AN OBITUARY OF SORT. of the BN led government in Malaysia - The last of a legacy.

Forgive me if it offended anybody who reads this article below but take time to read and evaluate yourself these journey where all of us live through. AN OBITUARY OF SORT.



RM250,000 a month income at a GLC ! ! Explosive ! !

By our Editorial Consultant.


(The following article was sent to me by our Editorial Consultant. As you read it you will see that the writer is extremely well informed and perceptive. The writer's views are well put and capture the reality of our situation accurately.)


The two recessions in 1986 and 1997/98 were caused by different factors.   


The earlier one in 1986 was caused by the collapse of commodities prices all at the same time.  This is the curse of commodities.  lt came so suddenly, resulting in an economic crisis.  


The 1997/98 recession was caused by a financial crisis.  This was as a result of mainly private sector borrowing heavily in US dollars. When the speculators attacked the local currencies, almost all companies went under. And when the government tried to defend the Ringgit, the money was lost, which put greater pressure on the currencies as speculators continued to attack. In the case of Thailand, it almost lost all its reserves.  


So both recessions were from different causes.

In the first recession in 1986/87, the government was aware of the problems faced by rakyat because of the collapse of commodities. The government took care of rubber tappers, small holders and those working in the palm oil plantations.  The government took care of the petty traders as well. 


But more importantly it showed that the government was serious about helping those facing problems.  The Cabinet took a pay cut and agreed that the allowances of the ministers also were cut.  


This was to show the rakyat that ministers too were willing to sacrifice as rakyat was facing a difficult time. The rakyat appreciated this gesture and felt the government was serious in trying to solve the economic crisis. And it was this trust the people had in government that made it smooth for the government to implement its recovery plan.  


The government cut development expenditure to match revenue and made it clear, henceforth we will live within our means.  That  was an opportunity for the government to restructure our economy.  The civil service was bloated and revenue was used mainly to pay the salary.  The government froze new recruitment and in future, new government employees will not get pension.  


Instead, a pension fund would be established.  To reduce the number of civil servants, privatization was speeded up and they became employees of the privatized company. The government saved on salaries and after privatisation the government was no longer responsible for both their opex and capex.  All these saved the government a lot of money.  

The government decided the country must not rely entirely on commodities and must shift to manufacturing. The laws were amended or relaxed to welcome foreign investments.  The policy was so successful that we had millions of foreign workers who came to work here.  


The government then attended to the financial sector and cleaned up the banks, insurance companies and deposit taking co-operatives.  The government’s initiative to restore the economy was so successful that growth was high and the people’s income also increased.  

ln 1997/98, the issues were completely different.  But fortunately for us there was no recession in the rest of the world. Our exports were doing well and brought in a lot of money to the country.  lt was the private sector that was facing problems and our banks had to be saved.  


The government formed Danamodal and Danaharta to save the banks and another agency was established to handle companies facing trouble.  Once the government introduced capital controls which was condemned by almost the whole world, the ringgit was fixed against the USD and this created certainty for business people.  


So the government's success in handling both recessions was because people trusted the government and were confident that the government knew how to handle and solve the crisis. The people proved their trust by giving 2/3 majorities in both the elections during the crisis.  

Now in 2016 what is the present government doing?  Nothing.  


Rakyat don’t see any attempt to try to help their hardships.  The government minister made a false statement that  GST will reduce prices of goods.  

The government is not honest with the rakyat. The ministers job is to spin everything which makes them all sound like idiots.  The 1MDB scandal was created by the leadership. It is not helping the government at all and it has created a huge trust deficit against the government.  Even Husni Hanadzlah lied when he said that the billions of Ringgit were kept in the form of units. Only after he resigned from government Husni acknowledged that he suffered very high blood pressure because of the 1MDB scandal which the ministers were tasked to cover up.


The government keeps saying we have growth and it is better than most countries. In actual fact the per capita GDP of Malaysians has been shrinking over the past three years. 


What growth is the government talking about?  What good is growth if the rakyat does not benefit?  ln fact, this government is (like Pak Lah’s government was) obsessed with growth.  As both Najib and Pak Lah have no clue about finance and economy, they both relied on Nor Mohd Yakop who was happy to deliver growth to his bosses but at what cost and at whose expense?  


Now we know when Pak Lah retired, our national debt grew to RM250billion.  Now the national debt is RM800billion (and maybe more, for example the government has taken out housing loans of RM200 billion to hide the real debt levels from the rakyat). This is how the government has generated the so called "growth'. By borrowing money heavily and pumping it into wild horse projects in the economy.   

Prepaid bloggers who do not understand economics compared our national debt to other countries and say ours is low compared to others.  This is a false comparison.  


Granted that Japan’s national debt is very high but the Japanese are a very rich people. Japanese per capita GDP is RM156,000.  Japan is the 4th largest economy in the world.   Yes their national debt is huge but so is their economy. The same with America.  Americans are a rich people.  We are a poor nation and 1MDB has made our position worse.  Dont be so ridiculous to compare our economy with Japan or USA.

During the 1986 recession, the government froze civil servants’ pay as everyone must sacrifice. You cannot ask the rakyat to sacrifice and yet civil servants are treated differently.  


Under Najib, the civil servants are given bonuses when the rest of the rakyat are suffering due to high costs of living.  In fact, under Pak Lah and on the advice of Nor Mohd Yakop, more and more agencies were created and with overlapping functions.  


Nor Mohd Yakop was very politically ambitious and was using these agencies under him to build his political base using public funds. As Pak Lah was sleeping, he was not aware of what was happening.  


Luckily, his own bahagian in UMNO rejected Nor Mohd Yakop.  Otherwise, he would continue as MOF II and only Allah knows what further damage he would have caused to the country.  


Don’t forget that at Bank Negara, he made Bank Negara insolvent.  We are lucky he is out of the Cabinet but he is causing damage at Khazanah.  And don’t forget he was also adviser to 1MDB and see what has happened to 1MDB?  Many people don’t know that he arranged for Goldman Sachs to raise the bonds on those terms. Those who know, understand the monkey business involved  in that bond deal.  (Cheah in Singapore (ex Public Bank) would also know.) 

Our household debt is also among the highest in the world.  Just to show growth, we kept borrowing,  because MOF wants and believes growth is good for his image.  


Rakyat is more concerned about bread and butter issues and can’t be bothered about growth.  They are angry that prices of everything have gone up and now they pay GST too.  


lf growth is a criteria of a country’s success, then Angola and Equatorial Guinea where growth used to be 30% to 40% per year would be a success story yet people there are poor.  


Growth does not reflect the true state of a country’s economy these days, other factors have to be taken into consideration.  If people are suffering and not happy and their quality of life is poor and can’t afford to pay for their daily needs, what good is the government’s figures on growth?  


The government now claims we have escaped the middle income trap.  This is a nonsensical statement. When the US Dollar was around RM3.50, ldris Jala said if we are not careful we will go the way of Greece. The country can become bankrupt he once said. Now after the Ringgit has "collapsed", ie the US Dollar is at RM4.12 they announce that we have escaped the "middle income trap".  This is another example of  a very poor spin job. Even Idris Jala's Dayak community will not be impressed with this type of spin anymore. 


Most likely Idris Jala is comparing salaries of top management in Khazanah. It is time the rakyat is told how much top management in Khazanah is earning. Khazanah belongs to the rakyat so please do not hide behind any OSA bullshit.  


According to well informed "rumours" a few people in Khazanah earn RM250k a month ! ! !


Many others earn RM100k a month. 


Even a "retired professor" at Khazanah earns  RM70k a month (and this does not include another RM20k he earns at another agency).  


No wonder the rakyat are angry as the privileged few are getting huge salaries whilst the rakyat do not even have money for daily living.   


When they hear of 1MDB and the huge sums that have disappeared, they cannot believe what this government is up to.  

PM and MOF are asking for suggestions for budget.  He is NOT being serious. This is just to pull the wool over the people's eyes. 


Normally Budget dialogues are held in June, to show that the MOF is serious to hear budget suggestions. 


But now he is asking for suggestions in September while the budget is in October.  He can’t be serious.  


What is the best suggestion for this year's Budget? The best suggestion for the Budget is to ask the MOF and PM to resign.  


Tell him that growth that is generated from borrowing money is like a Malay kampung where neighbors are jealous of a big and grand house whose occupants are living very well at a time when the whole neighborhood cannot even make ends meet. Then one day a chettiar came to foreclose the grand house and chase the rich people out.  The rich people were living high using borrowed money. lf we are not careful, our borrowings will lead us exactly to that same end.  It is best to live within our means. 

Zahid said Tun Mahathir was very lucky because during his time  prices of commodities went up.  Zahid should check his facts.  (Before that Zahid may wish to check a dictionary for the meaning of "fact".) 


Zahid also said he was a leader during demonstrations. However when this statement was challenged, he cannot remember or tell us he was a leader in which particular demonstration.  


He said he was a banker.  Yes, he was appointed as  chairman of Bank Simpanan Nasional (aka the Post Office bank) which is not a commercial bank. 


He used his position to issue credit cards to UMNO members who were mainly his supporters and they all spent to the maximum and ne*er paid and when he left the bank, the bank had to deal with non-p**ments of the debt.  

When the rakyat is suffering, the government allows Khazanah to spend RM650 million on a park.  lt shows how insensitive the government is towards the rakyat’s suffering during this economic slowdown.  


Yet the government refuses to gazette Bukit Kiara as a park although the Cabinet agreed to it a long time ago. Instead the government is planning to allow high rise condominiums around the area.  


So does this sound like a government that listens to people and upholds "janji ditepati"?

And this is the wrong time to not only introduce Minimum Wages but to increase Minimum Wages from RM900 to RM1000. Minimum wage certainly causes hardship to businesses and employers during economic slowdowns. As a result  employers and businesses will be forced to lay off workers and / or do not hire new workers. Khazanah themelves have acknowledged that unemployment among the young is very high.  


*My comments : * They do not care.  The Americans have classified MO1 as a kleptocrat. Need I say more?  That would be shame enough to warrant seppuku in Japan. But this is not Japan. This is not even a democracy.  This is a kleptocracy.


Posted by Syed Akbar Ali