I was surprised malaysiakini gave such prominence to Alex's Don't let foreign fund managers touch EPF which sounded ignorant and seems to be a case of just minor sensationalism.

Top foreign fund managers are rare talents whose performances are far better than any local ones and I for one, welcome them managing my EPF money. Besides, their critical eye should improve local corporate performance.

Anyone familiar with the fund management industry will know that top foreign fund managers are rare talents that deliver superior performance that no one in the local fund management industry comes close to.

Even in the local retail unit trust industry, the foreign institutions here substantially outperform the local ones. EPF performance can only improve by giving its funds to these managers to handle.

The idea that by somehow allowing foreign fund managers access to EPF money would worsen our capital market and economy is sheer hysteria and paranoia. In the first place, they are already here either with money raised overseas or from local retail sources and the amount is already in the billions.

In the second place, the amount of money EPF could hand out to each fund manager is not really that large by global standards. In fact, the danger is that EPF would hand out too small amount to attract the best fund managers and only therefore only attract mediocre performers.

For those who do not know, in reality, there is no way to differentiate 'hot money' from those of long-term investors. In the first place, money is money. Capital is purely meritocratic and Darwinian i.e survival of the fittest. Get used to that.

There is no real way to tell the difference because even the longest term investor wants everything available to a short-term investor. Even something like investment in an unlisted company cannot be differentiated as there are always ways to structure a quick exit with guarantees, local and government credits, sinking funds etc.

Unless you set up juries for each and every dollar that comes in and out, there is no way to tell who intends to be longer term player..

The real danger is that EPF will hand out funds not to the best fund managers but to politically connected ones. EPF has a poor track record for its investments and I doubt it has the knowledge to analyse fund manager performance and monitor risks.