Screenshots

Tonight, Fifa World Cup Soccer 2006 will move into the 'sudden death' phase where the Top 16 will knock out each other in 'do-or-die' matches. If the regular 90 minutes can't result in a winning team, a 30-minute extra time willbe added, failing which again a penalty shoot-out will be the decider. It's a time blood pressure heightens for the team managers as well as peanut and bigtime punters alike.

As the matches play out in stadia scattered around Germany, which is on a time zone of 6-hour difference from ours, Malaysia never had it so good with all 64 matches, from the 32-team preliminaries to the July 9 final, beamed live to our private bedrooms and our version of al-frescos at the mamak stalls.

Meanwhile, Singapore, which depends on live feeds from an RTM-relay, is crying foul of scrambled signals that it has no control over.

SOURCE: xialanxue.blogspot.com June 8, 2006

Just watch the YouTube to know what it means that bother our usually more progressive neighbours by global benchmarks.

Live telecasts have come a long way in Malaysia. Today, you don't have to do the Adib Adam-Citizen Nades' way of the 1980's, where you had to get Ahmad Sebi to collaborate via Malay Mail to campaign for the live telecasts by means of Tajaan oleh Rakyat Malaysia. Leave it to our satellite broadcaster, it now has the power to milk the fat cows among advertisers -- Maxis, Hotlink, Petronas, Power Root et. al. to nurse your soccer fever.

So, who are we to thank for if not Astro? When Rocky Bru romanicised his gratitude to one of the four T. Anandakrishnan (AK) enterprises, ASTRO, he was mobbed and mocked. Mocked, partly because he had invoked the name of a man most demonised:

When Dr Mahathir told Malaysians of his plans to launch a satellite in space (in 1991, I think, during a press conference in Langkawi), many of us thought it was such a lofty thing to be doing. I had my reservations, too.

But, hey, it's not too late to say thank you to him now.

Such is the force of the karmic circle. You sow the seeds but it's not neccessary that you should reap the fruits.

Astro, which broadcasts all 64 matches live, is an outcome of a long-range vision entrusted in the hands of people capable of delivery to do the execution. And no doubt, the entrusted ones belong to the privileged few and they stand the risk of being dobby-marked "CRONY' on the forehead.

Mahathir's cronies, if one is to be specific with the spin-doctors' demonising rounds.

Some flashback is appropriate to narrate this karmic circle vividly.

Apart from advertisers' money, Astro relies on transponders mounted on Measat satellites to make the 64 matches beamed live to your bedrooms possible. And Malaysia has the distinction of putting the two birds into orbit, within a year in 1996.

That's the hallmark of Malaysia entering the multimedia phase as 1996 was the year the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was launched. AK, the eminently privileged among the rare few to launch Measat satellites and ASTRO's 15-year monopoly to operate Malaysia's sole direct-to-home (DTH) payTV, has touted his act as a ground-breaker to "earn future's money'.

If you remember well, in 1996, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was still swimming along the political tide in Wisma Putra.

And of course, at that early time, little did AK imply that Measat (then called Binariang Satellite Systems), would make money that will be resoundingly earned by such post-2004 outfit like ECM-Libra. More about this later.

'Karmic circle'

Not many people realised the significance of the chosen dates for the Measats 1 and 2 lauunches -- on January 13 and November 13, 1996, respectively -- but AK as the dominant owner of Measat must have pulled a joke on Mahathir. Numberical 13 is said to be Abdullah's favourite number. One of his vintage cars bears it on the numberplate, AAB13. The karmic circle had been in motion by then.

But Mahathir did have his moments of glory, didn't he? The two birds were acclaimed, and The Star and The NST were not the last to echo it, as the crowning moment of the Malaysia Boleh! spirit.

Dr M was seen taking keen interest in the country’s national agenda of embracing and utilizing new opportunities of communications. The signing ceremony was held in Paris and this was the formalization and appointment of Arianespace as the preferred commercial launcher for Measat 2. Picture courtesy Asia PR, the public relations agency of record for Arianespace, the commercial launch service provider that propelled Measat 1 and 2

Mahathir was in Kourou, French Guiana, to witness the launch of Measat 2 on November 13, 1996, which was tagged Mission V92 by Aianespace. The picture shows him being briefed on what takes place before the actual lift-off of the launcher carrying the satellites. Picture courtesy Asia PR

Dr Mahathir and wife Dr Siti Hasmah (2nd & 3rd from right) visiting Arianespace's launch base in Kourou, French Guiana, during the countdown to the launch of Measat -2. The man on the far left is Mr. You-Know-Who. Picture courtesy Asia PR

With the two birds, AK's enterprises soared beyond the Tanjung Plc, which milks retail punters through the Big Sweep gaming business. After the on-time handover of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) project, AK's enterprises in telecommunications (main brand Maxis, sub-brand Hotlink, 5051, 5051-CA, 5051-OA), broadcast (ASTRO, 5076 and 5076-CA) and satellite communications (Measat, 3875) were nurtured to be listed on the mainboard of Bursa Malaysia.

I leave it to you to tabulate the total capitalisation of these three AK enterprises. As a quick reference, Astro raised RM2.03 billion in October 2003; Maxis Communications Bhd raised RM3.05 billion in July 2002; and Measat raised RM340 million from the sale of AK's 20% stake in Measat Global Bhd.

Meanwhile, ECM-Libra emerged as a conduit to tap this karmic circle after the Reverse Takover (RTO) exercise on South Peninsular Industries Bhd (SPI), which was completed in swift five months after Abdullah was elevated to be the Prime Minister who also holds the Minister of Finance portfolio.

'Knock-out Round'

Call that coincidence, but the timing was incredibly critical. ECM-Libra, then ECM Capital Sdn Bhd, was the advisor on the share placements for Measat, ASTRO and Maxis, in stages.