Why Huawei’s 5G technology is seen as a threat by the US

Reuters pic.

The term 5G stands for a fifth generation — to succeed the current fourth generation of mobile connectivity that has made video sharing and movie streaming commonplace.

The new technology will require an overhaul of telecommunication infrastructure.

The 5G will do more than make mobile phones faster — it will link billions of devices, revolutionising transportation, manufacturing and even medicine. It will also create a multitude of potential openings for bad actors to exploit.

The vulnerability helps explain the rising tension between the US and Huawei Technologies Co, China’s largest technology company.

Huawei is pushing for a global leadership role in 5G, but American officials suspect that could help Beijing spy on Western governments and companies.

“Huawei’s significant presence in 5G creates a new vector for possible cyber-espionage and malware,” Michael Wessel, a commissioner on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission that advises Congress, said in an interview.

By connecting whole new classes of products, 5G “creates new vulnerabilities”.

The technology holds great promise. Forests of gadgets will communicate instantly via millions of antennas. Cars will talk to each other to avert lethal crashes, factory foremen will monitor parts supplies and doctors can perform remote surgery as video, sound and data flow without delay.

Connections will be 10 to 100 times faster than current standards — quick enough to download an entire movie in seconds.

Yet, US national security officials see billions of opportunities for spies, hackers and cyber-thieves to steal trade secrets, sabotage machinery and even order cars to crash.

Citing security threats, the US has been pushing allies to block Huawei from telecommunication networks. The US Congress has banned government agencies from buying the company’s gear.

Why is the United States intent on killing Huawei? Look at the data below:

Huawei employs more than 10,000 Phd degree holders as well as many talented Russian mathematicians.

Do you know how many Huawei employees earn more than 1 million yuan (RM603,280) a year? More than 10,000 people.

Do you know how many Huawei employees earn more than five million yuan a year? More than 1,000 people!

In China alone, Huawei’s research and development expenditure is 89.6 billion yuan.

Among the Big Three, Alibaba employs 30,000 people, Baidu 50,000, Tencent about 30,000, leading to a total of 110,000; but Huawei’s global employees total 170,000.

Alibaba’s profit is 23.4 billion yuan, Tencent’s 24.2 billion yuan, Baidu’s 10.5 billion yuan, and their profits total 58 billion yuan, but 70% is taken away by foreigners. Since 2000, Huawei has earned 1.39 trillion yuan from abroad.

In taxes, Tencent pays more than seven billion yuan a year, Alibaba 10.9 billion yuan, and Baidu 2.2 billion. Huawei pays 33.7 billion yuan, which is more than the total of the earlier three firms.

Huawei is a high-tech company, and technology represents the true strength of a country.

In China, many companies can’t last long because there are always other companies ready to replace them, but Huawei is irreplaceable.

Huawei is a 100% Chinese company that has not been listed and does not intend to go public because of the susceptibility to be controlled by capital (which the United States can simply print money to do).

Huawei is the first private technology company in China ever to join the league of the world’s top 100. The Chinese should be proud of Huawei.


Koon Yew Yin is a retired chartered civil engineer and one of the founders of IJM Corporation Bhd and Gamuda Bhd.

The views expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

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Let’s go back to basics

The right fundamentals: By cutting out the ‘fanciful non-productive’ elements, we can beef up our core curriculum that would increase the standards of our education at no additional cost overall.

Reforming Malaysian education can be affordable and simple – if we put our minds to it.

THIS piece was prompted by a very interesting exchange during a “townhall” dialogue session with the Education Minister at the Malaysian High Commission in London last month. In the said townhall, the Minister had reportedly alluded that “70% of education budget is spent on salaries, hence the remaining 30% is not sufficient to radically revolutionise and reform our education agenda”.

This reminded me of an open letter by the Perlis Mufti, Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, to the Prime Minister and Education Minister on Dec 22 last year.

Now I am not prone to quoting muftis and ulamaks, but when one makes sense, I will acknowledge it. This letter makes so much rational and economic sense that it is amazing that it has been basically ignored by the government and the mainstream media.

The Mufti lamented the breakdown of social harmony between the various races, attributing it towards an education system that is – from Year One – “by habit” (“secara tabiat”) exclusive in character to a specific race or religion, be it Malay-Islam, Chinese or Indian.

He even conceded that we could not deny that our national school (Sekolah Kebangsaan) environment has become Malay-Islam dominant.

In a nutshell, here are the Mufti’s proposals:

1. One school system for all, being the national schools, must be truly Malaysian in character, which would allow all race and religions to learn in comfort.

2. Eliminate all religious elements that tend to produce unconducive learning environment for all races in the schools.

3. Carry out Islamic education outside of the normal school session, not during the hours where children of all races and religions are learning.

4. Revamp the Islamic education content such that it is enhanced and improved, and it does not disturb the character of the national schools, which is the domain of all races and religions.

5. All costs for Islamic education should be borne only by Muslims from zakat and/or the respective Islamic state departments. The same should be for other religions, borne by their respective communities.

6. All Islamic schools, Chinese and Tamil primary schools can carry on as supplement to the national schools as an evening session after the main school sessions are over.

Tell me now, is that not one of the most progressive and impactful ideas forwarded by anyone in a long, long time with respect to Islamic education and its possible impact on our school system, children and society?

We need our Government to take these ideas seriously. It is consistent with our Constitution’s requirements that funding for religious activities should only in principle be from that community itself.

There is, however, one issue that needs to be thought about when implementing these suggestions. The Chinese national-type schools have today became a refuge for students from all races wanting to have a more secular and challenging learning environment compared to our national schools. In fact, even the Tamil schools are becoming more credible primary learning institutions compared to before. They are no longer a place where parents seek ethnic identity but more a place where the parents feel more assured of its standard of education than the national schools.

In fact, the educational standards at the national schools has eroded so much that Chinese national-type schools are the school of choice for demanding parents who cannot afford international private education. Therefore, while the aspirations for a single-school system devoid of religious classes and environment are laudable, we need to also address:

1. A transitional strategy to convert Chinese national-type schools into a single-school system without losing their high standards.

2. Strategies and plans on how to raise the standards at national schools.

We cannot do one without the other. In fact, the second need is more important and critical and must be achieved first, i.e. that the standards at national schools be raised first such that a single-school system would be of high standards overall.

To do that, we need a revamp of the school curriculum. A secular and scientific school curriculum and learning content will achieve such objectives. Recall that prior to the 80s, that was the emphasis of our primary and secondary schooling.

We need to remember that primary and secondary educations are basic education. A time to learn the fundamentals of thinking and basic methodology and principles of the different disciplines – through subjects like mathematics, science, biology, physics, chemistry, history, geography, art and language (or literature). Our students completed their O-Levels or SPM in those days and had no trouble being accepted in tertiary institutions all over the world. It is not that hard. We just need to return to the old fundamentals of education, the way we did it in the 70s. Specialised knowledge and skills are for tertiary education – vocational, colleges and universities.

This then takes us back to the Education Minister’s claim that since 70% of his budget is for salaries, therefore the remaining 30% is insufficient to revamp and revolutionise our education system. This cannot be further from the truth.

If we were to implement the proposal put forward by the Perlis Mufti – to remove Islamic classes and any other religious influence activities from national schools – no additional cost would be incurred; in fact the budget would be reduced. This would allow us to allocate the freed cost to increase other classes that would raise the standard of national schools – mathematics and science related ones, especially.

We would be able to enhance our curriculum for even primary students to encompass a more in-depth learning in the sciences such as in history of science, evolutionary biology and genetics, astronomy and cosmology, and modern technology that would perk their interests going into their secondary schooling.

And as suggested by the mufti, the religious classes provided as an option in the evening or outside the formal educational curriculum or session for the national schools will be financed by the religious bodies, including funds from zakat.

Everybody wins.

I would like to point out another aspect to our primary and secondary national education, which in my opinion is excessively unnecessary. We put our children through too many hours of Bahasa Melayu and English. There is no necessity for that. Language is learned primarily by practice, not by attending classes. Reading is the biggest contributor to learning a language. The next one, will be listening and practising. That should be the emphasis in the learning of Bahasa Melayu and English.

We can again halve the hours spent in language classes and beef up our other core curriculum that would increase the standard of our education at no additional cost overall.

My 70s and 80s Malaysian education served me well then and so did it for my friends, who took up very difficult disciplines in science, medicine, engineering, business and many other challenging vocations.

Malaysian primary and secondary education needs to return to its fundamental roots, curriculum and teaching. It needs to rid itself of all the fanciful non-productive elements of religion and those associated with it. It needs to focus on what is real knowledge and preparing our children with the thinking methodology and skills needed for them to survive and progress and be competitive as world citizens in the 21st century.

Go back to basics.

 by Siti Thots

Siti Kasim

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Better to buy a car or a house first?

Given a choice, would you prefer to get a loan to buy an item that depreciates over a short period which is deemed as “bad debt” or commit on a “good debt”, which is to purchase a house or asset that will appreciate in the long term?

A car used to be a symbol of freedom and ease of mobility. I could understand the dilemma of having to choose between a house and a car a decade ago.

Even then, we should still have chosen a car within our means to manage our financial position.

Today, with public transportation and the availability of ride-sharing services such as Grab Car, we can now really have the option of buying a house first. This gives us both shelter and value appreciation.

This choice has just been made easier with Budget 2019 and the recent announcement by the Finance Ministry.

The government has rolled out several measures to assist homebuyers, including stamp duty exemptions.

Homebuyers will get a stamp duty waiver for memorandum of transfer (MoT) for the purchase of houses priced up to RM1mil, during the six-month Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) from January to June 2019. In addition, the stamp duty on loan documentation is fully waived up to RM2.5mil.

Besides that, the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) has also agreed to cut the prices of its completed and incoming units by at least 10%.

When I talk to potential homebuyers, they always ask about the right time to own property.

There is no perfect time to buy a house on foresight. If the price is within your means, and you plan to buy it for own stay or as a long-term investment, then anytime is a good time.

However, with the property market at the bottom half of the cycle now, this could be a good time to commit to a house with the attractive tax incentives rolled out by the government.

Homebuyers can grab the “duty-free” opportunity now to explore the property market. Those living in the Klang Valley will be able to find their dream home during the Homeownership Campaign Expo at the KLCC Convention Centre from March 1-3.

The campaign is jointly organised by Rehda and the Housing and Local Government Ministry. Besides having all developers under one roof, the ministry will also be featuring homes under RM300,000 by PR1MA, SPNB, PNB and others.

The Homeownership Campaign was first held in 1998 to lessen the burden of homebuyers and to encourage homeownership. It is re-introduced after two decades now with the same objective.

For homebuyers who don’t like the risk of buying a house under construction, there are plenty of completed units for sale in the campaign.

Buying a house can be emotional and uncertain for many homebuyers. However, in the long run, we can rest assured that we are buying an asset that will appreciate.

For homebuyers, always buy within your means as you can upgrade your house in the later stage of your life.

In this auspicious Chinese New Year, I hope you decide to prioritise a new house over a new car. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

By Alan Tong . . . Food for Thought

Datuk Alan Tong has over 50 years of experience in property development. He was the World President of FIABCI International for 2005/2006 and awarded the Property Man of the Year 2010 at FIABCI Malaysia Property Award. He is also the group chairman of Bukit Kiara Properties. For feedback, please email bkp@bukitkiara.com


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‘Degree and awards-buying show poor character and stand to lose credibility’

Under scrutiny: A photo of the Cambridge International University and logo taken from its website.

https://youtu.be/x90SmWqP2V4

Politicians having degrees and certificates from questionable higher learning institutions make for bad optics and show poor character, say political analysts.

However, many do it to raise social standing or to win over the masses.

Universiti Malaya law lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Azmi Sharom said that knowingly getting degrees from dubious institutions displayed a lack of confidence in oneself and a lack of good character.

Dr Azmi: ‘Maybe the politicians feel the need to justify their intelligence to the public by having some sort of degree.'

“To actually purchase your degree from these places, then to show off about it, for me it’s not a crime but a sign of poor character.

“Maybe the politicians feel the need to justify their intelligence to the public by having some sort of degree,” said Dr Azmi.

He was commenting on remarks by Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Marzuki Yahya who said his degree was from the Cambridge International University in the United States, after previously saying he had a degree from the University of Cambridge.

Dr Azmi said he did not believe that Marzuki should lose his job over this matter but that it was done in poor form, adding that people cared more about politicians holding public office doing their job well rather than what certificates they possessed.

“It’s not necessary to have a degree to be a politician, but it would inspire confidence in the public if ministers were academically qualified in the field that they were working on.

“For example, the current minister in charge of environment (Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin) is very qualified in her field and it is very reassuring to know that,” he said.

However, Dr Azmi added that having a degree for a minister was not a “be all and end all” as they could still learn on the job.

Universiti Sains Malaysia political analyst Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said politicians buy dubious degrees because they felt that this was important to boost confidence and trust among the masses.

Prof Sivamurugan: ‘Some who are interested to become politicians feel it’s a disadvantage without a higher education.’

“Some quarters of the public think they will be served better by having lawmakers with education credentials.

“In fact, some who are interested to become politicians feel it’s a disadvantage without a higher education.

“For those who don’t have one, they are willing to go to the extent of finding a dubious degree without realising the consequences in this new information world,” he said.

Prof Sivamurugan believed that politicians with dubious degrees should come clean or voluntarily resign to avoid further damaging the party’s image as the new Malaysia was about integrity.

“However, Marzuki’s case must not be politicised and his party must give him a chance to defend himself,” he added.

In 2017, there were suggestions to the Higher Education Ministry to vet lawmakers with fake credentials, said Prof Sivamurugan, adding that it showed that this was nothing new in Malaysian politics.

UiTM Sabah political science lecturer Mohd Rahezzal Shah said the people will question future decisions made by Marzuki as well as his character and integrity if it was proven that he knowingly bought a certificate from a degree mill.

“If knowing full well that these institutions are degree mills, yet they still get degrees from these places, then it really shows their characters.

“People will judge him (Marzuki) based on that and they will judge his judgment as a leader in the future,” said Rahezzal.

Marzuki, who is also a senator and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s secretary-general, also stood to lose credibility if he claimed that he did not know that the Cambridge International University was a degree mill as a simple Google search would have raised a lot of questions, said Rahezzal.

“As a deputy minister, he is involved in decision-making processes everyday. If he can’t even get the facts right for his degree then he will lose credibility,” said Rahezzal.

He added that many of those who have in the past been caught with dubious degrees were from among prominent businessmen and politicians who wanted to raise their social standing.

“They need to have degrees from foreign countries and the easiest way is to buy them,” he said. The Star

Profile photos of faculty members in question

Under scrutiny: A photo of the Cambridge International University and logo taken from its website.

Checks on the US-based Cambridge International University from which Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Marzuki Yahya obtained his degree in business administration have raised more questions on its legitimacy.

The faculty members on the website listed one “associate professor”, Dr Patricia Powell, whose profile picture bears the watermark of international online dating site AnastasiaDate that predominantly features East European women.

The profile pictures used for five other women in the adjunct faculty members’ list also looked suspiciously like that of fashion models.

One “Mrs Josephine Fernandens” posed with a pout against a green backdrop while a “Dr Teressa Jane Bright” had bare shoulders and eye makeup fit for the runway.

Other faculty and adjunct faculty members also bore suspiciously low resolution profile pictures.

Attempts by The Star to email multiple faculty and adjunct faculty members for clarification failed when the mail delivery subsystem noted that these email addresses could not be found or the server was unable to receive mail.

The response from the remote server read: “550 No Such User Here”.

With 150 programmes offered, the institution, which claimed to have existed since 1990, only had 12 faculty members and only 13 adjunct faculty members listed on the website.

A Google search on the names of each faculty and adjunct faculty member turned up nothing, neither a LinkedIn profile nor research papers published under them.

Marzuki, who previously said he had a degree from the University of Cambridge pursued through a distance learning programme, admitted on Wednesday that his degree was actually from the Cambridge International University in the United States.

Since that admission, the institution has come under intense scrutiny and increasing suspicion that it is a “diploma mill” that awards degrees with little or no study.

According to higher learning websites, indicators that an institution may be a diploma mill: it is not accredited; doesn’t have a physical address or location listed on the website; admissions entirely depend on a valid Visa or MasterCard; and the website not having an (.edu) web domain.

On its website, Cambridge International University admits it has not been accredited by an accrediting agency recognised by the US Secretary of Education, adding that “accreditation is a strictly voluntary option in the US”.

“There is no mandate by federal law for a school, college or university to be accredited. Many good schools are not accredited,” it said.

There was also no physical address or location of the institution’s office listed on the website, which also does not have the (.edu) domain.

Cambridge International University has no affiliation with the prestigious University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

The US-based institution only offers “distance learning” programmes with degree courses costing as low as US$5,000 (about RM20,000) with fees payable via PayPal. Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/02/08/profile-photos-of-faculty-members-in-question/#0QSzO6Txyv7Bz2zo.99

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It Changed My Life: I always hire people who are better than me

It Changed My Life: I always hire people who are better than me, says Changi Airport ...

I always hire people who are better than me, says Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong .

In the background is a portrait of Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, painted by French artist Jean-Pierre. ST Photo Kevin Lim

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In 2007, Mr Liew Mun Leong – then CEO of CapitaLand – received a staggering $20.52 million bonus for helping the property developer achieve a record profit of $2.76 billion that year.

He is a wealthy man, but wealth, he says, means nothing to him.

Now the chairman of CAG, he says he is contented with his home (a landed property in Chancery Lane) and his BMW 7 series. “But I don’t want to work on my money. I want to work on my grey matter and if possible, grow it,” he says with a chuckle.

It explains why he still holds not one, but several jobs. Besides CAG, he is chairman of Surbana Jurong.

He sits on several boards. In many ways, he says his career has been a case of opportunity and chance. “How many engineers get the opportunity to build airports? After more than two decades in the public sector, he took up the offer to steer engg and construction firm L&M Investments.... Continue Reading

Interview with Changi Airport Group's Liew Mun Leong: You've got mail - from the chairman

Mr Liew, who used to be the CEO of CapitaLand, started penning his "Sunday e-mails" back in 1998, initially for staff at the real estate giant and now at the two firms he chairs. A collection of these e-mails has been published over four volumes, with the most recent - Building People: Sunday Emails From A Chairman - now out.PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Staff of Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong have much to glean from e-mails that their head honcho sends on Sundays to share his reflections

Wong Siew Ying

Getting a note from the boss every few weeks, extolling the virtue of pragmatism or sharing his observations on a Mount Fuji climb, is pretty rare for most employees but it has been a regular occurrence for two firms in Singapore.

Former CapitaLand chief executive Liew Mun Leong started penning his "Sunday e-mails" back in 1998, initially for staff at the real estate giant and now at the firms he chairs - Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong.

A collection of these e-mails has been published over four volumes, with the most recent - Building People: Sunday Emails From A Chairman - now out.

Mr Liew, 70, told The Sunday Times: "I had embarked on a new hobby of writing e-mails as a means of reaching out to my colleagues and staff...

"It is a tool to influence their thinking, to curate their corporate values, their sense of responsibility to the company and to society."

The communication goes both ways and staff are welcome to offer feedback.

Mr Liew, who left CapitaLand in 2012, believes successful leaders must be good communicators, which is why he continues to send Sunday e-mails to staff at Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong.

These notes are written in his characteristically candid and casual style, containing anecdotes, personal reflection and a good handful of quotable quotes.

In an e-mail titled Pragmatism In Business, Mr Liew urged the management not to be emotionally attached to the buildings they have acquired or built. "ROE is returns on equity, not returns on emotion."

He also shared the key ingredients of his career success - the 5Ps, which stand for paranoia, perseverance, perfectionism, passion and pragmatism.

"Being paranoid forces me to plan ahead to deal with even the most remotely possible adversity... the consequence of not doing so may be regretful and unforgiving," Mr Liew, a trained engineer, wrote in another note.

He spends four to five hours on a Sunday afternoon crafting the e-mails, drawing inspiration from his travels, business dealings and observations.

MANAGEMENT STYLE

Whether in his previous role as a chief executive or as a chairman now, Mr Liew takes a hands-on approach in overseeing the companies, be it in the hiring of senior staff or assessing an acquisition target.

"I am involved very much in interviewing senior people, for example, a vice-president or senior vice-president. I have the vetting right... I do turn down candidates who are recommended by management."

The topic of talent development and having the right core values takes up an entire chapter in his new book.

Mr Liew emphasises the importance of "eyeballing" candidates and asking them questions about their personal and education background to determine their aptitudes, attitudes and interests. For senior appointments, he would even personally run reference checks on a candidate's past performance by speaking to former employers.

Having the right troops is a key consideration in driving corporate growth but, beyond talent, being committed is also critical.

"They may have talent, but they can stay with you for two years and leave... I am a firm believer of building a lasting organisation. And an organisation can last only when people last," he said.

SURBANA JURONG

As chairman of urban-planning consultancy Surbana Jurong, Mr Liew aims to build the firm into Asia's consultancy powerhouse on the back of the region's growing needs in infrastructure.

The firm announced last month that it had acquired Australian-based SMEC Holdings for $400 million, a move that takes the consultancy's workforce to 10,000 staff members in 40 countries.

Surbana has also been appointed to draw up a masterplan to develop Chongqing into western China's logistics hub. This is part of the third bilateral project - Chongqing Connectivity Initiative - between Singapore and China.

Apart from China, the company is involved in more than 40 projects in fast-emerging Myanmar, including masterplanning, project management and engineering design.

Mr Liew is bullish about urbanisation and infrastructure prospects in China, Africa and South-east Asia, and he is not overly concerned about whether the firm has the bandwidth to handle the increasing workload.

"I have one business philosophy and that is 'I am not worried about not enough people, I am worried about not enough business'.

"You get me the business, I will find the people to do it," he said.

There is potential for more mergers and acquisitions ahead as Surbana Jurong seeks to grow its capabilities in underground development and environmental engineering. Mr Liew noted that these are areas in which European companies have an edge.

CHANGI AIRPORT GROUP

It is apt to say that Mr Liew's work at Changi Airport Group has come full circle. He was appointed to the board in June 2009 but his involvement with the world-class air hub had begun much earlier.

More than 40 years ago, he had requested a transfer to the Public Works Department to learn to be an airport engineer - a move that had him involved in the construction of Changi Airport in 1975.

Today, it is one of the world's busiest international airports, handling more than 55.4 million passenger movements last year and serving 100 airlines flying to more than 320 cities.

"Aviation is always competitive, that is the order of the game... But I think we have performed well... we have won over 500 awards," Mr Liew noted.

With increasing competition from Middle Eastern airlines and airports for the European market, he said Changi Airport can focus its strategies on capturing a larger share of the pie in Asia.

"We are positive that the Asian aviation business is going to be very big. Look at China, for instance... Its outbound this year is already 140 million people. It was looking at 100 million outbound in the year 2020. But now in 2016, it has already outgrown that number."

Mr Liew's enthusiasm about growing Surbana Jurong and Changi Airport Group is unlikely to wane with age. When asked if he would retire at some point, he quipped: "I don't retire, I die!"

He added: "Society has invested so much in you in terms of the experience that you have and to say just because you reach a certain age, you fall off the cliff into nothingness - I think that is a silly thing."

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 I made money in real estate in my 20s. Not rich, but my retirement is more or less secured. I own a small business and the property that i operate out of. Preparing to move to a small town and live off of rental income, and probably open another small business there. I didn’t do anything fancy or amazing in my life, but i am very happy with how things turned out for me

https://youtu.be/MwixREUJOI0