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A rejoinder to Pemandu’s “We didn’t lower the GNI figure”

In an unsigned article entitled “Pemandu: We didn’t lower 2009 GNI figure”,(Malaysiakini Apr 8, 2013) Pemandu has made a feeble attempt to defend itself from the allegations that it had manipulated the GNI estimates contained in its Annual Report.

The article contains 11 points; the article is contentious and the claims and assertions being made are open to challenge.

This Rejoinder exposes the many fallacies and untenable statements offered by Pemandu in its own defense. The 11 points are taken up sequentially.

The article begins by a flat denial that the GNI per capita figure for 2009 was deliberately and that it had an intention to mislead the public. The primary attempt at defending the number is that the unrevised GNI figure for 2009 was used in the preparation of the Annual Report issued last month because that was the number used originally at the starting point of Pemandu’ s launch as a bench mark.

This is rather simplistic.

Pemandu appears to be in a state of denial and is offering a rather lame defense. It ignores the fact that professionally, all assessments are normally based on the latest available data.

What Pemandu did in its Report was either unprofessional or an act of incompetence or a deliberate attempt to hoodwink. The effect was to present “feel good” results.
Continue reading “A rejoinder to Pemandu’s “We didn’t lower the GNI figure””

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2-Day Countdown to 13GE – The BN Manifesto: Old Wine in New Bottles

The two Manifestos put out by Pakatan Rakyat and the Barisan Nasional provide a basis for comparison shopping.

Part One of this article attempts to set out the key challenges that the nation faces and reviews the extent to which the BN Manifesto offers policies and proposals that would address these challenges. Part Two examines the specific elements of the BN Manifesto.

Part One – The Unmet Challenges

The much-touted BN Manifesto launched with great fanfare by the Chairman of the Barisan Nasional Coalition is largely an irrelevant document lacking vision, devoid of substance and offers little hope of change or an outline of actions that are urgently needed to meet the challenges faced by the nation at this momentous point in its history.

The BN Manifesto is a rather weak, uninspiring and stale document. The Manifesto is a disappointment as it fails to offer coherent programs to meet the grave challenges facing the nation.

The nation’s key challenges are grouped under three headings: Continue reading “2-Day Countdown to 13GE – The BN Manifesto: Old Wine in New Bottles”

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6-Days to 13GE – Idris Jala’s 12 clear signs of success – April Fool’s Day Message of Illusions

Datuk Seri Idris Jala in his article entitled 12 Clear Signs of Success has the chutzpah to make the claim that he believes in numbers and that their proper use and measurement does not result in lies.

It is rather laughable that having staked out this position, he proceeds to use fabricated numerical data in a brazen manner to make claims that do not have a basis and the assertions being made deviate from the truth.

However, he is not alone in spewing false and spurious numbers to befuddle the public. This has indeed been the season in which the nation has been treated to a recitation of false numbers to telltales of success and to make promises and paint mirages.

Pemandu has led the way and carved a niche for itself as the propaganda arm of the Government; and Datuk Idris is now a purveyor of twisted facts to cover up the failings of the Government.

The BN effort started with the Prime Minister claiming in the course of his March 23rd televised interview that per Capita GNI had grown by 49 percentage – and according to him the fastest ever in global terms – between 2009 and 2012.

This audacious claim, despite being challenged, was repeated by Pemandu in its Annual Report.

When further challenged, Datuk Idris was forced into issuing a “correction” citing a figure of 41 percent, further repeated in his article.
Continue reading “6-Days to 13GE – Idris Jala’s 12 clear signs of success – April Fool’s Day Message of Illusions”

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20-Day Countdown to 13GE – Lies, Damn Lies and PEMANDU Statistics

Oh! What a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.
Scottish author & novelist (1771 – 1832)

Datuk Seri Idris Jala, CEO of PEMANDU has issued a statement stating that growth of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in US dollars from 2009 to 2012 has been revised down to 41 percent from 49 percent.

He is reported to have said that the revision arose following the adoption of a new accounting method, rather than a deliberate attempt to fudge numbers.

He pointed out that the change in figures was due to the adoption of the latest version of the United Nations System of National Accounting (SNA 2008) in 2012 which had pushed the GNI per capita up for 2009 from US$6700 to US$7059.

He offered other weak and lame reasons defending the method and the numbers put out by PEMANDU.

Little of what he said cuts much ice. The change in numbers makes little difference. The attribution to an adoption of a new method or international standard has little to do with the nature of the numbers.

He has been caught in a gross deception by applying the concept of GNI to project growth in per capita incomes of individuals. GNI is defined by the UN Statistical Division as: Continue reading “20-Day Countdown to 13GE – Lies, Damn Lies and PEMANDU Statistics”

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Malaysia’s CPI Rank has improved from 60 out of 183 countries in 2011 to 54 out of 176 countries in 2012 but three main thrusts of the Fighting Corruption NKRA still have gaping holes

In the recently released Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2012, Malaysia’s ranking improved from 60 out of 183 countries in 2011 to 54 out of 176 countries in 2012.

While Malaysians may take some comfort in this temporary arrest in Malaysia’s steady decline in our CPI ranking, one must keep in mind that this ranking of 54 is still worse than Malaysia’s ranking of 43 out of 179 countries in 2007 and far worse than the ranking of 33 out of 102 countries in 2002 (See Table 1 below).

Table 1: Malaysia’s CPI ranking, score and total number of countries in sample, 2001 to 2012

Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Ranking 36 33 37 39 39 44 43 47 56 56 60 54
Score 5 4.9 5.2 5 5.1 5 5.1 5.1 4.5 4.4 4.3 49
Total No. of Countries 91 102 133 145 158 163 179 180 180 178 183 176

Indeed, one should not take too much comfort in the fact that Malaysia improved in the ranking because it overtook ‘luminaries’ of ‘clean’ government such as Jordan, Namibia, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Indeed, many developing countries that have far lower per capita GDP compared to Malaysia continues to do better than us in the CPI rankings including Rwanda (50), Bhutan (33) and Botswana (30), not to mention the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) in Asia namely South Korea (45), Taiwan (37), Hong Kong (14) and Singapore (5). Continue reading “Malaysia’s CPI Rank has improved from 60 out of 183 countries in 2011 to 54 out of 176 countries in 2012 but three main thrusts of the Fighting Corruption NKRA still have gaping holes”

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Let the truth be upheld

— Mooreyameen Mohamad
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 27, 2012

AUG 27 — The recent article by Anonymous Policeman that claimed crime statistics are being massaged listed serious allegations about police conduct, and clearly raised questions about the veracity of the crime statistics itself. PEMANDU has repeatedly said that it depends on the police to present the data for reporting and that the data from the police were never massaged by PEMANDU.

However, if what is claimed by the article is true, then there are serious questions that need to be asked: is the police force under undue political pressure to perform their duties and therefore dispensed with their charter of being “Mesra, Cepat dan Betul” (friendly, fast and correct)? And, most importantly, keeping our eyes on the real goal of all this, how to deal with the situation?

First and foremost, in order to manage any situation properly, PEMANDU and the police must work with real data to size up the problem properly and to deal with the problem in the most appropriate manner.

If data has been massaged for whatever reason, the real depth and scale of the problem would be unknown, and resources may be misdirected accordingly due to the false data. So, data integrity is, needless to say but still important to remember, of the utmost importance. Continue reading “Let the truth be upheld”

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Dissecting the ETP Annual Report (Part 7): Perception Manipulation and Deception Unit

— Ong Kian Ming and Teh Chi-Chang | August 09, 2012
REFSA (Research for Social Advancement)

At PEMANDU, perception trumps reality. This very powerful government agency values perception and spin above genuine transformation. Starting with the headlines, its rosy communiqués trumpeted strong economic numbers in 2011 rather than admit that real gross national income (GNI) growth was below target, let alone explain the causes or articulate measures to close the gap.

PEMANDU lied in its annual report. It took “100 per cent” credit for the construction of a RM1.9 billion wafer fab plant that was never built. Malaysian official statistics have, until now, been accepted as reliable. This is crucial for investor and public confidence. We hope PEMANDU is not pressuring other government agencies and EPP owners to also dress up their numbers, which will ultimately lead to a catastrophic collapse in confidence in Malaysia.

Agreed-upon-Procedures (AUP) are not worth much. Contrary to general public perception, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) did not conduct a full audit. It conducted AUP, the ambit of which was so loose that PwC failed to detect a huge RM1.9 billion wafer fab plant that was never built. How many other less audacious lies slipped through the net?

PEMANDU is driving a delusion. The very foundations of the ETP are doubtful now that PEMANDU has confessed to errors that slashed 45 per cent off the incremental GNI claimed. Also, some so-called transformative EPPs were chosen based on exaggerated numbers. However, PEMANDU’s biggest “success” is manipulating Malaysians into believing that the ETP is transformational, when in fact, workers will take a mere 21 per cent of the incremental income the ETP promises to create, down from their 28 per cent share currently. Continue reading “Dissecting the ETP Annual Report (Part 7): Perception Manipulation and Deception Unit”

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PEMANDU, Oh PEMANDU

— Gomen Man
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 07, 2012

FEB 7 — Sorrylah, Mr Ong Kian Ming and REFSA. You are not the first ones to find big, big holes in PEMANDU’s ETP or, as you rightly pointed out, the alphabet soup.

I salute you because you have done what most Malaysians don’t do — sit down and actually go through the stacks of jargon and consultant talk the government throws at us.

But the first people who figured out Idris Jala and his salesmen were the people at Bank Negara and the Economic Planning Unit.

Our central bankers are privately calling the ETP and EPP a wish list of projects, and rubbish any claims that it is transformational in nature. They know more than most that it will take a proper eco-system to propel Malaysia to a high-income economy. Continue reading “PEMANDU, Oh PEMANDU”