The Malaysian government must take serious measures to arrest the decline in investments and this article in malaysiakini is quite disturbing. Foreign investment in free fall reports that foreign investments have dropped from RM46billion in 2008 to RM4.2billion for the first 5 months of 2009.
Given the global economic crisis and even if we can assume that the rate of investment is uniform, we cannot expect 2009 to receive more than RM8.4billion of foreign investments.
It really casts serious doubts on whether Malaysia can even achieve 3% growth for 2009 and 2010 and our overall chances of ever achieving developed nation status by 2020.
Taxpayers now demand more transparency in how policies are implemented and investors are definitely moving to other nations where laws and policies are not subject to Malaysia's major flip-flops. The latest measures announced by the PM appear to be merely cosmetic changes and more "form over substance" as the crutch policy is still in place after 40 years.
To illustrate how Malaysia's growth has been stifled by the government's crutch policies, here are some details published by the UN in March 2009.
According to the UN Population Database,
Asia's GDP per capita (US$)
Singapore
1997 US$25890
2007 US$36370
Increase 40%
Malaysia
1997 US$4801
2007 US$7027
Increase 46%
Singapore/Malaysia ratio
1997 5.39
2007 5.17
The ratio has been reduced a little but the GDP for Malaysia is still nowhere here that of a developed nation. No one denies that there has been economic growth but the costs are also significant with major resources especially oil and timber being depleted for economic growth.
I daresay that the economic scenario is made worse as not only are foreign investors heading elsewhere but locals are setting up foreign operations to evade the NEP problems.
As Malaysia is a nation with a young population, the next 10 years will be crucial if we are to avoid social unrest caused by lack of investments and jobs creation.
I believe that a more realistic target of developed nation is 2035 but only if the government makes major policy changes or Malaysians change their government in the next elections.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The GREAT METRO Sale and A(H1N1) at McDonalds?
I want to write something different today.
Last night I went shopping as Metrojaya was having a Member's promotion by giving better discounts.
I won't bore you with my shopping cart but there was an interesting incident in the payment queue.
There was this Chinese national in front of me and while waiting to pay, his wife or GF came and passed him a sports shirt. Now I'm guessing he was from China as they spoke quite loudly in a rough sounding language. What he did was a little startling -he promptly remove his shirt and tried on the merchandise - yeah guys can go about bare-chested but it seemed so low-class and out of place.
The shirt was not suitable so the woman passed him another selection and the queue was subject to another fleshy display.
The guy was about late 40 to 50 and payed with his gold credit card. The card looked pretty new and was not even signed by the card-holder.
Payment was approved and then came another interesting episode. The guy and his wife kept pondering over the payment slip. He was looking for his bank's logo on the payment slip and I guess he was wondering why the amount was not in his currency instead of the ringgit.
The Chinese supervisor tried to explain but I observed she too was puzzled by his questions. Luckily the delay lasted only a few minutes and the couple accepted what little explanation was given. I remarked to the Cashier that he was probably using his credit card overseas for the first time.
As I had to get some trousers altered - they are always too long, I passed them to the girl and she told me to return in 30 minutes.
That's when I decided to treat myself to some McDonalds' ice-cream. There was no one at the counter but within seconds, the guy who was handling a broom came over and took my order. He was not wearing gloves while sweeping and he did not wash his hands before he grabbed hold of the ice-cream cone.
Then he put the paper liner on the cone and filled it with ice-cream. The only good thing was the guy was not fussy about collecting the RM0.05 that I did not have and he charged me only RM1.
It seems that some McDonalds outlets do not teach/train staff adequately about hygiene. I ate the ice-cream but discarded the cone.
Last night I went shopping as Metrojaya was having a Member's promotion by giving better discounts.
I won't bore you with my shopping cart but there was an interesting incident in the payment queue.
There was this Chinese national in front of me and while waiting to pay, his wife or GF came and passed him a sports shirt. Now I'm guessing he was from China as they spoke quite loudly in a rough sounding language. What he did was a little startling -he promptly remove his shirt and tried on the merchandise - yeah guys can go about bare-chested but it seemed so low-class and out of place.
The shirt was not suitable so the woman passed him another selection and the queue was subject to another fleshy display.
The guy was about late 40 to 50 and payed with his gold credit card. The card looked pretty new and was not even signed by the card-holder.
Payment was approved and then came another interesting episode. The guy and his wife kept pondering over the payment slip. He was looking for his bank's logo on the payment slip and I guess he was wondering why the amount was not in his currency instead of the ringgit.
The Chinese supervisor tried to explain but I observed she too was puzzled by his questions. Luckily the delay lasted only a few minutes and the couple accepted what little explanation was given. I remarked to the Cashier that he was probably using his credit card overseas for the first time.
As I had to get some trousers altered - they are always too long, I passed them to the girl and she told me to return in 30 minutes.
That's when I decided to treat myself to some McDonalds' ice-cream. There was no one at the counter but within seconds, the guy who was handling a broom came over and took my order. He was not wearing gloves while sweeping and he did not wash his hands before he grabbed hold of the ice-cream cone.
Then he put the paper liner on the cone and filled it with ice-cream. The only good thing was the guy was not fussy about collecting the RM0.05 that I did not have and he charged me only RM1.
It seems that some McDonalds outlets do not teach/train staff adequately about hygiene. I ate the ice-cream but discarded the cone.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
malaysiakini on NAJIB'S Grand Scheme....
It is not surprising that Najib's 1Malaysia concept is getting a terrible bashing at the hands of the PR according to this malaysiakini article Najib gets bashed at Pakatan 'unity' rally.
Apart from the grand ceremony at the launch and some nice speeches, I do not see any changes being made to the fundamental problems we have inherited over the years and two such problems are the lack of serious reforms in the PDRM and the tainted Judiciary.
Now the latest talk is on scholarships and the 50% ruling on Bumiputra equity. The latter is simply a carry-over of the past policy and is not likely to impress anyone with the same old "crutch mentality" after more than 35 years.
The NEP will soon become a grandfather policy and sadly, the Bumis are never going to catch up with anyone - least of all the connected cronies in the BN.
I guess that many in the BN are now feeling the heat as they know if a fair general elections is held anytime soon, the BN could lose the federal government.
To me that would be the best thing that Malaysia needs as it will provide the BN the best chance to undergo radical changes.
It may be painful for some but that will surely put us on the path to a more progressive Malaysia.
Just look at Indonesia - I daresay that in the past 6 years they have matured more than us in the political sense.
Apart from the grand ceremony at the launch and some nice speeches, I do not see any changes being made to the fundamental problems we have inherited over the years and two such problems are the lack of serious reforms in the PDRM and the tainted Judiciary.
Now the latest talk is on scholarships and the 50% ruling on Bumiputra equity. The latter is simply a carry-over of the past policy and is not likely to impress anyone with the same old "crutch mentality" after more than 35 years.
The NEP will soon become a grandfather policy and sadly, the Bumis are never going to catch up with anyone - least of all the connected cronies in the BN.
I guess that many in the BN are now feeling the heat as they know if a fair general elections is held anytime soon, the BN could lose the federal government.
To me that would be the best thing that Malaysia needs as it will provide the BN the best chance to undergo radical changes.
It may be painful for some but that will surely put us on the path to a more progressive Malaysia.
Just look at Indonesia - I daresay that in the past 6 years they have matured more than us in the political sense.
Monday, June 29, 2009
malaysiakini and the GREAT SCHOLARSHIP Debate...
The PM has announced the so-called new merit scholarships scheme and not surprisingly many are sceptical about the new idea.
According to this malaysiakini article Kit Siang: 'Pure merit' scholarship award has no merit, the opposition leader is highly critical of this proposal.
I believe that perhaps 70% of ALL scholarships should be based on merit with the remaining 30% being allocated to the needy students irrespective of race.
Anyone else who wants to study at colleges can apply for student loans that must be strictly enforced as far as repayment is concerned.
The authorities have been too slack in collections and that has resulted in billions being unpaid and creating a culture of defaulters; even among scholarship holders who abscond or refuse to return.
Since the authorities have created this non-repayment nightmare, I suggest the following:
The scholarships allocation should be handled by the state governments instead of the PSD. This will have 2 good benefits:
1.The headache of selection will be passed to the states and
2.It reinforces the 1Malaysia concept. Opposition is treated fairly and as equal partners in a progressive Malaysia.
According to this malaysiakini article Kit Siang: 'Pure merit' scholarship award has no merit, the opposition leader is highly critical of this proposal.
I believe that perhaps 70% of ALL scholarships should be based on merit with the remaining 30% being allocated to the needy students irrespective of race.
Anyone else who wants to study at colleges can apply for student loans that must be strictly enforced as far as repayment is concerned.
The authorities have been too slack in collections and that has resulted in billions being unpaid and creating a culture of defaulters; even among scholarship holders who abscond or refuse to return.
Since the authorities have created this non-repayment nightmare, I suggest the following:
The scholarships allocation should be handled by the state governments instead of the PSD. This will have 2 good benefits:
1.The headache of selection will be passed to the states and
2.It reinforces the 1Malaysia concept. Opposition is treated fairly and as equal partners in a progressive Malaysia.
Friday, June 26, 2009
malaysiakini and Being Completely OFF the Mark...
No I am not going to talk about Najib's 1Malaysia concept that is described in this malaysiakini article as being Najib completely off the mark.
I want to highlight another minister who is also quite capable of the "foot in mouth" disease.
Strangely enough, he occupies the post of Information Minister and he suggests that the MSM do not use the term "A(H1N1)" to decribe the latest flu pandemic with the argument that Malaysians will get confused with such a terminology.
I guess he must take us all as fools. Maybe in his little mind he believes that somehow "swine flu" will have a greater impact as the "pig" word will have a "haram" connotation with most of the population and they will be scared shitless?
Maybe we should change his official title to "Minister of Disinformation"?
Meanwhile this bit of information will have Malaysians debating on the following questions:
1.When will Malaysia appoint its next non-Malay general or IGP?
2.When will Malaysia appoint its first non-Malay Chief Justice?
You see Singapore has appointed its first Malay general according to this article in the Malaysian Insider.
I want to highlight another minister who is also quite capable of the "foot in mouth" disease.
Strangely enough, he occupies the post of Information Minister and he suggests that the MSM do not use the term "A(H1N1)" to decribe the latest flu pandemic with the argument that Malaysians will get confused with such a terminology.
I guess he must take us all as fools. Maybe in his little mind he believes that somehow "swine flu" will have a greater impact as the "pig" word will have a "haram" connotation with most of the population and they will be scared shitless?
Maybe we should change his official title to "Minister of Disinformation"?
Meanwhile this bit of information will have Malaysians debating on the following questions:
1.When will Malaysia appoint its next non-Malay general or IGP?
2.When will Malaysia appoint its first non-Malay Chief Justice?
You see Singapore has appointed its first Malay general according to this article in the Malaysian Insider.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
malaysiakini and ANOTHER Take on the "UNITY" Government?
Somehow it seems the government lacks credibility when leaders have to use religion to promote the unity government concept as described in this malaysiakini article PM: 'A religious duty to have unity talks'.
To me the BN would gain more respect if it accorded the opposition states more cooperation to enable the nation to develop universal good principles of governance so that Malaysians can experience real progress.
It seems that the BN has not learned any lessons after the Perak fiasco and is prepared to churn out more dirty tricks.
I for one do not really believe the motives of this lop-sided approach to the "unity" government concept.
There are so many glaring issues like the IPCMC failure and the tainted Judiciary that are so plainly obvious and putting a religious spin on achieving a good government is simply quite incredulous.
To me the BN would gain more respect if it accorded the opposition states more cooperation to enable the nation to develop universal good principles of governance so that Malaysians can experience real progress.
It seems that the BN has not learned any lessons after the Perak fiasco and is prepared to churn out more dirty tricks.
I for one do not really believe the motives of this lop-sided approach to the "unity" government concept.
There are so many glaring issues like the IPCMC failure and the tainted Judiciary that are so plainly obvious and putting a religious spin on achieving a good government is simply quite incredulous.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
malaysiakini and ANOTHER CHANGE in ENGLISH Policy?
BEGADS! That would be another major blunder if this malaysiakini article is to be believed: A change in language policy by July?.
There are many who oppose the switch to English even though everyone agrees that English is important for global trade and even getting employment in the private sector.
To me the switch back to English was a good decision made by TDM before he retired but it seems during the past 6 years, little has been done to improve the teaching standards in schools and many teachers still struggle with English.
Of course the sudden switch to English would have caused major disruptions but if the Education Ministry is still in the "To teach or not to teach in English" pondering stage, then the future of our children is in great jeopardy.
We should be asking the Education Ministry some pertinent questions like:
1.How many teachers have been trained to teach Maths and Science in English in the past 6 years?
2.How many teachers have been sent for English language degree courses in the last 6 years?
3.How many trainers for English has the Ministry produced in the past 6 years?
Learning English is not rocket science and the media especially TV should be a useful tool. I would suggest English language programs can be broadcast on Astro and RTM to reach the rural folks so that parents can learn English to enable them to help their children from Darjah 1. All it needs is a little discipline, some time and most importantly the willingness to learn.
Those with Internet access can even get free lessons from Livemocha.com
There are many who oppose the switch to English even though everyone agrees that English is important for global trade and even getting employment in the private sector.
To me the switch back to English was a good decision made by TDM before he retired but it seems during the past 6 years, little has been done to improve the teaching standards in schools and many teachers still struggle with English.
Of course the sudden switch to English would have caused major disruptions but if the Education Ministry is still in the "To teach or not to teach in English" pondering stage, then the future of our children is in great jeopardy.
We should be asking the Education Ministry some pertinent questions like:
1.How many teachers have been trained to teach Maths and Science in English in the past 6 years?
2.How many teachers have been sent for English language degree courses in the last 6 years?
3.How many trainers for English has the Ministry produced in the past 6 years?
Learning English is not rocket science and the media especially TV should be a useful tool. I would suggest English language programs can be broadcast on Astro and RTM to reach the rural folks so that parents can learn English to enable them to help their children from Darjah 1. All it needs is a little discipline, some time and most importantly the willingness to learn.
Those with Internet access can even get free lessons from Livemocha.com
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