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Editorials
Backwaters of Kerala - Environmental Disaster Ahead?
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It has been said that when God tested the colour green, he splashed it on
the world and it fell, with all its shades, on Kerala, the south western
state of India.
Those who have had the good fortune to travel around this area would have noticed that it is one large village of 30 million residents. It is also the revered home of a further tenth of these scattered around the world, from a teashop in the Himalayan foothills to the Board Rooms of many multinationals.
As one drives through the narrow roads flanked by beautiful green paddy fields, or rubber trees, or cocoa trees, or palm trees, or plantations of pepper, or cardamom, or etc., all one notices is nature in all its beauty with a beautiful people which blend with the environment.
A recent query in the Kerala Discussion Forum asked what was the best agenda to follow when visiting Kerala. No doubt it is to start at the southernmost tip of India at Kanyakumari (Cape Commorin) in Tamil Nadu, and work up to Kovalam (near Trivandrum), the Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary, the backwaters around Kottayam and Alleppy, the city of Cochin with its Jewish synagogue and township, Alwaye with its beautiful palace, Trichur with its temples, and northward towards Calicut through an absolutely magnificent landscape, and back to Bangalore (in Karnataka) through the forests around the Gudalur Ghats leading to Anamalai and Mudumalai wild life sanctuaries in Tamil Nadu and the Bandipur wild life sanctuary in Karnataka.
In this trip the true secular nature of India can be seen as four great religions, Syrian Orthodox Christianity (Kerala is one of the few places of the world where the Apostolic faith dates back to the origins in the first century), Islam, as represented by the friendly traders who came from the Middle East and settled here, Judaism (unfortunately a dwindling number as the Jews have been tempted back to Israel with the creation of their home nation), and Hinduism, have lived in harmony with each other right through the last 20 centuries to be ruffled only when political greed has disturbed the feathers.
Of the beauty of the state, most of the sights have been touched by the hand of man. It s difficult to say whether it is for the better or for the worse. Personally, one would have liked them to remain as they were, but the tourists demand their home comforts and thus the force of money has changed the notion of what is beautiful.
In this context there is an article in the October 27th 1996 issue of THE WEEK, the best English weekly magazine to emanate from Kerala, which contains a fascinating coverage by correspondent Vinu Abraham, accompanied with some nice photography by B. Jayachandran, which talks of "Magic Moments" or the brainwave of travel agent's Tour India's maestro, Babu Varghese, who thought up a scheme to modernise and embellish the kettuvallams of the backwaters of Kerala to enable visitors to lazily cruise along and enjoy the magnificence of this lush surrounding beauty.
The article tells how a team of carpenters, led by Kunjansaari and Kunjikuttan, worked on our heritage boats and using traditional materials as wood, bamboo, bamboo mat and coir fibre have transformed these majestic boats into creatures of comfort for the tourists who can afford them.
Imagine cruising around the backwaters and waking up to some "chakara kapi" (Jaggery coffee), "puutu, payam and pani" (an untranslatable traditional Kerala breakfast), lunching on "meenavevichatha" ( dynamite spiced fish curry) with "thoren" (a vegetable side fried dish made of finely sliced cabbage and beans) and tapioca, enjoying "masala dosai, idlis and sambar" (untranslatable south Indian delicacies) for tea along with some delicious halwa sweet, and then dining on a rich mutton biriyani with an equally delicious chicken curry and "patchadi" (a curd side dish) served on the banana leaf. Can there be anything more idyllic in this world?
Kudos to Babu Varghese, Vinu Abraham, B. Jayachandran and THE WEEK for spotlighting these new houseboats of Kerala. But we do hope that the flood of tourists and the commercialisation of this novel idea will not spoil and environmentally destroy God's greatest creation, the Backwaters of Kerala (which pales to insignificance the canals of Venice) where some of us have spent our finest childish moments wallowing in the clean water for our evening bath while watching the beautiful sunset in the golden western sky, and where we have heard tales, from our "jubba mundu" clad grandfathers and "chatte mundu" clad grandmothers, of the crocodiles that used to haunt these waters.
We hope a few years hence these kudos do not turn to be brickbats!
Anti-Semitism and Racism in Scandinavia
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What hit the headlines in the world press last week was the so-called
racist remark made by the UEFA Chief, Lennart Johannson, who allegedly
referred to African footballers as blackies.
Suddenly, with a pang of conscience, Kaleva, the local newspaper of Oulu, featured a small news item about how a visiting basketball player from Belarus was beaten up by two Finns on the night of Saturday 9th November 1996 outside a restaurant in Mikkeli, a small town in eastern Finland, such that he lost consciousness. He was admitted to the local hospital who could not attend to him and he was then rushed to the University hospital in Kuopio. This basketball player is not going to be playing basketball for a long time.
It was sardonically amusing to read an editorial in Ilta-Sanomat RACIST VIOLENCE SPREADS IN FINLAND TOO, one of the leading afternoon newspapers in Finland, where they reported the conviction of a couple of "hooligans" for their brutal attack, along with about 20 others who have gone scot free, which they carried out on a Zairean and then a Gambian, while one of this crew took grotesque pictures to celebrate their brutalisation of their attack..
This evening newspaper thought that racism was spreading in Finland, something new?
How sadly mistaken they are.
Discrimination of all sorts is a way of life and the culture in Finland.
Sohlo, in his column this week Come drink and sing along in our merry company? Not me., (or the Finnish version Jo ja laula iloisessa seurassamme? En.) reports the anti-semitic and racist words in the drinking songs of the coming elite of Finland, University students of Oulu.
In a previous issue we had highlighted how a large Finnish company openly practices the worst form of discrimination - Namial Discrimination or Namism, and how this goes unchecked.
Or take the case of a foreign friend of ours, a docile double graduate, who, about three years ago was framed by the head of the Oulu Labour Office, Erkki Holm, on a false charge of threatening violence against a low paid secretary in the Labour Office. This foreigner was harassed by being subjected to a torturous police investigation (Remember Principle No. 1 in Finland - You are guilty till proven innocent). Finally, the charges were rejected, but only after making sure the individual was completely mentally destroyed.
Erkki Holm, who is probably the best known racist in Oulu, on another occasion arrogantly told a foreigner and his Finnish wife to go and commit suicide by jumping in the Oulu River. A complaint by the couple to the Ombudsmen resulted in no investigation or action against their racist comrade of the Oulu Labour Office who has been free to continue to practice his racist policies with impunity, even till today.
Or, take the attitude of the Rector of Oulu University, Lauri Lajunen who says that the committing of scientific fraud and theft of a foreigner's work by one of his Finnish colleagues is only a cultural misunderstanding.
Like those racists who beat up the basketball player or those skinheads who beat up the Africans, Bureaucrat Erkki Holm and Rector Lauri Lajunen are equally guilty of racism, which, of course, goes uninvestigated and unpunished.
. Or look at the case of the Gambian student in Oulu who went, with a few friends to celebrate the fact that one of his colleagues had got a job. Not only was he refused entry while his white colleagues were allowed into the premises, but the doorman manhandled him and the Oulu Police were summoned. He was dragged down the stairs and taken to the lock-up - for wanting to go to a restaurant with his friends.
What is the difference between the behaviour of the Oulu Police and those hooligans, skinheads, or whatever you may call them? Absolutely nothing, except that both of them are nothing but racists practicing what is common and has been commonplace in Finland. Why do those skinheads get sentenced and not the police?
Or, take the behaviour of Juhani Lokki of the Union of Technical Authors in Finland. When an foreign author, long time resident in Finland, author of several books and articles, over 100 technical papers in leading foreign journals, applied for membership of the association, along with his Finnish wife, who also writes primarily in the English language (as their audience are the English speaking population around the world), although there is no clause in the Union regulations about language being a criteria for membership, the couple were told to submit a list of articles which they had published in Finnish as otherwise their membership application was to be rejected.
The couple chose not to reply or even bother to become associated with this racist organisation, since they did not want to belong to this elite organisation which openly practices this form of discrimination.
All this shows the hypocrisy of the Finnish Press, who have suddenly discovered that racism exists in Finland, whereas it has been the core of Finnish society as it has been bred from the brain-washing that every male (and soon every female) is subjected to during his compulsory army training. Many of those who are responsible for training these young minds use derogatory remarks about people of different nationality and colour as the basis of whipping up the nationalistic fervour in their charges.
As President of Finland, Matti Ahtisaari, is the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces, he is completely and totally responsible today for this situation - in short, the rot starts at the top, at the very top.
Take, in contrast, the story last week of a goalkeeper for a football team in England who will face punishment leading even to suspension, for making a Hitler salute in public. Where, oh, where art thou you racists in Finland - hiding behind your culture, which is the master of deception.
It takes a very tough individual to withstand the pressures that are put on him to maintain his personal humanitarian views on any matter. The forms of indoctrination being practised in Finland ensures that many Finnish parents bring up their children with totally a false sense of values - above all, racist in character. Hence the words of the anti-semitic songs sung by the educated students of Oulu University and reported by Sohlo were no surprise to us.
Lennart Johannsons's alleged words are mild compared to the racist remarks by many Finnish politicians (eg. Sulo Aihtoniemi of the Centre Party), most Finnish bureaucrats or even the advertising of some major industries, as Fazer. Their scurrilous use continues, with impunity, of racist images in the advertising of Finnish products to the Finnish public, disregarding the demands by humanitarian organisations to remove these offending pictures.
Damn you, they say, - we will do as we like in our country!
Sadistic Unemployment Statistics in Finland
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The Social Democratic Party (SDP) of Finland made an election pledge that
it would halve the level of unemployment during its term in office.
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, at odds with the Parliamentary Chief of his party Erkki Tuomioja, has stuck his neck out further in committing Finland to be at the forefront of taking Finland into the European Monetary Union, whereas Tuomioja has said that such union should be delayed by about 10 years.
Unemployment statistics in Finland are pulled out of the hat by one and all. The Labour Ministry, headed by Liisa Jaakonsaari from Oulu, has its figures; the Central Statistics Organisation has its own figures; different departments in the Finance Ministry have their own figure for different occasions. These figures vary from 380000 to 700000, whereas in fact it is over a million.
It will, therefore, be no problem for Lipponen to turn around to the Finnish public when the unemployment figures of the lowest of them reaches half the value of the highest of them to say that unemployment in Finland has been halved.
However, there is an underlying attempt by the Prime Minister and his henchwoman, Liisa, to reduce these figures at all costs with no sense of morality as to what they are doing.
We had a visit by a distraught couple, both in their early fifties, both unemployed, just yesterday. Steps have been taken to not register the man, while further attempts are being made to unregister the woman.
Queried about this they said they had just been to the Oulu Labour Office. They met a senior officer, Kirsi Pietikäinen, who said that it was Finnish Law that if any family member had a majority stake in a company, then the Finnish Labour Office had the powers to remove all relatives, the grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, son, daughter, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandson, granddaughter, uncle, aunt, or any relative whatsoever, from the unemployment register as they were all entrepreneurs and not entitled to the unemployment benefit, even if they were starving!
Is this really Finnish Law - we think it is the cannibalism that has survived in Finland from the time those Finno-Ugrics reached here.
This information put into the correct perspective explain the recent moves by the City of Oulu to launch the 1000 job campaign by encouraging people to become entrepreneurs. This simple strategy to lead a 1000 people in Oulu to entrepreneurial status can help Lipponen and Liisa to wipe of as many people as they desire from the unemployment register - and, therefore, meet the criteria for the European Monetary Union and fulfil their election pledge.
The steps taken by each Labour Office reflects the preferences in that office as they adopt policies in keeping with the chief of that office - like in Oulu it is mainly a racist system. In the case of the couple who visited us, the husband, a foreigner was removed while his wife, a Finn was not removed - and both were in identical situations - what more proof does one require about racism in this particular Labour Office.
(See earlier editorial for further proof of this.)
No Finnish newspaper has dared to point out this shame-faced trick behind the entrepreneur scheme being followed by the Labour Ministry in collusion with the City Authorities around the country. A few stray letters have appeared in the columns of some of the local newspapers warning anyone attempting to start an entrepreneurial activity of what misery lies in store for them and their families, but a policy of silence otherwise prevails.
How far Finland can be allowed to get away with this behaviour, which a complete violation of the human rights and the dignity of individuals, is now to be seen. Our friends are meeting their Union Lawyer on Monday. We do not see that progressing very far as most lawyers in Finland do not want to do any work that brings them in conflict with the authorities - they want to collect money from the sources that generate them, and our desperate couple do not have any money to pay any lawyer.
We shall update you on the developments as they occur. We were told by them that the gentleman left the office of Kirsi Pietikäinen calling her a Finnish sadist - which we believe is exactly the way in which she has behaved in collusion, no doubt, with her racist boss Erkki Holm.
Kirsi Pietikäinen is obviously nothing but a gutless bureaucrat who can only say Baa Baa Black Sheep, Yes Sir, No Sir...., and she is a shame to Finnish womanhood which is otherwise full of examples of women of wisdom and understanding.
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Letters to the Editor
Are you guys for real?!?!
- Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 20:01:19 +0200 (EET)
From: World Wide Web
To: findians@netppl.fi
Subject: Visitors bookguest book---------------------------------------------------
Input Field: STORY
Response: * Are you guys for real?!?!
---------------------------------------------------
Input Field: CITY, COUNTRY:
Response: * Jyvaskyla, Finland (Geneva at the moment, actually)
---------------------------------------------------
Input Field: NAME:
Response: * Jonne Kolima
---------------------------------------------------
Input Field: E-MAIL:
Response: * joheko@jyu.fi
---------------------------------------------------
- Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 20:01:19 +0200 (EET)
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with thanks to "communication briefings"
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How to Reenergize the GroupTo encourage participation and maintain energy at meetings:
- Distribute five coins or other tokens to each participant before the meeting. As people contribute, have them give you a token. Assign a minor cleanup task to the person with the most tokens at the end of the session.
- Use a flip chart or poster board to get participants' position
on an issue. How: Draw a horizontal line and label one end
"positive" and the other "negative". Invite participants
to mark a dot on the line indicating where they stand on the issue. Let
them discuss their reasoning with others near their dot and then with
the group.
- Ask participants to trade seats with someone on the opposite
side of the room after a break.
- Group participants into pairs to discuss the topic at hand.
Then, invite them to share their ideas with the group.
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COMMENTS ON HOT NEWS ITEMS
Association For The Same Law For All
Dateline: 16th November 1996
In Oulu today there was a meeting of the Association For The Same Law For All, an organisation founded in September 1995 by Olavi Jaakkola of Pori, a town on the south western coast of Finland. The organisation is just gaining ground. Regional groups of people, who have been severely treated by the establishment, are now getting together to fight back against the politician and bureaucrat using all legal means at their disposal, and above all the strength of numbers.In the well attended meeting at Oulu many tragic miscarriages of justice were recounted by the participants. It was reassuring to the participants to note that there were others willing to fight the injustice that prevails today in the Finnish power hierarchy.
There may be a regional centre near you where you can turn to if you have a problem. You could meet others who would go out of their way to help you. To establish contact you should contact the Secretary of the Organisation, who does speak fluent English, Ms. Lena Wiksten, at Pori, (telephone number 02-6417941 or fax at 02-6327227). The organisation has its own telephone number - 02-6475444 and fax of 02-6327227. Just 70 marks will get you membership to the organisation - money we feel which will be well spent as an insurance against the problems you are definitely likely to encounter.
Having no external funding the group raises money by designing and selling a few products as T-Shirts, Shopping bags and Greetings Cards that bear their logo - which is important as they can retain their independence and not be controlled by any monied group. Tireless campaigner for justice for all, our author of GOING SOHLO has joined the Oulu Working Group to contribute his experience to highlight and solve the problems of those who are in trouble. Ms. Sinikka Ikni was elected unanimously as the Chairwoman of the Oulu Group and Esko Fabraeus was elected as the Secretary.
The Oulu Working Group will have its first session on 1st December 1996 and you can rest assured that Findians Briefings will highlight some of the tragic stories that are put forward by the participants.
One can only congratulate Olavi Jaakkola for forming such a group, but it is indeed a sad reflection of situation in Finland if such a group needs to exist.
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Most Immature and Childish Prime Minister
Dateline: 14th November 1996
Paavo Lipponen, the Prime Minister of Finland has certainly earned himself the title of being the most immature and childish Prime Minister in Finnish history. A couple of weeks ago he was hauled up by the Speaker of the Finnish parliament for using un-Parliamentarian language when referring to his opposite number in the Opposition, Esko Aho.A week ago he did the most undiplomatic act by opposing the name of Esko Aho for the post of Chairman of the Nordic Council, (and then pretending that he did not) so much so that when the Nordic Council met at the beginning of last week it had to do so without a Chairman. A sort of "I can teach you a lesson" attitude.
Well, he really overstepped the mark at the Nordic Conference when he first got his information officer to tell lies to the media about his heart ailment, trying to pass it off as a cold, and then he viciously piled into the media for their legitimate concern about the health of the Prime Minister of the country when it was reported that he had a bleep in his heart rhythm. His abusive posture certainly did not earn him any friends.
The attitude that the press should not be concerned with his health was also quite unfathomable. Considering the days of President Urho Kekkonen, where a sick man was kept in office by telling lies to the country, it is something that the Finns do not want to see repeated. In fact, if Paavo Lipponen is unhealthy he should retire and give his place to a fitter man. Who wants a sick man to lead his country - a repeat of President Yeltsin, or is it that Paavo Lipponen wants to ensure he keeps his cake and eats it too.
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One Foolish Death in a Thousand
Dateline: 15th November 1996
With the tragedy of the cyclone which struck the east coast of India and caused the death of a thousand poor folk in Andhra Pradesh, followed by the tragedy of the mid-air collision between the Saudi Airline plane with the one from Khazakstan just outside Delhi resulting in the loss of around 350 lives, the self-immolation of one individual in the southern temple town of Madurai was certainly uncalled for. Those who were making calls in protest against the holding of the Miss World Contest in Bangalore have one life on their blood-stained hands as they forced this young individual to sacrifice his life for a cause hardly worth anything. Why should this individual have sacrificed his life if some foolish people want to parade around half naked on a stage? It has nothing to do with Indian culture where erotic dances, statues and paintings can be found in almost every corner of the country and those which have survived through many thousands of years.The protesters would best have spent their energies removing the mote in their own eyes before trying to remove them from the eyes of others.
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Windows Sent to Empty Space
Dateline: 15th November 1996
The Office of the Inspector General of NASA in the US has just issued a report which condemns the policy of the CIO of the Johnson Space Centre, John Gorman, who had dictated that all other computer operating systems than Windows should be eliminated. The complete story can be read in MacWEEK. Also, the background material to this story can be found at the site of Carl Franklin.This is most illuminating as it shows to what lengths some people will go to help Bill Gates rid himself of his opposition.
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Scientific Genius - Converting Apple to Coffee
Dateline: 12th November 1996
The Los Angeles Times reported that Apple was planning to set up numerous Cybercafes around the world where it would set up its Cyberdog web browsers and allow the coffee and hot dog guzzling visitors to web surf to their heart's delight.This is a fabulous idea IF Apple moves away from the traditional retailers and gives this responsibility to its hard core Apple supporters around the globe, who with their true Apple dedication and fervour would not only make these cafes a success and do a far better job of teaching their visitors how to get the best out of the Apple.
Such a move can only lead to more sales of Apple systems and without the high mark-up and distribution costs charged by traditional distribution lines. It will also ensure that Apple users can get their equipment serviced and attended too - albeit most infrequently, by people who know and love the Apple.
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Stockmarket Analysis
Dateline: 16th November 1996(Before you decide on your next computer purchase visit our page David vs Goliath)
- Dow Zooms Over 6200 Mark
- AST Reveals Record Losses for Ninth Consecutive Quarter
- Stock Market Performance Week Ending 15th November 1996
- Dow Zooms Over 6200 Mark
The Dow Jones Index soared over the 6200 mark in the last week. Almost all the high tech stocks, except that of AST Research Inc. moved up sharply. The temporary blips in the stock prices of Motorola and Digital have corrected themselves as these followed the upward rollercoaster.
- AST Reveals Record Losses for Ninth Consecutive Quarter
The only stock to have zoomed downwards in the last week was that of AST Research Inc., reaching a yearly low as it announced its NINTH continuous quarter of massive losses, this time of US$135 million on a turnover of just US$408.5 million.
On top of that, Findians Briefings has received exclusive information that the US Enforcement Department is on the track of AST Research Inc. and Samsung Corporation for Insider Trading, although, as we have revealed in these columns already, it is not Insider Trading but Gross Market Manipulation that they should stand accused of, as during the period May to July 1996, Tandy Corporation was defrauded to the tune of around US$15 million while Samsung levered to get control of AST Research Inc.
Well, they certainly got a hot potato fried to a crisp as only their computers know how to. (They are excellent for toasting PCMCIA cards).
There is a most revealing article by Louis Kraar entitled Guess Who's Betting on America's High-Tech Losers in FORTUNE dated 28th October 1996, although Findians Briefings readers have known most of these gory details long ago.
The writer points out that AST lost more than $545 million over the past nine quarters. Of this, over $200 million has been this year while under top quality South Korean Samsung management. He also states that Samsung's own earnings have been decimated by a sharp decline in prices for memory chips, which, as was revealed in our last issue of Findians Briefings, was not the only cause.
Included in the article is a quote from Richard Zwetchkenbaum of International Data Corp. who said that Samsung is seeing AST as a black hole. In our opinion, it is probably the first case of two black holes competing with each other to suck each other to oblivion - so let us help them along a little.
The statement in the Fortune article that none of the executives in Samsung would dare to send an email message to the Chief Executive reveals the nature of this organisation. It cares too hoots for the opinions of its employees and definitely least of those of its customers, as we know from personal experience. So, the saying "as you sow, you shall reap", fits this haughty organisation, from its visionary(?) Chairman Emeritus to the other ex-Chairman Mr. Lee Kun-hee who may be soon be languishing in a South Korean prison cell.
It is most amazing that, even if AST Research wants to give away its computers, nobody wants them. This can be seen from the table below where, on a sales of US$408.5 million their accounts receivables were US$344.4 million, representing a cash inflow/outflow ratio of just 11%, which was halved from the last quarter.
AST Quarter Performance Analysis September 1994 - 1996 Quarter Ended Sales $ m Net Income $ m Accounts Receivable $ m Outflow $ m Inflow $ m Inflow/Outflow % Sep-94 495.80 -39.90 NA 535.70 NA NA Dec-94 640.20 -21.70 NA 661.90 NA NA Mar-95 670.20 -6.50 NA 676.70 NA NA Jun-95 662.00 -31.60 NA 693.60 NA NA Sep-95 403.40 -96.40 NA 499.80 NA NA Dec-95 612.90 -128.60 392.60 741.50 220.30 29.71 Mar-96 530.00 -115.80 398.30 645.80 131.70 20.39 Jun-96 538.80 -98.70* 387.50 637.50 151.30 23.73 Sep-96 408.50 -135.30 344.40 543.80 64.10 11.79 - * the loss was actually US$113.7 as US$15 million was
paid by Samsung to AST Research for so-called know-how - wonder
what know-how this could have been - toasting PCMCIA cards
to increase Samsung sale of chips?
The next quarter will continue to be disastrous for AST as Ian Diery, the CEO who quit in disgust, had a plan that would have gradually brought AST out of trouble by March 1997, but the know-it-all proud South Korean Samsungites could not wait, and got rid of all the top management at AST to drive themselves further into trouble. As Samsung is itself in deep trouble in South Korea and in world markets, where the prices of its products have been slashed, and considering that the South Korean market will soon be opened up to international operators who have better prices and customer orientation, one will soon see the downward spiral of AST being also reflected in Samsung.
Those of you who have not been following the AST history, here is a summary of major events just during the last six months:
- June 24th 1996: AST Research Inc. Chairman Safi Quereshy was
kicked upstairs as Chairman Emeritus and Kwang Ho-Kim of Samsung took
over as Chairman.
- July 30th 1996: AST Research Inc. announced losses of US$98.7
million.
- 31st of July 1996: Director Carmelo J Santero of AST
Research Inc. resigned.
- August 2nd 1996: Ian Diery, President and CEO of AST
Research Inc. quits.
- August 27th 1996: Samsung Chairman Mr. Lee Kun-hee convicted
by Korean Supreme Court on massive bribery and corruption
charges.
- September 6th 1996: Joseph E. Norberg, VP and Chief
Financial Officer of AST Research Inc. quits.
- October 4th 1996: Michael Willcocks, Senior VP of AST Research
Inc., Asia Pacific, resigned.
- October 4th 1996: Gerald T. Devlin, Senior VP of AST Research
Inc., Americas, resigned.
- October 9th 1996: Dennis R. Leibel, Legal and
Administration Senior VP of AST Research Inc. for 11 years, quits.
- November 11th 1996: AST Research Inc. announces record
ninth consecutive quarter loss of US$135 million.
- * the loss was actually US$113.7 as US$15 million was
paid by Samsung to AST Research for so-called know-how - wonder
what know-how this could have been - toasting PCMCIA cards
to increase Samsung sale of chips?
- Stock Market Performance Week Ending 15th November 1996
Given below are the closing prices at the week ending 16th November 1996 of some the stocks in the field of Computer and Telecommunications along with the Year High and the Year Low, and the variation of the present price from the year high and year low.
This analysis, we feel, gives a better perspective of a company's long term performance than just considering the variation of the previous week's high and low.
Note the pathetic picture of AST Research Inc. at the bottom of the table - so much for visionary Chairman Emeritus Safi Quereshy.
Stock Market Analysis Company Exchange Symbol Present Year High Year Low High Vary Low Vary Iomega NASD IOMG 22.50 55.12 5.37 59.18 318.99 Dynatech NASD DYTC 58.50 58.50 14.25 0.00 310.53 Dell NASD DELL 90.38 93.50 23.00 3.34 292.93 Gateway 2000 NASD GATE 52.88 57.62 18.00 8.23 193.75 Intel NASD INTC 115.88 125.12 49.81 7.39 132.63 Quantum NASD QNTM 24.13 26.12 10.87 7.64 121.94 3Com NASD COMS 72.25 72.75 33.50 0.69 115.67 Zenith Electronic NYSE ZE 12.50 26.00 5.87 51.92 112.95 Compaq NYSE CPQ 76.38 77.00 35.87 0.81 112.92 Cisco NASD CSCO 64.75 67.00 32.00 3.36 102.34 Micron Tech NYSE MU 31.25 69.37 16.62 54.95 88.03 Microsoft NASD MSFT 149.00 149.62 79.87 0.41 86.55 Nokia NYSE NOK-A 57.00 59.12 31.12 3.59 83.16 Oracle NASD ORCL 47.00 47.87 26.37 1.82 78.23 Ericsson Tel., L. M. NASD ERICY 30.75 31.75 17.37 3.15 77.03 National Semiconductor NYSE NSM 22.88 24.00 13.00 4.69 75.96 Computer Ass. NYSE CA 59.50 66.75 33.87 10.86 75.67 Northern Telecom NYSE NT 64.50 67.62 36.75 4.61 75.51 IBM NYSE IBM 145.00 145.50 83.12 0.34 74.45 Netscape NASD NSCP 58.31 87.00 34.50 32.97 69.02 Tandem Comp NYSE TDM 13.75 15.25 8.37 9.84 64.28 Sun Micro NASD SUNW 58.75 70.25 36.00 16.37 63.19 Data General NYSE DGN 14.25 19.12 9.00 25.47 58.33 Apple NASD AAPL 25.00 42.50 16.00 41.18 56.25 Adobe NASD ADBE 42.50 74.25 28.50 42.76 49.12 Applied Mat. NASD AMAT 31.88 55.50 21.75 42.57 46.55 Stratus Comp NYSE SRA 24.13 35.00 16.62 31.07 45.16 Progress Soft NASD PRGS 16.88 38 12.12 55.59 39.23 Hewlett Packard NYSE HWP 50.88 57.75 36.87 11.90 37.98 Pixar NASD PIXR 16.75 46.00 12.25 63.59 36.73 Eastman Kodak NYSE EK 88.75 88.75 65.12 0.00 36.29 Syquest NASD SYQT 5.63 18.87 4.37 70.19 28.72 Mentor Graphics NASD MENT 9.25 21.00 7.37 55.95 25.51 Digital NYSE DEC 34.75 76.50 28.37 54.58 22.49 Novell NASD NOVL 10.69 19.12 8.75 44.10 22.14 Motorola NYSE MOT 53.75 68.50 44.12 21.53 21.83 Informix NASD IFMX 20.50 36.75 16.87 44.22 21.52 Tandy Corp NYSE TAN 40.88 59.12 34.12 30.86 19.80 Xerox NYSE XRX 47.38 58.25 39.87 18.67 18.82 Texas Instr. NYSE TXN 48.00 63.87 40.50 24.85 18.52 Matsushita NYSE MC 167.00 188.00 142.00 11.17 17.61 Unisys NYSE UIS 6.13 9.12 5.37 32.84 14.06 Silicon Graphics NYSE SGI 20.00 38.75 17.87 48.39 11.92 AST NASD AST 4.00 10.00 4.00 60.00 0.00 Acer NA NA NA NA NA Packard Bell NA NA NA NA NA
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