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The 10th Malaysia Five Year Plan : Old Wine in New Bottles – Part 1

Introduction

Malaysia faces formidable economic and social challenges. Both domestic and external. These are greater than those faced in the past. These have been acknowledged by Ministers, the World Bank and other analysts. Some of these challenges can be attributed to changing global economic circumstances whilst others are due to policy failures, an approach to governance founded upon rent-seeking, and abuse of power and processes that deny accountability and transparency. Overwhelmingly, implementation of policies associated with the NEP has contributed to the many distortions and a loss of competitiveness, dismal private sector performance, a virtual collapse in the flows of FDI, and sizable capital flight. Overall growth rates are now far below those needed to lift Malaysia out of the middle income trap that it finds itself in. Vision 2020 has become a fast fading dream.

The political Tsunami of March 2008 sent shockwaves across the political landscape. The BN, after an initial state of shock, embraced the rhetoric of change and indulged in notional reforms but the entrenched warlords and power brokers resisted much needed economic reforms as these were seen hurting the self-centered interests of those in power. The timid attempts by the then Prime Minister were resisted and he was chastised and ridiculed and eventually driven from office.
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10MP fails to impress economists

By Stephanie Sta Maria | FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: The 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) yesterday came under scrutiny of three economists who lauded its acknowledgment of the country’s stumbling blocks but lamented its initiatives to tackle them.

At a dialogue jointly organised by the Malaysian Economic Association and the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Universiti Malaya, the trio cited a few initiatives that have set off alarm bells in their heads.

DAP chief economist, Tony Pua, called the plan “tired” and noted that it contains many similarities to past plans. His main concern, however, lay with the “shadow” of the New Economic Policy (NEP) which he said is cast over the 10MP.

“The NEP characteristic in the 10MP is the 30% Bumiputera quota, which, in fact, was left out of the New Economic Model (NEM),” he said. “The problem is not the quota itself but the danger that such a quota would prevent this community from moving ahead because it doesn’t distinguish between the rich and poor Bumiputera.”
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Malaysia: A ‘bankrupt’ nation?

by Dr Lim Teck Ghee

What financial crisis?’

Readers following the great national debate initiated by Minister Idris Jala in the Prime Minister’s Department on the possibility of the country going bankrupt must be thoroughly confused with the mixed messages from government.

On the one hand, we are told that the country is more prosperous than ever before and that absolute poverty in the country, for example, is almost completely eradicated. We are also told that the country’s economy is in good hands and that the finances of the country are well-managed.

Every few days or so, we are reminded of how fortunate we are to be living in Malaysia and how much foreign investors love us. Just a short while ago, it was trumpeted that our competitiveness had shot up this past year so that we are now ranked number ten in the world – ahead of many advanced economies.
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Two parliamentary questions on Najib’s three strategic initiatives to transform Malaysia but which have run aground

In the forthcoming parliamentary meeting beginning on Monday, I have given notice to pose two questions to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on his three strategic initiatives to transform Malaysia but which have run aground because of strong opposition mostly from Umno and its outsourced organizations like Perkasa.

These three initiatives of Najib are his three strategic pillars which make up his roadmap to achieving Vision 2020 – an high-income advanced nation with inclusiveness and sustainability by 2020:

  • 1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now;

  • Government Transformation Programme; and

  • New Economic Model.

My two questions are to ask the Prime Minister:

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Rebuking Idris show Umno’s distaste for subsidy cuts

By Debra Chong
Malaysian Insider
June 03, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — Datuk Seri Idris Jala’s plan to save Malaysia from going broke appears to be stillborn, as Umno’s constant attacks on the minister show that the Najib administration has no appetite for subsidy cuts.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also appears to have distanced himself from Idris’ proposal, after he told the Perkasa-led Malay Consultative Council meeting last week that proposals to save RM103 billion in subsidies were not yet finalised.

“Idris’ proposal is stillborn. I don’t think the Najib administration has the courage to carry out the cuts… not across the board and not as Idris planned it,” DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said.

Analysts contacted by The Malaysian Insider agreed. Continue reading “Rebuking Idris show Umno’s distaste for subsidy cuts”

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Malay Nationalists Trash Premier’s Economic Plan

Asia Sentinel
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak gets a cold reception

Just how difficult it will be to modify Malaysia’s affirmative action program for its majority ethnic Malays came clear over the weekend when some 1,500 members of the Malay Consultative Council summarily rejected Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s plans to replace it with what the premier calls the New Economic Model.

Najib was due to unveil his NEM, as he calls it, on June 10 in conjunction with the publication of the 10th Malaysia Plan. But so far no details have been released, with less than two weeks to go before its publication, and it is questionable what will be in it. The consultative council turned it down without bothering with the details.

Since he came into office as premier in April of 2009, Najib has been attempting to get Malays, who make up roughly 60 percent of the country’s 27 million people, to give up some of the perks that they have enjoyed since the New Economic Policy was promulgated in the wake of bloody 1969 riots that took the lives of hundreds of Malays and Chinese alike. Modifying the NEP, originally designed to remain in place only until 1990, has become the third rail of Malay politics.
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Malaysians are now at the crossroads – an advanced high-income country in 2020 or a bankrupt nation in 2019

Malaysians are now at the crossroads and must choose to take the road towards an advanced high-income country in 2020 or a bankrupt nation in 2019.

The New Economic Model (NEM) launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on March 30 promised a new development path encompassing economic, social and government transformation to catapult Malaysia from two-decade-long middle income trap to become an advanced high-income nation by 2020.

The NEM is however predicated on one basic assumption – the existence of “political will and leadership to break the logjam of resistance by vested interest groups and preparing the rakyat to support deep-seated changes in policy directions”.

One alternative to a high-income advanced nation with inclusiveness and sustainability by 2020 is the spectre of a bankrupt nation by 2019 so vividly spelt out by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, last Thursday.
Continue reading “Malaysians are now at the crossroads – an advanced high-income country in 2020 or a bankrupt nation in 2019”

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Tackling Subsidies And Their Myriad Manifestations

By M. Bakri Musa

Idris Jala, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and PEMANDU CEO, has yet to convince his cabinet colleagues, in particular the Prime Minister, of the need to reduce subsidies specifically and government spending generally. He has to do that first before taking his Subsidy Rationalization Lab road show to the rest of the country.

Responding to the first “Open House,” Prime Minister Najib indicated that he would “leave it to the people to decide on whether they [the subsidies] should be maintained or abolished.” In doing so he abrogated his leadership on a critical economic issue. He is following instead of leading public opinion; a wet-finger-in-the-air type of leader.

While I do not share Idris Jala’s dire prediction of Malaysia becoming bankrupt in nine years – nations, unlike corporations and individuals, cannot do that – nonetheless the grim picture he painted is not far from the likely reality. His likening Malaysia’s future to today’s Greece may or not be valid but there are enough useful lessons from the current Greek tragedy.
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Re: Idris Jala: M’sia must cut subsidies, debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy

Letters
by Sara Wak

Dear YB Idris Jala and Koh Tsu Koon,

For the last many years, the BN Govt has been handing big ang pows to the rich Malays who are given APs, and it has been said by the BN Govt that this practice will go on until 2013 0r even 2014!

Why can’t the Govt control the issue of APs to people who want to import cars? The govt can collect RM30,000 to RM40,000 on each important cars. Why must the BN Govt decides to pass the right to collect these payments to only a handful of rich Malays?

How many APs are issued to these rich Malays a year ? Like what Rafidah did when she was minister , in giving APs and shares to her relatives?

The Malaysian Economy has deteriorated so much for the last decade because of all these handouts to the UMNO cronies. Malaysia was ahead of Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, and look at it now, it is even behind countries like Thailand, Vietnam and others in Asia !
Continue reading “Re: Idris Jala: M’sia must cut subsidies, debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy”

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Is Najib backing off from support for NEM to become an even bigger Flip-Flop PM than Abdullah?

The meek and timid response of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the ferocious and incendiary rejection of the New Economic Model by the Perkasa-led Malay Consultative Council raises the question whether Najib is backing off from the NEM to become an even bigger Flip-Flop PM than his predecessor Tun Abdullah.

Najib’s statement that the NEM is not the Government’s “final stand” but merely the “trial balloons” of a group of experts making suggestions from the global market’s perspective is a greater commentary on Najib’s leadership qualities than on the NEM proposals.

The NEM was launched by Najib two months ago with great fanfare as a defining moment in the nation’s development path, to take the quantum leap from the nation’s decade-long economic stagnation and escape from the two-decade middle-income trap to become a developed high-income country – but it appears that it may end up more as a defining moment in the grave failings of the year-old Najib premiership.

Right from the very beginning, the NEM courageouslty admitted that Vision 2020 is not possible without economic, social and government transformation – and the NEM was presented as one of the four key pillars to unleash Malaysia’s growth potential, drive change, propel Malaysia to become a high income advanced nation with inclusiveness and sustainability and achieve Vision 2020.
Continue reading “Is Najib backing off from support for NEM to become an even bigger Flip-Flop PM than Abdullah?”

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Najib’s qualification instead of endorsement of Idris Jala’s warning that Malaysia could become next Greece and go bankrupt unless it saves RM103 billion in next five years to reduce the nation’s huge debt proof of lack of political will to address subsidy syndrome

Four things stand out in yesterday’s Subsidy Rationalisation Lab Open Day of the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) where the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and CEO of Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), Datuk Seri Idris Jala made his presentation on the country’s proposed five-year subsidy rationalization roadmap.

Firstly, the absence of Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, the Minister in charge of the 1Malaysia GTP and Chairman of Pemandu. Why is he on leave in the United States on such an important event in the Government Transformation Programme or is he seriously considering, according to reports quoting Gerakan sources, relinquishing the post as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department after the humiliation in the last meeting of Parliament where he dared not stand up to vouch for what 1Malaysia stands for – that he is Malaysian first and Chinese second?

Secondly, Idris’ failure to address the root causes of the national economic crisis instead of just dealing with its symptoms.

Idris warned that unless Malaysians bite the bullet and wean off subsidies to save the government RM103 billion in five years to reduce the nation’s deficit and huge debt, Malaysia could become another Greece and go bankrupt in nine years.

Although Idris said the government would focus on big ticket items such as fuel, electricity and toll to achieve the savings, he failed to focus on the biggest ticket items – corruption, mismanagement, extravagance and lack and accountability.

When corruption, mismanagement, extravagance and lack of accountability cost the government from RM10 billion to RM28 billion a year, what credibility has the government to talk about slashing subsidies affecting the rakyat when it has nothing to show to end the rampant and worsening state of corruption, the gross abuses of power and public funds like indiscriminate issue of APs and various forms of “piratisation” in the name of privatization? Continue reading “Najib’s qualification instead of endorsement of Idris Jala’s warning that Malaysia could become next Greece and go bankrupt unless it saves RM103 billion in next five years to reduce the nation’s huge debt proof of lack of political will to address subsidy syndrome”

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DAP says cuts cannot be limited to subsidies

Malaysian Insider
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
May 27, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — DAP’s Tony Pua grudgingly admitted today that cutting subsidies could lower Malaysia’s debts, but he said the cuts will only be successful if leakages from graft and help for big corporations are plugged first.

“I feel that in general, the points raised were agreeable. But at the same time, these plans can only be put into motion if other conditions are first met.

“He (Datuk Seri Idris Jala) was quite naughty when he said that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) agreed with lowering subsidies. We agree to it but with conditions,” DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua said shortly after he attended a government open day on rationalizing cutting subsidies.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP told The Malaysian Insider that while the government has outlined ways in which to gradually lessen subsidies, other “main causes of debts” had not been carefully addressed.

According to Pua, the issue of subsidies was a small problem compared to the actual cause of Malaysia’s huge deficit problem. Continue reading “DAP says cuts cannot be limited to subsidies”

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Proton car prices in Saudi Arabia – raw deal for Malaysians

Letters
By an angry Malaysian

FROM ANGRY RAKYAT …..! TO OWNERS OF PROTON VEHICLES….VERY SAD !!!!
SO NOW YOU KNOW THE ACTUAL VALUE PRICE OF PROTON !!!! CHEAP METAL !!!

1 MALAYSIA SENTIASA DITIPU…
Kenapa Proton tak jual harga macam kat Arab Saudi ?
Apa istimewanya orang Arab?

Kata “Rakyat didahulukan”..
Kenapa orang Arab lebih diutamakan?

Haaaa..Jawapannya ialah..

Pemilik Proton di Malaysia semuanya dah kena tipu…Hahaha

Harga Persona kat Saudi = SR36,100
Harga Gen2 kat Saudi = SR33,600
Harga Waja kat Saudi = SR37,950

1 Saudi Riyal = RM0.94

Maknanya harga Persona kat Saudi = RM33,934 aje
Maknanya harga Proton Gen2 kat Saudi = RM32,256 aje
Maknanya harga Waja kat Saudi = RM35,673 aje

1 Malaysia bayar RM 66,799.97 untuk 1 Waja di Msia! RM31,126.97 lebih MAHAL! Continue reading “Proton car prices in Saudi Arabia – raw deal for Malaysians”

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Call on Najib to suspend UUCA for five years to demonstrate he has the political will to implement NEM priority to “retain and attract talent”

Congratulations to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that Malaysia has broken into the top 10 list of the world’s most competitive countries, taking the 10th spot on the Switzerland-based IMD’s World Competitiveness Yearbook for 2010 – up from 18th placing last year.

Malaysia, however, has still a long way to go if we are to break away from the decade-long economic stagnation, escape from the middle-income trap and take our rightful place in the international community of nations, catching up with nations which have overtaken us economically although we were ahead of them when we achieved Merdeka 53 years ago – like South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

For a start, has the Najib premiership the political will to break the logjam of resistance by vested groups represented by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and various interest groups which have been outsourced by Umno to champion rightwing, extremist and racist views like Perkasa and Gertak?

As a test whether Najib has the political leadership and will to implement New Economic Model (NEM) reforms, I call on him to suspend for five years the Universities and University Colleges Act which acts like a suffocating blanket stifling creativity, innovation and excellence among university lecturers and students, reducing the public universities into second class universities not only in the world but also in the country.
Continue reading “Call on Najib to suspend UUCA for five years to demonstrate he has the political will to implement NEM priority to “retain and attract talent””

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Can Malaysia go the way of Greece becoming a bankrupt country and can Sarawak be spared if Malaysia is bankrupt?

The SUPP leadership does not want the Sibu voters in the “By-election of the Century” in Sarawak to be concerned about big national issues – and this is the great difference between the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat on the one hand and the SUPP and the Barisan Nasional on the other.

In fact, today I ask the Sibu voters and Sarawak people to ponder one serious question: Can Malaysia go the way of Greece becoming a bankrupt country and if Malaysia is bankrupt, can Sarawak be spared its awful consequences?

There was recently a television documentary regarding Greece ‘s financial fiasco, enumerating the why’s and how’s that this historic and beautiful country came to grief.

The diagnosis as to how the great nation of Greece ended as a financial “basket-case” are:

Bureaucracy: Greece’s bureaucracy is famous in the whole of Europe ! To open a cafe or pub there are 25 processes to go through! This is a country of rules and regulations.
Continue reading “Can Malaysia go the way of Greece becoming a bankrupt country and can Sarawak be spared if Malaysia is bankrupt?”

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Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 5)

PART V: CONCLUSION

In the end, NEM is nothing more than a cocktail of reincarnation of Barisan Nasional’s previously failed economic planning mixed with plagiarised concepts and ideas from Pakatan Rakyat.

If anything, NEM strengthens the belief that Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration is obsessed with public relations so much so that even the most important economic document for the country is littered with public relations stunts – high targets albeit unrealistic, big words, lacking in details and political will.

But no doubt this will be spun by the public relations coordinators in Putrajaya to create some excitement and provide the feeling that the economy is heading in the right direction.

Pakatan Rakyat believes that the proofs provided in this document are sufficient to expose this public relations stunt. If Barisan Nasional is serious about re-making our economy and bringing it to a new era, it must respond to the four acid tests outlined by Pakatan Rakyat in this document.
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Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 4b)

Introduction of minimum wage
NEM sets a rather ambitious target to achieve income per capita of USD17,700 by 2020.

2020 is less than 10 years away and if going by the non-correlation of economic planning and results achievement of the past decade, it is necessary for any economists to take a more prudent view of the country’s economy for the next 10 years.

While NEM has been touted as the a game-changing economic document that will propel the country to the status of developed nation, surprisingly the measures suggested to improve personal income is not at all game-changing.

The same vague and conceptual measures of upgrading the skills, bringing in technology through R&D and going for high value services have been suggested and included as targets since 2000 in 8MP.

Clearly, the measures did not bring results as expected (more so because they were not implemented seriously as there was hardly any reform in important institutions in the country).
Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 4b)”

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Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 4a)

PART IV: PAKATAN RAKYAT’S “ACID TEST” TO BARISAN NASIONAL

Pakatan Rakyat takes a very strong view on the need to have a strong political will to carry out economic reforms promptly and extensively.

The biggest challenge for Barisan Nasional is to prove that NEM (despite all the contradictions and gaffs already committed by Barisan Nasional leaders) is genuine and not a part of the continuous public relations gimmick, presumably developed by APCO Worldwide.

Therefore, the government needs to immediately response to the lukewarm reception of the market and public by demonstrating early political will to implement certain key economic reforms; failure of which will only confirm the prevailing sentiment that NEM is nothing more than repackaged past failures presented as a public relations campaign.

Pakatan Rakyat hereby outlines four key acid tests for Barisan Nasional that could and should be implemented immediately if it is serious in pushing economic reforms.
Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 4a)”

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Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 3d)

The inherent lack of transparency

The market greeted government’s move to dispose its assets and develops some parcels of lands to spur economic activities with some excitement. One of the first projects announced was the development of government lands in Sungai Buloh for a gross development value of RM5 billion to be jointly developed by government and EPF.

Unfortunately, the positive response was short-lived as news soon circulated that MRCB was expected to be appointed as the contractor for the project; prompting allegations of insider trading.

Whatever optimism there was with regards to the planned disposal of government assets died instantaneously and marred the unveiling of NEM.

The basic issue of transparency did not receive adequate attention and priority in NEM when it is one of the biggest ills of our economy.
Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 3d)”

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Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 3c)

Removing Subsidy

The double standard on the issue of subsidy removal is glaring.

Pakatan Rakyat has maintained that the issue of subsidy removal must be approached holistically. It is morally wrong to take back assistance to the people (in the form of lower petrol prices) in the name of subsidy removal – yet the huge financial incentives and soft loans to big corporations such as Independent Power Producers (IPPs), water concessionaires and toll operators are maintained in the name of “sanctity of legal agreements”.

While the Federal Government continues to dilly dally with water restructuring in Selangor to return the utility back to the public and to ensure minimal tariff in the future; it also provided Syabas with a RM320.8 million 20-year back-loaded and interest free loan.

The issue of exorbitant profits made by IPPs is well known and has become a national topic. PETRONAS has suffered a bill of RM97 billion cumulatively up to 31 March 2009 in gas subsidies; mostly to IPPs. Despite continuous public pressure, Barisan Nasional has not had the courage nor willingness to restructure IPPs given the burden to the national coffers in terms of gas subsidy that could have been used elsewhere.
Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat’s policy statement on New Economic Model (Part 3c)”