Chasing Chavez

Fellow comrades,

Pak Lah will be arriving in Venezuela tomorrow on a three-day official visit. Supposedly, the main motive of his visit is to “pave the way” for Malaysian businessmen to do business there. Even before Pak Lah land, 300 entrepreneurs are already eager to get their hands on some Venezuelan bolivars. Petronas, Boustead Holdings, Golden Hope, Ranhill, and, get this, Pos Malaysia. That’s right, POS MALAYSIA! Through personal experience, I can say that this particular company epitomizes inefficiency. What, are the Venezuelans getting their mails too fast nowadays? Are they begging to have their mails lost? Are they imploring to have their bills sent after the due date?

Anyways, I guess it wouldn’t hurt our relationship with other Western countries that Pak Lah is forging closer ties with Venezuela. Heck, even the U.S. is “thawing” their icy-cold relationship. I guess they figured out that since President Chavez will be holding on to that title a tad longer, they might as well be nice to him now. Considering the chaos in Iraq right now and the logistical nightmare faced in transporting oil out of the country, it would be better to have the flow of oil from Venezuela undisturbed.

It turns out that we’ve had a modest, and I do mean modest, trading link with Venezuela. In 2005, the volume of two-way trade between Malaysia and Venezuela amounted to USD$22.5 million. Surprisingly, Malaysia has the upper-hand in trade balance. We’ve actually been exporting more products to Venezuela (here, I’m picturing Hugo Chavez wearing his bright red beret, handsome red military jacket and checkered kain pelikat, with a smile on his face). Seriously though, we’ve actually been sending of our rubber and electronic goods over there. However, they’ve been facing problems in dealing with Malaysia due to “forgery of certificates of origin of footwear import and shipment delays”. There’s been very little investment between Malaysia and Venezuela. We’ve invested in a medical products wholesaler in the state of Zulia. What do we get in return? A salsa discotheque in Federal Hotel KL (now I’m picturing Hugo Chavez with the kain pelikat dancing to salsa beats, still with that smile on his face). You can check all of this out here.

I’m sure that one of the most sought after investment opportunity in Venezuela is on its oil reserves. President Chavez himself has invited Petronas to explore its oil and gas reserve and also partner with its national oil company, PDVSA. The last time President Chavez was here, he expounded how much he would like to help Malaysia. Among his quotable quotes were “If Malaysia doesn't have the land to plant (palm) anymore, Venezuela has it” and “Don't worry Malaysia. As a brother, we can help you explore and find oil. If you don't have oil (anymore) ... it will be provided for by Venezuela”. Never in my short life have I heard another head of state promise such aid to Malaysia. Of course, one can always be skeptical of his words. But for a man of his stature to expound such notions in public, I would grant him quite a degree of trust. No wonder we were willing to support Venezuela in their bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council. All in all, I wish the best of luck to Pak Lah and President Chavez. Hasta Siempre! That’s all for now, folks.

Godspeed,
Fadli