Tuesday 6 September 2005

Telstra



Name:        CHAN, Sin Fong
Subject:     Telstra
Visit Time: 6/09/2005 1:04 PM

Remark:
This is outrageous! The fall in Telstra's share value in the last few days is worse than the 850 million dollars loss due to regulatory price as claimed. How can the Australian public allow just two American new comers to denigrate our Australian icon, Telstra, and drive it to six-foot underground?

How can Australians be so tolerant (or is it being naive) to let some aliens to push us around and tell us how to suck eggs? This is just like the city folks telling the farmers or Aboriginal tribes how to run their "culturally" different communities, or an Aussie teaching the Chinese to make sweet and sour pork? American social, corporate and political cultures cannot be transferred to Australian society directly. No one can become an expert in our political system, our rural needs, our geography and population density, and the history of Telstra.

We have lost our vegemite, aeroplane jelly, Arnotts biscuits and Holden cars to you know who. Why do we allow the new kids in town to put us down? Don't we have pride? What is happening to the Telstra's Board? Which side are the Board members on? Are they working for the shareholders' interest?

New Orleans has just experienced a natural disaster. Alarm bells are ringing that a man made disaster is on target to hit Australia in full force. Very soon, many people will lose their homes, with their dreams destroyed, retirement nest eggs stolen, broken marriages, and suicides. The financial loss will lead to countless indescribable and irreparable social damages.

Yes, I do feel angry, to say the least, not only as a Telstra's shareholder, but also an Australian being bullied and insulted by some American gurus. If they have been in Australia for a longer period, and understand Australia and Australians better, their assessments and analyses will probably carry more weight and have more merit. Are they suffering from scotoma - seeing what they want to see, hearing what they want to hear, thinking what they want to think, and saying what they want to say - the American way?

I hope the Mums and Dads unite together and hold on to their shares. After all, our Government is still holding on to its shares at present. If the Mums and Dads do not offer to sell their shares in the market place at ridiculously low price, scarcity will drive the price up (just like the oil price), and the scavengers will not be able to benefit from the Mums' and Dads' financial wound.

The amount wiped off from the share value is good enough to spend on a small communication satellite. Telstra has a lot of copper wires going to millions of properties just for communication purpose at present. Why can't this be an opportunity for more innovative R & D? This is elementary!

I am not biased. I am not naive. I am not wearing my blinkers. Australia must not and cannot afford to have another corporate collapse!

Wake up Australia! Let's unite and return Telstra and the stock market to normality.