Business
Finance: What is a contrarian investor to do these days?

PHUKET: If you read my columns regularly, you know that I like to try to approach investing from a contrarian viewpoint. This basically means going against the crowd and the current trend, or essentially buying things when they are beaten and battered down and selling when everyone else loves them and thinks the run will last forever. So what does this mean in today’s market?
A lot of people are asking if China is a good bet; as a whole, it could stand a whole lot more battering before it could really be considered a value buy, without much risk to the downside remaining. If you look at the index as a whole in the chart above, you can see we are pretty much in the middle of the range for the last decade. The middle of the range is generally not a great place to enter a market, although it is far better than buying near the top.
Individual stocks can be good value buys if you have the risk tolerance for making individual plays, which is not for most of you out there. However, a friend of mine recently put me on to HSBC shares in Hong Kong – these represent good value, trading at a Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of about 9, and paying out a gross dividend yield of about 8.5 per cent at the moment.
Some other banks, such as Goldman Sachs, are also at decent valuations. They are trading at around 8.5 times earnings, but in their case they only pay a meager dividend of 1.65 per cent. However, unless you expect the illuminati to fall, both of these stocks are most likely going to be sticking around for the long term.
Steel has taken a beating recently and pundits are calling the recent rally a dead cat bounce. However some stocks,such as US Steel (ticker symbol X), are trading at such lows that it is tough to imagine them not being significantly higher in the next bull market. At the moment, there is no P/E ratio – as they are losing money. So, this play would not be for someone faint of heart, as they also pay a dividend of only about one per cent.
Obviously another contrarian play one could make off of the low steel price would be to build on any empty land you have, since steel is one of the most important cost factors in the overall price of building. Of course not everyone has a bunch of empty building plots sitting around, but if you do, now might be a good time think about converting it into an income-generating property. You obviously need to factor in conditions in the local market; a big cause of the steel drop is that many markets have gotten way ahead of themselves in new construction. This is not always the best time to build, if you are worried about short term returns.
Generally speaking I don’t think we are in the environment yet where contrarian plays are found in abundance, but if you have money that you really want to get working, there are things you can do if you can handle the risk. For those of you with low risk tolerance, I would still conserve your cash for a proper crash. It will be coming – in the long run, patience always pays off. Rushing for a return now may significantly lower your overall returns in the future.
David Mayes MBA resides in Phuket and provides wealth management services to expatriates around the globe, focusing on UK pension transfers. He can be reached at david.m@faramond.com or 085-335 8573. Faramond UK is regulated by the FCA and provides advice on pensions and taxation.
— David Mayes
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Thailand
Facebook removes “information-influencing” pages linked to Thai military

Facebook has confirmed the removal of 185 accounts run by the Thai military and allegedly involved in information-influencing. The social media giant says the accounts were deleted for engaging in what it calls, “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”. In total, 77 accounts, 72 pages, and 18 groups have been removed from the platform, in addition to 18 Instagram accounts. It’s the first time Facebook has taken such action against accounts linked to the Thai government.
The accounts were associated with the Thai military and were targeting people in the southern provinces, Facebook said its regular report on coordinated inauthentic behavior. The south of the country has been the scene of decades-long conflict, with insurgent groups in the majority-Muslim, Malay-speaking region calling for independence. To date, around 7,000 people have died in the ongoing struggle.
Facebook says the deleted accounts were most active last year and used both fake and real accounts to manage pages and groups, both openly military pages and pages that hid their links to the military. Some of the fake profiles pretended to be people from the southern provinces.
The report mentioned a post by the now-removed account named “comprehending the operation” in Thai. The page posted the logo for Amnesty International Thailand and wrote “The NGO never cares about ordinary citizens because they have no role in society. Normal people are not famous. Any case is not big news. They are not worth the investment of foreigners so they will not do anything to help. This is why we don’t see anything from the NGO.”

Image overlay translates to “The NGO never cares about ordinary citizens because they have no role nor money.”
On another now-removed account, named “truth about my home Pattani” in Thai, a post said “Muslim leader declares southern border is a peace zone. The southern separatists started a movement by spreading the idea that Thailand is under control by different believers so that people would come and fight for their religion. This was declared that the action clearly violates Islam faith.”

Image overlay translates to “Southern border is not Jihad zone.”
When contacted by Reuters, the military had no comment on the removal of the Facebook accounts, with a spokesman saying the organisation does not comment outside of official press conferences.
The head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook, Nathaniel Gleicher, has confirmed the reasons behind the platform’s decision.
“This is the first time that we’ve attributed one of our takedowns to links to the Thai military. We found clear links between this operation and the Internal Security Operations Command. We can see that all of these accounts and groups are tied together as part of this operation.”
He adds that the accounts had spent around US$350 on advertising on both Facebook and Instagram. One or more of the pages had about 700,000 followers and at least one of the groups had 100,000 members. Gleicher says the accounts were removed because of their misleading behaviour and not because of the content being posted. The content included support for the military and the monarchy, with allegations of violence and criticism of insurgent groups in the south.
It’s not the first time accounts linked to the Thai military have been removed by a social media platform. In October, Twitter removed 926 accounts it says had links to the army and posted pro-military and pro-government content. The Thai army has denied any involvement with the accounts in question. In November, Twitter also suspended an account posting pro-monarchy content that was found to have links to the palace and to thousands of other accounts posting similar content.
To read the February 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report, click HERE.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Central Thailand
Airline executive arrested for failure to pay wages of 150 workers

An airline executive has been arrested in the central province of Samut Songkhram, after complaints from150 employees that they had not been paid. Chawengsak Noiprasan, who had a court warrant issued against him in October, was taken to Don Muang police station from a property in the Bang Khan Take sub-district. He is a board member of Siam Air Transport.
The airline began operations in October 2014 with services out of Don Mueang to Hong Kong, using 2 Boeing 737-300s. 2 Boeing 737-800s were added to its fleet in late 2015. It expanded by adding Zhengzhou and Guangzhou in China to its network in early 2015. In late 2015, the airline launched flights to Macau and Singapore. In 2017, the airline ceased all operations.
But according to an article in the Bangkok Post, the carrier operates a number of scheduled and charter flights from Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport. The Post reports that, as Chawengsak signs the company’s legal paperwork, all legal matters concerning the airline fall to him.
The Metropolitan Police Bureau says the executive has admitted to ignoring a 30 day notice issued by the labour inspector and ordering the payment of wages to 150 workers. It’s understood he is also wanted in relation to 7 other cases.
The authorities sought Chawengsak’s arrest following complaints from employees who say they haven’t received their wages for 2 months. It’s understood the airline had previously deferred salary payments for over 8 months. 150 workers filed an official complaint with Don Mueang police and also approached media outlets, asking them to pressure the airline into paying the money owed.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Business
Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
- Entertainment4 days ago
Phuket’s nightlife. Yes, bars and clubs are still open | VIDEO
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days ago
When can we travel again? World Covid Travel Update | VIDEO
- Bangkok4 days ago
UPDATE: Thai singer “Ammy” arrested for allegedly setting fire to royal portrait
- Protests2 days ago
Pro-democracy group to reach outskirts of Bangkok after almost 250 kilometre walk
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days ago
“Sawadee Thailand” travel insurance covers Covid-19 medical expenses
- Crime4 days ago
Pattaya police raid nightclub suspected of presenting pornographic shows
- Thailand4 days ago
Muay Thai added to European Games 2023
- Environment4 days ago
WildAid launches ad campaign in Thailand to raise awareness about illegal wildlife trade