WE really need to take stock of the situation because Malaysians should be looking at the big picture.

Many of us have delved into issues seriously impacting our economy and its competitiveness, without deliberating on the long-term effects.

We get carried away by the race narrative, which is often emotional and political.

Piling on the woe, most of us barely bother researching the topics we talk about.

Unfortunately, this includes some of our decision-makers, lawmakers and even journalists, who appear to only have scant knowledge on the subject they discuss, which includes the logistics sector, now a burning issue.

It’s heart-wrenching that it has degenerated into race related equity control when it needn’t have.

Let’s look at the transport sector, which had a gross added value estimated at about RM57.3bil in 2019. It hired over 700,000 people and represented about 5% of the employed population then.

Malaysia has done exceptionally in the port sector, which is an integral part of the logistic sector, with Port Klang and Port Tanjung Pelepas ranked 12th and 18th in the world in terms of throughput.

Logistics have been classified as a priority industry by our government, and rightly so, too.

Generally, when we talk about logistics, it involves freight transportation, freight forwarding, warehousing, small package delivery services and value-added logistics.

In a way, it doesn’t involve food delivery, although some commentators have assumed otherwise in their remarks. This sector is an important part of the economic ecosystem.

So, when the numbers are viewed on the surface, we assume that e-hailing and e-commerce must be in the same pie.

Now, there’s a vision of a 51% take over by bumiputra companies, which involves the blood, sweat and tears of non-bumiputra entrepreneurs.

Let’s not forget that these are all Malaysians who have played a vital part in building the logistics industry. They are also members of Keluarga Malaysia, which is currently being raved about.

But while we’re busy talking about taking a slice of the pie from the baker, our competitors have overtaken us, according to the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI).

Malaysia is now ranked 41 out of 160 countries – a drop from 25 in 2014 and 32 in 2016, when we were the second best performing Asean country after Singapore.

But in the LPI 2018 report, we were behind Singapore (2), Thailand (32) and Vietnam (39). Just behind us was Indonesia (46).

Malaysia lost out in efficiency (or clearance processes), quality of trade, ease of arranging competitively priced shipments, competence and quality of logistic services, ability to track and trace consignments and punctuality of arriving shipments.

A strong and competitive logistics sector will benefit the country and its people if we take a broader view of the gains.

We shouldn’t focus on wanting to impose a 51% bumiputra equity on Malaysian freight forwarders.

The Covid-19 pandemic may have led to a sharp increase in the use of e-commerce but it disrupted global supply chains in unprecedented ways. This will lead to GDP contractions in Asean including Malaysia.

The decline in supply, consumption, investment and trade will have a severe impact on the logistics sector, coupled with huge financial losses. So, contrary to ill-informed comments, the logistics sector isn’t making a killing.

The enforcement of the condition has now been postponed to Dec 31, 2021.

This is ironic because the condition won’t affect the international integrated logistics services (IILS), where foreigners have majority control, but will trouble majority owned Malaysian IILS providers, who are neither listed nor bumiputras.

There are obviously many consequences, and it will really hurt non-bumiputra owners – both emotionally and financially. It’s also illogical and impossible to find bumiputra buyers prepared to buy and pay a fair price when the market is so weak.

They know that it’s one thing to own a company and totally another to run it with the skill and expertise it requires. After all, it could also end up like the Ali Baba scenario.

Adding insult to injury, domestic IILS providers will simply pack up and head south to Singapore, for example, where no such condition exists.

Even for foreign-owned IILS owners, a 51% -equity criteria will spook them because it could hit them similarly if Malaysia is known for shifting goal posts. Likewise, talk of a retrospective decision is even worse.

No businessperson who wants to commit huge investments in logistics will set up their holding company in Malaysia if we have such a criterion.

Putting barriers of this nature will send the wrong message when the world is promoting competition, liberalisation and reviewing archaic laws. Protectionist barriers for political and nationalistic reasons will hurt Malaysia in the long run. That’s a fact.

The Customs brokerage licences sector, meant to assist bumiputras, is only estimated at about RM204mil from the imports and exports through Port Klang.

Currently, 80% of the freight forwarding companies with the Customs Department brokerage licences are already bumiputra companies – what’s left is the remaining 20%.

Surely this 20% shouldn’t be rushed to sell off their stakes so quickly, as per the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders Association.

Malaysia’s logistic sector will blossom from a growth of RM53bil in 2020 to an estimated RM180bil in 2030 – and we are squabbling over RM204mil in customs brokerage fees to fit into a proposed 51% equity.

We should be planning together, as Malaysians, how we can take over the top spot from Singapore. We shouldn’t even be surprised if most of the workers in Singapore are Malaysians.

If we get our act right, we are even capable of hosting Japanese distribution hubs, including automotive manufacturing ones.

The 51% equity proposal has also caused much uneasiness among foreigners since many local freight forwarders currently have agreements with foreign principals who own shares in the companies.

They may not have to dispose of or take over the shares of Malaysians, but many multinationals don’t abide by a 51% bumiputra ownership in their corporate guidelines.

Recently, industry players wrote to the government asking for clarification on the quota of bumiputra representation needed for companies to renew their Customs brokerage licences.

They said it would be difficult to meet the 51% mark given that there were only a few months left for the licences to be renewed. Subsequently, the Finance Ministry postponed the deadline to December 2022.

The reality is that the world has become a global market. A domestic decision will have a global impact.

If we continue to take the katak di bawah tempurung (frog under the shell) approach, we will lose out. In the end, Malaysia will continue to slide, and it will affect all Malaysians in the family.

In many families, there is always the favourite, but it should never be at the expense of the entire family.

Francis is notorious for his role in what has been billed as the biggest scandal in US navy history.

HE may not be in the same league as Malaysian fugitive financier Jho Low, but fellow Malaysian crook Leonard Glenn Francis is also making headlines in American media for all the wrong reasons.

Low still takes the cake for masterminding the siphoning of US$4.5bil (RM18.9bil) in the 1MDB scandal, but Francis isn’t far off for his role in what has been billed as the biggest scandal in US navy history.

Like Low, he, too, is from Penang. While Low has disappeared from the public eye and is hiding, the defence contractor is ready to tell his story and expose the US Navy.

Fat Leonard, as he’s called because he used to weigh 350 pounds (160kg), has been accused of providing cash, prostitutes, travel expenses, luxury items and concert tickets to many US navy officers, including those from the US Seventh Fleet.

Besides tickets to Lady Gaga concerts and Lion King shows, he loved hosting Spanish suckling pig and Kobe beef dinners. And of course, Cohiba cigars and fine whiskey were on the menu, too.

According to the Washington Post, Francis was so skilled at cultivating Navy informants that “it was a challenge to juggle them all. On a near daily basis, they pelted him with demands for money, prostitutes, hotel rooms and plane tickets” to Hawaii, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan and even Tonga.

The Japan-based fleet is the largest of the forward-deployed US fleets, with 60 to 70 ships, 300 aircraft and 40,000 Navy, Marine Corps personnel, and Coast Guard support personnel, and it operates in the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Francis, now 53, was so good at his job, including buying over top US Navy elites, that one commander said, “he is a crook, but he is our crook”.

The Malaysian was even handed classified data on the movements of US ships and submarines. With the information, he redirected aircraft carriers to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water, sewage removal and more since 2006. He became very wealthy doing business with the US Navy, which obviously included overcharged bills to them. After all, it’s taxpayers’ money and word is, the US Navy had no qualms relinquishing its funds.

His company created forged invoices, falsified quotes and ran kickback schemes. It also allegedly created ghost subcontractors and fake port authorities to fool the Navy into paying for services it never received, amounting to a fraud of over US$35mil (RM146.7mil), although investigators say the real amount could be much greater.

Here’s the gem. According to one report, a decorated federal agent John Bertrand Beliveau leaked information to Francis to ensure he would not get into trouble.

Beliveau was given money and prostitutes but it was never enough, and from court documents, it was stated that he sent Francis an email which read: “You give whores more money than you give me. I can be your best friend or worst enemy.”

Defence analysts have said that there are many such defence contractors in the industry, but the rot has appeared because Francis got caught, in a sting operation, no less. The US federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against Fat Leonard and those connected to him, including staff, navy officials and civilians.

Suffering health problems, Francis was hospitalised and released in March 2018. He has been granted medical furlough and allowed to stay at a private residence under 24-hour surveillance.

So, why has Fat Leonard decided to sing? For one, the case has been postponed many times, although he pleaded guilty in 2015.

Cynical journalists and analysts have claimed that the US State Department doesn’t want the embarrassing details aired like dirty laundry, resulting in an interminable series of sentencing delays.

It seems prosecutors would rather work amicable solutions with corrupt top officers to secure guilty pleas, and then work out the punishments ranging from a slap on the wrist to jail sentences.

The highest profile case involves Cambodian Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, who escaped from his country’s killing fields as a child and was adopted by an American mother.

He became a decorated officer as a skipper of a US warship. However, in 2016, he was sentenced to a six-and-a-half-year jail term for his role in the epic bribery scandal that has rocked the Navy.

He pleaded guilty to leaking a long list of military secrets in 2011 and 2012 to Glenn Defence Marine Asia, a Singapore based company belonging to Francis that sealed more than US$200 mil (RM838mil) worth of contracts to restock US Navy ships. Misiewicz served as deputy director of operations for the Navy’s Seventh Fleet, an influential role overseeing ship movements throughout Asia.

Last week, I spoke to award winning journalist Tom Wright, who co-authored the best seller Billion Dollar Whale with Bradley Hope, about how our numero uno hero Low pulled off one of the biggest financial heists in history.

Wright, who is now based in Singapore, will be sharing his investigations and interviews with Francis in his nine-episode podcast series beginning Oct 5. It will be available on Apple, Spotify and other platforms.

The podcast will shed light on the Navy’s cover-up of the case, which has targeted more than 30 officers, yet failed to prosecute admirals, whom Francis claims accepted gifts and favours.

“The explosive story will also feature scores of other voices including prominent women who share the broader tale of misogyny and sexual abuse in the US military,” reads a release.

Wright has given me a sneak peek of what’s in the podcast, but no spoilers from me. That said, it will be very interesting, as Wright is an accomplished storyteller.

Wright, who managed to gain access to Francis through a Malaysian intermediary, spoke about how their relationship had started well, but turned testy towards the end when Wright uncovered more details.

Apparently, Francis had, by then, lost control of the narrative he wanted to spin and the ability to protect his image.

The interview will include Leonard’s revelation of how in 1989, when he was only 21, he was caught by the police for his role in a gun-robbery in Penang. He was given a three-year jail sentence for firearms possession but escaped the death sentence.

Interestingly, Francis came from a prosperous family, enriched by the maritime logistics firm his maternal grandfather had started, a media report revealed.

Well, it’s certainly a podcast worth listening to about a colourful and charming character, who lied, cheated and bribed US Navy officers, and supposedly, even ones higher up in the hierarchy. He was given countless testimonials from the US Navy for “job well done” for his “exemplary services.”

So, how was the US Navy’s biggest scandal exposed? It was an angry wife of a top Navy official who felt enough was enough. As the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but that’s a story for another time.

Tough call: Although people are understandably tired of being cooped up indoors, picnics and swimming in the river are hardly ‘essential’ when the Covid-19 pandemic is still raging.

THIS is a tough call. It’s understandable that we crave going out since most of us have been cooped up at home for so long, and especially now that many of us are fully vaccinated.

But it’s difficult to reason how many of my friends have dined in coffee-shops and restaurants. As a Penangite foodie, I can vouch that there’s a massive difference between eating your nasi kandar or char koay teow at coffee shops and having it packed and delivered.

But I’ve decided to err on caution’s side because I still fear eating out.

I’m receptive to having my meal outdoors or alfresco, but even then, only in the coming weeks.

As much as I’ve championed the need for the economy to reopen and be set back on track, I still feel we should exercise wisdom and discipline.

It’s necessary for a return to normalcy with concessions given to resume most sectors. But let’s not have our guard down.

Many Malaysians must have been traumatised by watching video clips on social media featuring large numbers of people going for picnics at parks and beaches.

If these videos are recent and authentic, then it goes to show how ignorant and even irresponsible these people are.

Honestly, what were they thinking? Taking their families for an outing believing the coronavirus has vanished?

Picnics and swimming in the sea or rivers are hardly “essential”, especially when the Covid-19 pandemic is still raging. They must surely know that being double vaccinated doesn’t spare them from being infected by the virus.

I’m just as perplexed at how the authorities didn’t see this coming. But better late than never because following the viral videos, enforcement officers have begun guarding the entrances of these recreational spots.

As social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye rightly put in his letter to The Star, about how weekends in Port Dickson are “chock-a-block with picnickers ignoring even basic SOP.

“The rakyat depend on the law enforcers to keep them safe. Doing otherwise is a dereliction of duty and in itself, a punishable offence, just as much as non-compliance with SOP is.”

Obviously, there’s a need to cap the number of people entering such sites and have them register, too, as per the Standard Operating Procedures.

Likewise, there was a surge in human traffic at jetties and airports, so these SOPs and officers should have been in place anticipating the crowds.

The local authorities must install huge and compelling billboards to remind Malaysians to adhere to SOP. Such visual cues are surely more essential than those paying homage to VIPs.

It’s ridiculous that crowd control was only engaged or stepped up after the media highlighted these cases, but truth be told, this is typically Malaysia.

We have the tendency to react rather than anticipate.

So, why should anyone be surprised when many Bangladeshis turned up at a post office because they could finally renew documents or transfer money home?

A video displayed an exasperated woman shouting angrily. While many Netizens were upset that she appeared rude, we must also understand that the crowd was probably ignoring SOPs.

No one knows how many of these foreigners have been vaccinated or are carriers.

Again, the bottom line is that we should have foreseen the numbers and the gate should have even been locked to cap the number of people allowed into the premises.

If that’s not bad enough, after more than a year, we all know that queries on certain government agencies handling the Covid-19 related matters go unanswered.

It reflects badly on our competency and planning because communication is imperative. This backup mechanism must surely be in place before decisions and announcements are made.

It’s the classic of kelam kabut (in disarray, or confused), a phrase universal in our society, but not with foreigners who put us on the spot when they ask us its meaning.

When the government announced that cinemas were allowed to open from Sept 9, the Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) and TGV Cinemas (TGV) operators decided to hold their horses.

While the green light was given, the cinema operators hadn’t received a finalised SOP from the National Security Council (NSC), hence the delay.

Yes, it looks like Covid-19 has become endemic, but we still don’t want to see a surge in infections, especially those in Categories 3, 4 and 5.

With schools, universities and tourist spots reopening and eventually, inter-state travel allowed, it’s best to be prepared for all possibilities. As the saying goes, better to be safe than sorry.