Press Statement – A Prelude to the Event on 17 April 2008 (Thursday) which will be held at the Conference Room, Bursa Malaysia.

Good Morning

Important Friends

First and foremost, once again I would like to welcome you to our First Press Briefing for the Year 2008.

The objectives of today’s Press Briefing are two-fold :-

(i) To provide a prelude to our event on 17 April 2008 (Thursday) which will be held at the Conference Room, Bursa Malaysia on the following :-

• Official Launch of the Company Meetings Survey 2007;
• Official Launch of MSWG’s Subscriber Services;
• Workshop for the Retail Investors;
• Dialogue with the Investing Public.

(ii) To give an update on the activities carried out by MSWG for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2007.

Prelude to the Event on 17 April 2008 (THURSDAY)

Official Launch of the Company Meetings Survey 2007

The Company Meetings Survey 2007 is a collaborative effort between MSWG and the Universiti Teknologi MARA.  This Survey is undertaken to determine the level of the reporting compliance and best practices by the top 100 public listed companies on company meetings vis-à-vis with the Listing Requirements and Best Practices.  It highlights some of the many important issues which cover General Meetings, Board Meetings and Board Committee Meetings.   

This Survey will provide relevant and helpful information to the directors and management of PLCs on how to enhance the value and quality of General Meetings, Board Meetings and Committee Meetings.  This Survey is also useful as a tool to educate the retail shareholders on the various types of company meetings.  

This Survey Report will be distributed and marketed to the public-listed companies mentioned in the Survey as well as local and international institutions including professional bodies, fund managers, research houses, institutional shareholders, statutory bodies, regulators, financial institutions, institutes of higher learning, international corporate governance bodies and the investing public generally.

The Company Meetings Survey 2007 will be available for sale after the official launch.

Official Launch of MSWG’s Subscriber Services

In line with its objectives to promote shareholder activism among the  shareholders, MSWG is offering its Subscriber Services to the investing public.  There are two (2) classes of Subscriber Services offered, i.e. Individual Subscribers and Corporate Subscribers.

The annual fees for the Subscriber Services are as follows :-

• Individual Rates

• Corporate Rates

However, a special 20% discount on the annual fees will be given for limited period only, i.e. until 30 June 2008.

Applications can be made using the prescribed form which can also be downloaded from our website.

For the initial stage, the subscribers shall be entitled to the following value proposition, which will be improved from time to time :-

• Proxy Advisory and Proxy Voting Services - A nominal fee will be charged for attendance and other services rendered including monitoring and surveillance of the PLCs;

• Access to MSWG’s letters to the PLCs on the points to be raised at the General Meetings of the PLCs;

• Appropriate responses to the subscribers on issues, complaints or grievances to be resolved for the subscribers’ benefit;

• Regular dialogue sessions on common issues in PLCs affecting the minority interest;

• Priority booking and discounted rate for the Investors Education Programmes and other events organized by MSWG; and

• Discounted  prices for all MSWG’s publications.

Workshop for the Retail Shareholders

This Workshop entitled “Profitability, Liquidity & Insolvency – How to Analyse and Interpret Them for Making Right Investment” is specially organized for the retail shareholders. It is aimed at imparting relevant financial knowledge and making the retail shareholders/investors understand financial information such as ratio analysis and versatile tools in analyzing and interpreting company’s performance.  

The fee for this Workshop is RM100 which includes refreshments/lunch and relevant materials.

Dialogue with Investing Public

At the end of the event, a dialogue will also be held with the Investing Public.  The objectives of the Dialogues are as follows :-

• To obtain feedbacks and views on MSWG’s products & services to enable MSWG to design and develop its products & services which will be relevant and beneficial to the retail shareholders.

• These products & services are mainly aimed at informing, educating and broadening the perspective of all investing public, particularly the retail shareholders/investors, to make them better investors.

• The findings will also enable MSWG to enhance its basic role to improve the credibility of the capital market for all stakeholders.

Members of the media are cordially invited to the abovementioned event on 17 April 2008 at the Conference Room, BURSA MALAYSIA BERHAD, Ground Floor, Exchange Square, Bukit Kewangan, Kuala Lumpur.

Latest Status Report on MSWG Activities

In ensuring that MSWG meets the Capital Market Development Fund’s (CMDF) requirements to focus more on delivering its Public Mandate, MSWG has embarked on various activities involving the public, particularly the retail shareholders.  The details of the various activities which were successfully carried out by MSWG from 1 January to 31 December 2007 as compared to the KPIs are as follows :

In complying with the CMDF’s requirements for the Company to focus its activities on encouraging shareholder activism among the retail investors, the Company had organized the following programmes to inform, educate and broaden the retail investors’ knowledge in investing in the public listed companies, thus making them better investors.

(i) Regular Dialogues

Dialogues to obtain feedback and suggestions on how best the Company could serve the retail investors’ needs were successfully held with three separate groups, i.e. Retail Investors, Institutional Shareholders/Professional Bodies and Media on 24 July 2007, 8 August 2007 and 9 August 2007 respectively.

(ii) Seminars Held

Four (4) seminars were held in conjunction with the official launching of the following publications :-

• A Guide of Best Practices for Institutional Shareholders
• A Guide for Retail Shareholders
• Corporate Governance Screencard 2006
• Dividend Survey 2006
• Directors’ Remuneration 2007
• Corporate Governance Survey 2007

These seminars were attended not only by the institutional shareholders, but also the retail investors. 

A Half-Day Seminar and a Workshop for the retail investors were held on 7 September 2007 and 27 December 2007.

Planned Activities For The Year 2008

Under the Reviewed Business Plan 2008 to 2009 which was submitted to the CMDF Board in February 2008, the Company has planned for various activities to be carried out in year 2008 which will focus primarily on the retail investors and at the same time be able to generate income in its aim to be sustainable by year 2009.

CMDF has agreed to continue funding MSWG’s activities relating to the Public Mandate for two years, i.e. 2008 and 2009 totalling RM3 million.

The various activities which will be carried out by MSWG in the year 2008 are as follows :-

1. Monitoring Services
   -  200 public listed companies.
   
   
2. Articles/Commentaries/Interviews/Speaking Engagements
   -  90 articles/commentaries/interviews/speaking engagements.
   
   
3. Corporate Governance Survey 2008 (Collaboration with the Nottingham University Business School)
   -  Covering all public listed companies on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad.
   
   
4. Dividend Survey 2008 (Collaboration with the University Teknologi MARA)  
   -  Covering all public listed companies on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad.
   
   
5. Regular Dialogues
   - To be held with retail investors, institutional shareholders/professional bodies and the Media.
   
   
6. Workshops/Seminars/Training Courses for Retail Investors  
   - With effect from April 2008, to be held every two months either solely by the Company or in collaboration with third parties.
   
   
7. Subscriber Services  
   -  Individual Subscribers and Corporate Subscribers, both local and overseas will be launched on 17 April 2008.

Conclusion

MSWG is proud to say that under its 5-Year Business Plan (2005-2009), it has succeeded in achieving a satisfactory level of Visibility and Credibility.   This achievement is borne by the various evidence including :-

1. Recognised Licensed Body
   
   • MSWG is properly licensed.
   
   
2. Support from Shareholders (Retail and Institutional)
   
   • Appointment as Proxies to attend AGMs/EGMs by both retail and institutional shareholders;
   • Participation of both retail and institutional shareholders in dialogues, seminars and workshops held by MSWG; and
   • Positive actions and feedback from numerous relevant parties including retail shareholders, business and corporate leaders.
   
   
3. Support from PLCs
   
   • Invitations received to attend AGMs/EGMs;
   • Replies to MSWG’s queries;
   • Briefings by directors and advisers of a number of PLCs on their corporate proposals such as corporate restructurings and acquisitions;
   • Appointments as Independent Scrutineers by PLCs; and
   • Holding of Corporate Governance Award Ceremonies and Seminars on Corporate Governance for PLCs.
   
   
4. Support from Mass Media
   
   • Participation as Guest Commentator on TV3 Prime Time Programme “The Exchange” on eight (8) occasions;
   • Appearance as a Guest on TV2 Programme : Money Tree;
   • MSWG featured on Prime Time, i.e. TV News, TV1, TV2, TV3, NT7 and Astro on numerous times;
   • Invitation for MSWG to pen a monthly column in the Malaysian Business Magazine;
   • Willingness of The Star and Utusan Malaysia to give a Regular Column to MSWG;
   • Invitation for MSWG to be featured in the Star CEO Outlook for 2008;
   • Publication of numerous commentaries and articles from MSWG on topical issues in the newspapers and journals;
   • Invitation to MSWG for various functions including the initial The Star CEO breakfast dialogue, the Annual Budget dialogue with the Finance Minister's and Government-Linked Companies’ presentations/ dialogues; and
   • Invitation to be a panelist in The Edge-PwC Roundtable on Board Effectiveness.
   
   
5. Recognition from Regulators
   
   • Request from the Securities Commission to play a leading role in the set up of the Institutional Shareholders’ Committee;
   • Request by the Securities Commission to undertake the Corporate Governance Survey for all PLCs;
   • Invitation from Bursa Malaysia Berhad to provide MSWG’s views and feedback and participate in discussions relating to proposed amendments to the listing rules; and
   • Close working relationship between MSWG and the principal regulators where regulators have highlighted certain companies to be monitored by MSWG.
   
   
6. Recognition from Professional Bodies/ Organisations
   
   • Invitation for MSWG to become the Chairman of the panel of judges for the Malaysian Business Corporate Governance Award;
   • Invitation for MSWG to become the member of the Judging Panel for the CEO of the Year Award;
   • Invitation for MSWG to become an Adjudicator for the MIA National Annual Corporate Report Awards (NACRA) 2007;
   • Invitations to participate in Conferences/ Seminars/ Dialogues as Chairman, Speaker and Panelist; and
   • Invitation to work on collaborative projects by MIA and CPA (Australia).
   
   
7. Recognition from International Organisations
   
   • Invitation to participate in the annual roundtables organized by International Organisations like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA). MSWG has been approached by a member of OECD to initiate the setting up of a Regional Network for Shareholder Organizations in the Asia-Pacific;
   • International recognition on the Corporate Governance Survey published by MSWG. The Corporate Governance Survey Report 2006 was used by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in its assessment of the corporate governance framework in Malaysia as reported in IIF’s Task Force Report entitled “Corporate Governance in Malaysia - An Investor Perspective” dated August 2007;
   • Invitation for MSWG to be a speaker/panelist in various international seminars and conferences including World Council of Corporate Governance (WCCG) and INSEAD; and
   • Willingness of prestigious global professional organizations like McKinsey & Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG and Ernst & Young to work on projects with MSWG.
   

In brief, it is humbly submitted that MSWG continues to play a creditable leading role in Enhancing Shareholder Activism and Protection of Minority Interest. More emphasis is now being placed on addressing the public mandate to develop shareholder activism among the retail shareholders.

Lastly, MSWG welcomes any questions or/and comments from the media on its activities in ensuring that MSWG achieves its objectives effectively.  Together, we will try to enhance the development of our capital market thereby making Malaysia a better place to live in.

ABDUL WAHAB JAAFAR SIDEK
Chief Executive Officer
Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG)

Dated : 8 April 2008