Looked it up in the dictionary

With reference to Anthony Ward's article on the Breweries (vol. 38 no. 11) might I point out that 'monopoly' means 'exclusive control' (Oxford Dictionary) by one person or group and not by the two groups referred to in the article who only control most of the breweries in this country.

Remark in poor taste

I would like to bring to the attention of all Malaysians that Steven has used the following sentence in the announcement during the Malam Night. Somewhat means 'The Orange Utan in Borneo (Sarawak) is able to sing now.' This was spoken at the time when the singer who is a Sarawak native started to sing. Clearly this is a greatest insult to the native of S'wak. For hundreds of years, the natives of S'wak together with Chinese, Malay and Indian have been living peacefully and harmonically. However, there is a small factor of men who have been trying to meet their ends. An outstanding case is the May 13th in 1969.

I do not know how the singer himself felt it. But, to me as a Sarawakian is a great insult. I feel very strongly about it and I am sure most Malaysian should share the feeling with me.

What conclusion can we draw from this? Undoubtedly a person with such a personal outlook cannot claim to represent the Malaysian Assoc. I feel regretful to have him selected. The real motive of holding such a function is also clear. One should bear in mind that Malaysian students are one of the most awakened, politically conscious groups in NZ. This is so as we come from a country where her rule is most oppressive. Ignoring worsening situation at home and trying to mislead the Malaysian and Kiwi would never succeed.

Malaysians!
Let us fear not the intimidation,
Apathy will throw you into the garbage
bin of history,
A sense of reality will stimulate your
nationalism.
Let us unite 'Let us solidate!'
Hands in Hands,
Thousands hands together.
In the darkness, light will shine
In the quietness, we will sing;
Then,
The earth will definitely quake!

Warning

Warning! The Narc Squad has a list of names of [unclear: Use] this campus and intend to make sweeps within the next month or two. So Stay Real Low!

Opposites enter into struggle

At last, the Wind has died down and the dust settled. Everything becomes clear. Two distinct forces, diametrically opposed to each other emerged in the overseas arena. There has been much controversy, allegations, rumours and claims, hut events of the past two months make it unrefutable — their words and their deeds and the principles on which they stand.

Let us have a look into the Chin-Oh duo and their MSA:

A display claimed to be a 'Malaysian Exhibition', but was definitely at least 50 years behind time. Even my conservative grandmother, if she had been there, would walk out cursing and complaining that she had been subjected to such intolerable museum stuff for the umpteenth times since her childhood days!

Night foil, someone murmured through closed eyes and clapped hands, "hope they will come up with something more intelligible." But no, all hopes were shattered. First come the tourist promotion film "Pearl of the Orient". The whites were shown still the masters of those colonial days with little yellow and brown Asians hanging around their knees with bashful smiles eager to please their masters. And all those comical and naive people leading a hard and tortuous life, yet happy and grateful that their half-starved families still survive!!

Leaving those simple little people and their white superiors behind (may God bless them) the night proceeded on with a Fashion Parade. Figures whirled, silk and satin dresses fluttered and lights flashed on and off, rounds of catcalls, whistles and applause. What a lovely sight! How elegant! But unfortunately, the stark reality at home impinged on one's mind and could not he shadowed by those silk veils. Those millions of half-naked rural children. Those well-worn and tattered clothing they stood up in, those neglected beggers dying by the road side. No, our conscience won't allow us to forget the sufferings and miseries of our people. Our integrity and the moral values we stand for can never be divorced from the truth.

Following the Fashion Parade, were more bourgeois dances exhorting feudal and court culture.

As a Malaysian, I was utterly disgusted at the bias of the whole programme. The cultures and lives of the people were totally distorted. What a big heap of pro-government propaganda and bullshit! No wonder big brother Tharmaratnam, the Malaysian High Commissioner and his staff were beaming and full of praises for sonny Oh and Chin. Surely, they deserve a big subsidy to organise the Malaysian Ball on August 30 and a grand celebration!

Such functions, claimed to be non-political, have serious implications if not countered and exposed. It is well known that we have in Malaysia, hundreds of political prisoners, thousands and thousands of squatters, landless peasants and starving people, the ISA, the Universities and University Colleges Amendment Acts, a reign of terror and repression, no political freedom — a totalitarian state. Yet here we are, a group of Malaysians led by Mr Oh and Mr Chin in Wellington suffering no repression or mal-nutrition, dancing, drinking and laughing — singing praises about their prosperous and happy Malaysia and telling "A Donkey Story" and God (Salient, No. 20).

Fortunately, "God" always creates a balanced world. There exists another class of Malaysian students who are concerned with reality and the well-being of their people — who refused to be elites and who are not ashamed to tell the world that their, brothers and sisters at home don't have a roof over their heads and can't afford 3 meals a day.

A Malaysia-Singapore Solidarity Week was held throughout the main centres of New Zealand. The students put up an excellent exhibition depicting the social realities and the political, economic and historical situation in Malaysia and Singapore. In conjunction, there were slide shows and film shows, discussions and forums. I find it extremely valuable, that this other side of the story that had been for so long distorted censored and being denied to us — was so well organised and presented to us. May I extend my unreserved and sincere congratulations to the Malaysia-Singapore Solidarity Week organisers.

Breweries don't make much profit

Tony Ward's expose of the Breweries I would rank on a par with Truth's expose of Dr [unclear: Sutch].. and his affairs. Tony, like Truth, appears to have a penchant for half-truths, falsehoods, misconceptions and emotive journalism.

There are so many errors in his analysis of the Breweries that it would take a considerable amount of time and space to explain them. However, there is one sector of analysis which is so pitiful that I feel it has to be corrected.

This involves his assertion that a $100 investment in the breweries in 1970 would give a return of well over $100 (or well over 100%) in the period 1970-74. Tony's understanding of shares and finance are shown to he dismal when he makes such a naive claim.

I will try in as simple a manner as I can to illustrate how profitable an investment in brewery shares have proved since 1970.

If on the first day of share-trading in 1970 one wished to purchase 100 NZ Brewery shares the cost would have been $171 (the shares were $1.71 each: to make the illustration simple I will leave out the 2% brokerage fee and the stamp duty). Having bought the shares one would be entitled to receive the final dividend of 7½% for the March 31st 1970 financial year. Because the shares have a par value of 50 cents this means that the shareholder will receive 3.75 cents per share. Our 100 shares would thus net $3.75.

In July 1970, the company had a 1:5 bonus issue of shares. Thus our shareholding would increase to 120. As the company paid a 12.5% dividend for the March 31st 1971 and 1972 financial years we would thus receive $7.50 for each of those years. In 1973 a dividend of 17.5% was paid which would give us a $10.50 dividend.

In July 1973 there was a 1 : 10 bonus issue and a 1 : 10 cash issue at par. The bonus issue would increase our number of shares to 132 and the cash issue would add an extra 12 shares if we paid the 50 cents per share cost. Thus if we paid for the new shares we would have 144 shares and our total outlay would have increased to $177.

For the March 31st 1974 financial year a 15% dividend was paid and as we now have 144 shares we would receive $10.80. For the March 31 1974 financial year a 12.5% dividend was paid, so we would receive $9.00.

Our total dividends for the period would amount to $49.05. We would have a total of 144 shares which on August 4th 1975 had a value of 85 cents each. At this price our 144 shares would realise $122.40.

Thus in the 5 years there was a total outlay of $177. The shares are now worth $1 22.40 and $49.05 has been received in dividends. Adding these two together we get $171.45 -a loss of $4.55 over the 5 year period.

A similar analysis for DB would yield the following:

At the start of 1970 100 shares would be bought for $ 166.

On August 4th DB shares sold for 88 cents the convertible notes sold for $1.36. Thus if the shares and notes were sold on August 4th we would get $154.48. II we add on our dividends we get a total of $209.29 - a gain of 29 cents over the 5 year period.

These figures illustrate how poorly Brewery shareholders have fared. Investment in the Post Office would have far outperformed them. And when it is considered that the average inflation rate over the last 5 years has been about 6% brewing shares have provided a real loss of Considerable magnitude.

Go on, turn the page!