container shipping trade has hit bottom .
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hmmm.. if it was in T-bills and the returns are lower, would you guys KPKB also?
frankly, when the PM's husband was there, a lot of shit wasn't really well done... that being said, it could have been done a lot worse and we could be in the same kind of shit which Iceland is in now...
we win some, we lose some..
when we lose, the CEO's head rolls... which is, i think why, the PM's ugly husband is leaving..
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But with up to $50 billion in oil and gas royalties expected to be collected in the decades ahead, East Timor could, on paper, become one of Asia’s richest nations. It’s a bounty that Pires says was “paid for by the lives of 200,000 of our people, and we must use it wisely”.
o.O
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Originally posted by HiAy3Captain:
But with up to $50 billion in oil and gas royalties expected to be collected in the decades ahead, East Timor could, on paper, become one of Asia’s richest nations. It’s a bounty that Pires says was “paid for by the lives of 200,000 of our people, and we must use it wisely”.
o.O
you didn't know?Indonesia almost killed them all
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I think the real complaint is not that they are not doing a good job but the lack of transparency and accountability. It is made worse by having Ho Ching there. She is a member of the ruling family and has no training in finance.
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Way things are going now, i'd be kinda worried if we were putting more of our money into US Treasury Bills.
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As long as the USA remains the sole super power of the world, and the US Dollars remain the world's reserve currency, it is wise to hold US Treasuries.
Gamblers are losers. The cursed despot admitted that he has gambling addiction genes.
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Now that the USA has gone ahead and printed US Dollars, and has seen that the rest of the world and especially their coolies in the east cannot do anything about it, the US Economy will just power ahead in front of the rest of the world.
Just think, the coolies have to work for their money and the US just print it! Who has more advantage and will do much better?
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East Timor is a colony of Australia. Its riches will be siphoned off and its people will become hungry drunks. Gusmao is a traitor to Fretelin, he has sold off the future and hopes of his people. To compare East Timor to Singapore is a joke just like Australia's ambition to colonize and christianize Indonesia.
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Comparing the idiotic antics of "the gambling addict Hole Jinx and co." and "Timorese civil servant Venancio Alves Maria" is not comparing the two countries.
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Originally posted by frakfrakfrak:
East Timor is a colony of Australia. Its riches will be siphoned off and its people will become hungry drunks. Gusmao is a traitor to Fretelin, he has sold off the future and hopes of his people. To compare East Timor to Singapore is a joke just like Australia's ambition to colonize and christianize Indonesia.
East Timor an Australian colony ?Which history book have you been reading ?
Perhaps you missed the bloody events created by the resentful Indonesian military that were forced out of East Timor - when the East Timorese were given the choice by President Habibie to decide if they wish to be independent from Indonesia, and voted for their own INDEPENDENCE from Indonesia ?
How did you come to such a brilliant conclusion that Gusmao a traitor to Fretlin ?
What were you alluding to in your statement that Gusmao "has sold off the future and hopes of his people" ?
Are you referring to the natural resources in minerals and oil reserves that East Timor was discovered to have ?
Did Gusmao sell these natural resources, or did he arranged for some joint-venture deals with Australia to extract these resources - with East Timor as the major beneficiary ?
What other alternative choices did Gusmao have that will allow him to advance the interests of East Timor - when his East Timorese government did not have the funds nor the human assets that can be employed to extract the benefits from the abundant natural resources ?
Can he depend on the half-naked and brightly colored hill tribesmen and women to collect taxes, or to tap on their primitive skills to advance the interests of East Timor ?
Without financial cash flow of their own, do you wish for East Timor to be tied to the charity of the international community for financial aid that will enable the subsequent generations of East Timorese to be educated and gain the necessary modern skils to manage themselves and their own country ?
Australia is made up of a largely migrant society with different religions - can Australia colonize Indonesia that has a population 5x larger than Australia ?
Can Australia with a diverse group of people and religion colonize Indonesia that has the world largest Muslim population ?
You could attempt to polish your lines first and try your skill as a stand-up comedian.
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Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:
As long as the USA remains the sole super power of the world, and the US Dollars remain the world's reserve currency, it is wise to hold US Treasuries.
Gamblers are losers. The cursed despot admitted that he has gambling addiction genes.
the despot also told us that those who curse alot are also loser, curser have curse genes in them too. -
Originally posted by frakfrakfrak:
East Timor is a colony of Australia. Its riches will be siphoned off and its people will become hungry drunks. Gusmao is a traitor to Fretelin, he has sold off the future and hopes of his people. To compare East Timor to Singapore is a joke just like Australia's ambition to colonize and christianize Indonesia.
Huh! what? East timor a colony of Aussie??? woei, dun make me fail history of Asia again lah..me failed many time in humanity liao, so please hor, dun anyhow sell koh yo here hor.
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Originally posted by Atobe:
East Timor an Australian colony ?Which history book have you been reading ?
Perhaps you missed the bloody events created by the resentful Indonesian military that were forced out of East Timor - when the East Timorese were given the choice by President Habibie to decide if they wish to be independent from Indonesia, and voted for their own INDEPENDENCE from Indonesia ?
How did you come to such a brilliant conclusion that Gusmao a traitor to Fretlin ?
What were you alluding to in your statement that Gusmao "has sold off the future and hopes of his people" ?
Are you referring to the natural resources in minerals and oil reserves that East Timor was discovered to have ?
Did Gusmao sell these natural resources, or did he arranged for some joint-venture deals with Australia to extract these resources - with East Timor as the major beneficiary ?
What other alternative choices did Gusmao have that will allow him to advance the interests of East Timor - when his East Timorese government did not have the funds nor the human assets that can be employed to extract the benefits from the abundant natural resources ?
Can he depend on the half-naked and brightly colored hill tribesmen and women to collect taxes, or to tap on their primitive skills to advance the interests of East Timor ?
Without financial cash flow of their own, do you wish for East Timor to be tied to the charity of the international community for financial aid that will enable the subsequent generations of East Timorese to be educated and gain the necessary modern skils to manage themselves and their own country ?
Australia is made up of a largely migrant society with different religions - can Australia colonize Indonesia that has a population 5x larger than Australia ?
Can Australia with a diverse group of people and religion colonize Indonesia that has the world largest Muslim population ?
You could attempt to polish your lines first and try your skill as a stand-up comedian.
The facts that after gaining independent, more civil wars broke out causing miserable life for the timoreses Australia is there on the pretext of keeping peace, but they took away many resources from that place and also use it both as a port and military station. They are playing the big brother role there to their advantages. Aussie are target of Terrorist in indonesia too, bali and some other places bombing already tell you a lot of story.If you say can aussie colonise indonesia, it not impossible given that the dutch and british had done it, conqueror or colonisation is not depend on sizes or population. I see a paradigm shift in colonisation, instead of taking the hardship and labour to govern it, today colonisation can come in a way of economy and financial control, insitutions like the IMF and world banks where the west, especially the US has a said over it, these poor countries seek IMF help and thereby they need to follow the rules and regulation of IMF, so instead of direct colonisation, which in today view, taken as occupying and not acceptable in the view of the world, the road to control of another countries had changed, you run your country, I run your economy.
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Originally posted by angel7030:
the despot also told us that those who curse alot are also loser, curser have curse genes in them too.The more you curse evil, the better it is for you. The more you support evil, the more the curses on the evil rubs off on you. You should go for regular check ups to see if the curses have rubbed off on you yet, it is not too late for you to stop supporting evil.
You don't want to be a zombie or suffer from cancer of the anus, for supporting evil, do you?
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Originally posted by angel7030:
The facts that after gaining independent, more civil wars broke out causing miserable life for the timoreses Australia is there on the pretext of keeping peace, but they took away many resources from that place and also use it both as a port and military station. They are playing the big brother role there to their advantages. Aussie are target of Terrorist in indonesia too, bali and some other places bombing already tell you a lot of story.More civil wars after gaining independence ?
At the last count, only ONE mini-rebellion occurred, and was a short-lived attempt at assassinating the duly elected President.
How many "civil wars" did you manage to count while drinking with customers at your bar ?
What resources did Australia take while pretending to keep the peace in East Timor ?
Have you been drinking too much while managing your business at the bar to believe that Aussies are targeted by terrorists as a result of playing the "Big Brother" role ?
If Aussies are targetted for playing the "Big Brother" role for being involved in East Timor, then surely Singapore should also be targetted too - as Singapore is also involved in East Timor, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan - (like Aussies do) - both in open and loud support to George Bush's call to be on his side to fight terrorism.
From Singapore's high profile position on the side of the USA - Is there a story also to be told about Singapore at your Bar ?
If you say can aussie colonise indonesia, it not impossible given that the dutch and british had done it, conqueror or colonisation is not depend on sizes or population. I see a paradigm shift in colonisation, instead of taking the hardship and labour to govern it, today colonisation can come in a way of economy and financial control, insitutions like the IMF and world banks where the west, especially the US has a said over it, these poor countries seek IMF help and thereby they need to follow the rules and regulation of IMF, so instead of direct colonisation, which in today view, taken as occupying and not acceptable in the view of the world, the road to control of another countries had changed, you run your country, I run your economy.
Before you get drunk with the idea that it is not impossible for Australia to colonise Indonesia - like the Dutch and the British - perhaps you should sober yourself to know that we are now in the 21st Century, and not in a 19th Century bar dreaming about empires and colonies.
Do you seriously believe that the West can colonise the World again through world bodies like the IMF ?
If your thoughts are correct, then the reverse can happen too - and probably happening now.
China will have succeeded in the economic colonisation of the USA - since China is holding a large portion of the US economy to ransom, and is even refinancing the US Government by China's support given to the US Dollar, and her continued support to the US Government Treasury Bills.
In the recent G20 meeting, China was the largest contributor to the proposal to arrange a US$3 Trillion dollar fund for the IMF to help economies affected by the current ongoing financial crisis.
By your standards, China should be colonising the World economies.
Can your simplistic model of economic and financial colonisation take place in a 21st Century World that has become more complex and intertwined by economic theories turned into reality - in the real world influenced largely by "economies of scale" and "comparative advantage" ?
Put it simply in a small nutshell that you can chew on - if you can operate the Bar business in Singapore better then anyone in Singapore, can Hard Rock Cafe colonise Singapore's liquor business ?
Can Johnny Walker or Jack Daniels control your cash flows, while you control your Bar ?
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The White Man, if you welcome him into your home and you offer him food and drink and you give him a place to sleep in your house, the next day he will sleep with your wife and steal you blind. This is what he calls "Survival of the Fittest". In his spare times his mind is filled with ideas of how to make weapons to kill more people and tricks to steal from more and more people. This is what he calls "Creative Destruction" and "Capitalist Free Market". This is the sum of his civilization and his modernity today. Will the White Man change? We wait and see as many of his own brothers and sisters do.
To such people, you can only teach them by cutting off the heads of those who do such things to you and place them in front of your house so that when they next come by and you offer them tea, they will know that they should not fuck around with you. This lesson now everybody in the world is learning, except the type of people who like to suck white man cock.
East Timor: ‘We don’t want Australian troops’
http://www.greenleft.org.au/article.php/article.php?id=37830&__plain=1
Former Pacific Islands trade official denounces Australian bullying
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/paci-a01.shtml -
Originally posted by Atobe:
More civil wars after gaining independence ?
At the last count, only ONE mini-rebellion occurred, and was a short-lived attempt at assassinating the duly elected President.
How many "civil wars" did you manage to count while drinking with customers at your bar ?
What resources did Australia take while pretending to keep the peace in East Timor ?
Have you been drinking too much while managing your business at the bar to believe that Aussies are targeted by terrorists as a result of playing the "Big Brother" role ?
If Aussies are targetted for playing the "Big Brother" role for being involved in East Timor, then surely Singapore should also be targetted too - as Singapore is also involved in East Timor, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan - (like Aussies do) - both in open and loud support to George Bush's call to be on his side to fight terrorism.
From Singapore's high profile position on the side of the USA - Is there a story also to be told about Singapore at your Bar ?
Before you get drunk with the idea that it is not impossible for Australia to colonise Indonesia - like the Dutch and the British - perhaps you should sober yourself to know that we are now in the 21st Century, and not in a 19th Century bar dreaming about empires and colonies.
Do you seriously believe that the West can colonise the World again through world bodies like the IMF ?
If your thoughts are correct, then the reverse can happen too - and probably happening now.
China will have succeeded in the economic colonisation of the USA - since China is holding a large portion of the US economy to ransom, and is even refinancing the US Government by China's support given to the US Dollar, and her continued support to the US Government Treasury Bills.
In the recent G20 meeting, China was the largest contributor to the proposal to arrange a US$3 Trillion dollar fund for the IMF to help economies affected by the current ongoing financial crisis.
By your standards, China should be colonising the World economies.
Can your simplistic model of economic and financial colonisation take place in a 21st Century World that has become more complex and intertwined by economic theories turned into reality - in the real world influenced largely by "economies of scale" and "comparative advantage" ?
Put it simply in a small nutshell that you can chew on - if you can operate the Bar business in Singapore better then anyone in Singapore, can Hard Rock Cafe colonise Singapore's liquor business ?
Can Johnny Walker or Jack Daniels control your cash flows, while you control your Bar ?
Well, anything can happens, why not, during the crisis, Indonesia and thailand get the IMF help with an advantage contract in mind, just like our economy, beside GLC about 70% are MNC or foreign base, in another words, we become dependent of them, a economy colonisation rather than political colonisation had taken place.Because people like you alway take ecstasy and never think out of the box, you fail to see the inside picture, what you see is alway the green land, hills and mountains of your thot, dun believe in what you read ya, if you are taking cannibis or ecstasy, shake both your heads.
China is another nation coming soon to be a super economy country, but they still need a long time to go for it industrial to adopt MNC status, perhap a few are on the global already. Our forefather were both occupied by the jap and also in the earlier 70s and 80s industrialistion, the japs were here too, they in some way control our forefather lives by economy...shipyards, electronics, electrical, etc etc, we even embraced their ways and system of working.
U want some K or not?
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Originally posted by angel7030:
Well, anything can happens, why not, during the crisis, Indonesia and thailand get the IMF help with an advantage contract in mind, just like our economy, beside GLC about 70% are MNC or foreign base, in another words, we become dependent of them, a economy colonisation rather than political colonisation had taken place.Anything can happen, but not in the matter that you had stated - did Thailand and Indonesia get colonised after getting help from IMF ?
Did any Western Country that you claimed owned the IMF colonise these two Asian countries ?
They remain as independent today as they were in 1997.
Because people like you alway take ecstasy and never think out of the box, you fail to see the inside picture, what you see is alway the green land, hills and mountains of your thot, dun believe in what you read ya, if you are taking cannibis or ecstasy, shake both your heads.
Try to get sober if you have mixed your alcohol with cannibis or ecstasy, as you have become incoherent with your line of thinking.
China is another nation coming soon to be a super economy country, but they still need a long time to go for it industrial to adopt MNC status, perhap a few are on the global already. Our forefather were both occupied by the jap and also in the earlier 70s and 80s industrialistion, the japs were here too, they in some way control our forefather lives by economy...shipyards, electronics, electrical, etc etc, we even embraced their ways and system of working.
China soon to be a super economy country ?
You must be too drunk to be unable to see that China's economy is still growing at a very much reduced rate even during current economic downturn that has affected every country on this globe.
The fact that they are able to perform in this current economic climate is due to their economic strength and economic gains made over the last 20 odd years when they open their economy and linked it to the world.
U want some K or not?
Why speak in abbreviated codes ?
If you need some KY to lubricate and smoothen your thoughts of ecstasy - just spell it correctly by simply adding the next letter after 'K'.
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Originally posted by frakfrakfrak:
The White Man, if you welcome him into your home and you offer him food and drink and you give him a place to sleep in your house, the next day he will sleep with your wife and steal you blind. This is what he calls "Survival of the Fittest". In his spare times his mind is filled with ideas of how to make weapons to kill more people and tricks to steal from more and more people. This is what he calls "Creative Destruction" and "Capitalist Free Market". This is the sum of his civilization and his modernity today. Will the White Man change? We wait and see as many of his own brothers and sisters do.
To such people, you can only teach them by cutting off the heads of those who do such things to you and place them in front of your house so that when they next come by and you offer them tea, they will know that they should not fuck around with you. This lesson now everybody in the world is learning, except the type of people who like to suck white man cock.
East Timor: ‘We don’t want Australian troops’
http://www.greenleft.org.au/article.php/article.php?id=37830&__plain=1
Former Pacific Islands trade official denounces Australian bullying
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/paci-a01.shtmlMake up your mind whether you want to believe that East Timor is an Australia colony, or if Australia had looked one side and allowed Indonesia to invade East Timor in 1975 ?
If Australia is to be fixxed for their geo-political expediency in 1975, all of ASEAN nations are similarly guilty in looking one side and allowed Indonesia to invade and colonise East Timor.
Why pick on Australia with skewed views blurred by vulgarities ?
The situation in 1975 is quite different from the situation in 2002 - when every ASEAN country supported East Timor independence, and East Timor also had the support of the United Nations.
Everyone has a peeved opinion about something or some country, at least they are more articulate in expressing their views in some coherent and effective ways - compared to your vulgar views that expresses nothing more then your impotence.
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Ford and Kissinger Gave Green Light to Indonesia's Invasion of East Timor, 1975:
New Documents Detail Conversations with Suharto
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The other key difference is that while the money in the Singapore despots' hands is the blood and sweat money of the average man, East Timor's is from the country's mineral wealth.
Now you know why the cursed despot is so cursed.