YOURSAY ‘It’s not due to one or two individuals but the pessimism of entire financial market.’

Tong strikes back over ringgit speculation claims

Caripasal: Even if The Edge media group owner Tong Kooi Ong did it, so what? It is a free market. One year ago, I kept saying oil will crash and ringgit will decline. I said transfer your money into foreign currency. We were rich. Unfortunately, our government did not prepare the umbrella before the rain.

We would have easily saved hundreds of billions ringgit over the past few years, thanks to high oil prices. The decline in ringgit cannot be due to one or two individuals but the pessimism of the rakyat and the entire financial market.

Instead of taking the full responsibility for poor governance, they are pointing their gun at the rakyat, of course, at the pendatang (immigrant) again.

Unspin: As usual, they are looking for a scapegoat to divert attention from their incompetence in managing the finances for our country. If there is a convenient scapegoat at the moment, why not 1MDB because they stand to gain a lot if they brought back their money recently?

TC Chan: Shorting a currency is not illegal. Forex dealers do that. Buy low, sell high is the mantra. We all do that. Tong is accused of shorting the ringgit to the value of US$1.8 billion. If the ringgit can crash at this amount, it deserves to crash and the custodians of the ringgit ought to be shot.

Anonymous_1408265047: The whole world of forex trading does on a seven day, twenty -four hour basis, what Tong has been accused of. This is what forex trading is all about. I do not think it is possible to say Tong is guilty of what is a perfectly legal and normal daily occurrence.

One wonders about the mental capacity of some people and when one hears that a minister is involved in this denigration of a person for what is a perfectly normal daily occurrence. It beggars belief that the minister could have the job he has.

What on earth do people think forex trading is? Changing money for people going on holidays?

People of Selangor: Tong was our managing director/CEO during my employment with Phileo Allied Bank. He is a very capable, simple and famous man in the share, securities and financial sectors. He lost Phileo Allied Bank due to political reasons. Now he is being victimised again

The Analyser: Why is Tong reacting like this? This is not news. As has been pointed out several times short selling is perfectly normal and legal.

Thin-skinned Chinese are their own worst enemies. Tong's reaction is exactly why Umno and company spread these silly rumours to bait and harass.

Tell the Truth: Whilst it may be Tong's way of seeking revenge for the loss of Phileo Allied Bank to MBB, it may also be a ruse to deflect the falling ringgit and blame it on the Chinese again.

Either way, it’s best for Tong to sue the source of the rumour as it has a bad effect on The Edge and Tong personally.

People of Selangor: Tong is getting famous - he should thank the government for free promotion. Maybe the BN government should appoint Tong to be the finance minister as he is so capable in economics.

Rayte: Again, blame everyone for the problems in the country except Najib and his useless government.

Dr Anonymous_Ingrates: Tong - do the right thing, sue Utusan until tomorrow never comes. Make sure you get paid when you have won. The money - use it to help the poor, help the Orang Asli in Kelantan, help the homeless in Kuala Lumpur. Sue them until they close shop.

Hplooi: This reinforces the intelligence that a covert campaign is currently underway to pin the blame for the increasingly unaffordable cost-of-living on the evil Chinese (traders, big corporations, etc).

They need a target to scapegoat and vilify. And the evil Chinese is the usual target in this case. Why do they need to do this?

Perhaps the impending economic catastrophe, which will affect everyone, is one reason. So as a pre-emptive strike, fingering and parading representatives of the evil Chinese is one strategic move. By the way, all this is not for the consumption of informed urban Malaysians, but the perceived vote-banks.

Anonymous$&@?: Currency speculation, is this a crime? It's because of the Umno government mismanagement and corruption that we are in this position. You see Singapore or US having this issue?

Dr Anonymous_Ingrates: 1Malaysia Definitely Bankrupt cannot even pay its own debts and have to borrow from someone else to pay, and this Utusan wants to talk about ringgit speculation? I like the PM, only for making the word ‘bangang’ famous.

Swipenter: One man, allegedly with a few billion borrowed ringgit, can undermine our currency? If that is true, then it shows the financial and economic mess we are currently in brought upon ourselves by ourselves. Is speculation that easy?

Ask former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad how he got burnt so badly speculating on tin and the ringgit. More likely someone is spinning for the Umno Baru government’s poor handling and mismanagement of our finances and economy.

Perhaps they foresee the imploding of our economy down the road and better find a scapegoat now. Look at our escalating external and internal debts we have been accumulating over the past few years.

Our "sovereign fund" cannot even repay its debts on time and has to borrow from a private individual to help out.

All the free monies given out has to come from somewhere. Economists have been sounding their alarm bells on debts. Now oil has dropped below USD50.00. Maybe we should ask Saudis to cut oil production to jack up oil prices to save us.

Casey919: Now I know that speculation on the stock market and currency is considered "sabotage". Sore losers.

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