OK For Some, Not OK For Others
Know Your Place

Some of you may have been harping on PM Badawi's prediction of 1,350 for the KLCI a few weeks back. The hecklers were a growing bunch during down days, ... as they say, men are obnoxious in groups. Personally, I think it is acceptable for a PM to say what he thinks the market will be doing. It is acceptable, but not advisable. If I was his personal advisor, I would caution him from giving an actual number. You can be positive without incriminating yourself. Plus, an actual number would make it a tangible yardstick for cynics and critics to harp on to win political points. Still, its OK, that's why I did not criticise Badawi when he said what he said.

But I jumped off my chair when Yus-baby asked people to buy shares, and a bit later on when he ticked off retail players for not entering the market with more gusto. It is not a matter of whether the market hits 1,400 or 1,000. Its not a matter of whether people lose money or make tons from his opinion. Why I jumped was that he should not be making such statements as a person in his position. Am I the only one to see the huge conflict of interest?

Just imagine this,... say the KLCI runs up to 1,400 and Yus-baby thinks its overbought. WOULD Yus-baby be able to come out then to tell everyone to SELL?? He can't... he can't do that for someone in that position.

So, when you can't be making a public SELL statement, you shouldn't making a public BUY statement. Its what we call vested interest.

For Badawi, he can... he can ask people to be take some profit, its still OK, he can even say that he thinks stocks are overvalued ... may be political suicide but its OK. Yus-baby as Bursa CEO has to be very careful of what comes out of his mouth when it comes to Malaysian stocks. Everyone must know the role he is playing. Its called professionalism.