Malaysia's Tenth Prime Minister

Malaysia's Tenth Prime Minister
YAB Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Zahari Awang's take on the Government's and Harapan's Budget

BUDGET vs. ALTERNATIVE BUDGET & the Future: I would rate the Official Budget presented by Najib at 85%, while the Alternative Budget presented by the PH opposition group at 65% only. Anyway, the Alternative Budget also contains a long term plan for the PH group to win GE-14 and take-over the country. I’m going to focus more on the longer term plan for the country rather than just the 2018-budget. As a non-partisan person, I wish to see economic & social development that benefit the country & most of the people. If that endorses any leader or a certain political party, then it’s just a coincidence. The PAS group is not part of this analysis.
Firstly, the Alternative Budget started with verses of the Holy Qur’an. I wonder if DAP agrees to it. The introduction comes from the tiny Islamic religious personalities in the PH group to colour-blind the Malay-Muslim masses. But the Qur’anic verses hit on Mahathir more than Najib. It was Mahathir who started the culture of monetary corruption. Mahathir was also the PM who morally corrupted the judges. Indeed, he removed the righteous judges in the process. Anyway, ignoring DAP is good because of its on-going (unwritten) policy to slow down the economic progress of the Malay-Muslim community. DAP struggles to provide for more & more space for the Chinese community without mentioning the race. I have sensed examples of such people since the 1970’s. Thus, DAP spirit is the main obstacle to the creation of economic equality in Malaysia. I wish to see economic, social & political equality in Malaysia one day. That will be a real Malaysian Nation.
Secondly, the PH group has a low Malay-Islamic credibility. Its dominant sub-group is DAP that will dilute PH. Its leaders & promoters have manufactured a lot of propaganda stories with lies & half-truths about the country & Najib. God has reminded them – “O ye who believe, if an unrighteous person comes to you with news, ascertain the correctness of the news first, to ensure that you will not harm other people unknowingly and regret later for what you have done” (Qur’an 49:6). But these people are behaving contrary to the Qur’anic spirit. The small number of PH Ulama are keeping quiet, or getting confused, or pretending not to be aware of such virus.
Thirdly, the Alternative Budget has made a lot of U-turns. E.g. BR1M was condemned by PH as a corruption, but is to be retained now. ECRL & HSL were also condemned, but are reserved now. Fortunately, much of the new PH ideas do not come from Mahathir who has become a new madman of Malaysia. Now, the PH group has become a more sensible opposition of the 2-party system. BTW, the much propagated idea that Malaysia will go bankrupt under UMNO has been silenced. Indeed, the PH policy on the removal of GST may lead Malaysia to become a poor nation.
One good idea made by the Alternative Budget is the MBO of the GLC’s in order to increase Malay ownership in the country. The UMNO-led government should look into this and try to address the NEP target by using the MBO approach. In 2013, Bumiputra equity had reached 23.5%, which was quite near to the 30% target set to be achieved in 1990. BTW, the NEP target was manipulated by Mahathir for his political advantage. Therefore by 2020, NEP’s new target should be increased to 35% reflecting half of the Bumiputra percentage in the country. To achieve 35% equity, only a selected few GLC’s will do. But new GLC’s should be formed as guarantees for the future.
Industrialization is not an urgent topic for Malaysia now. According to estimates, our manufacturing industry contributes 40% to our GDP, but others have put it as low as 23% only. An industrialized country needs at least 30%. BTW, it’s OK to increase the percentage, but what is needed more now is R&D rather than factories. Tyre manufacturing idea as pointed out by PH was already mooted since the 1980’s. But Mahathir wanted to focus more on car manufacturing by getting help from Japan. Emulating Japan (which is very advanced) is like trying to copy USA & Germany. You are pushing the people to make a very long jump, and may fall down in the process.
Copying the Nordic countries as proposed by PH is no better as our resource endowment is different. Some PKR leaders & promoters used to compare Malaysia with poor Sri Lanka & Black Africa, which was a pack of nonsense. It is a lot better to copy Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. Malaysia must reflect on the Asian Tigers. Singapore & Hong Kong have less factories & more services, while Taiwan & Korea have the reverse. Economically, we belong to East Asia, the area that is booming right now. Malaysia is already next in-line after the 4 Asian Tigers. Going to the Nordic countries is really a bad dream. Our natural strength lies in rubber, palm oil, petroleum & gas, Islamic Banking & Halal Products. Our expertise has also developed along the E&E products that came through FDI’s. These are areas that Malaysia can be very competitive. It’s fine to re-engineer automobile technology since we have already gained so much expertise in it.
PH is like a PONDAN (half-a-man) in economic development. It views negatively on ECRL, HSR, MRT, Highways, Menara-118, and so on. Its economic plan reflects the traditional Malay mentality that cannot compete well globally. It cannot see China properly. Its focus on 1MDB & Kleptomania is only aimed at removing the sitting PM & UMNO. That is a controversial issue. Just remember that Spain labelled Francis Drake as a great sea pirate, while England regarded him as a great fighter & statesman who made Britain a great country. In the end, its Public Rally on 14/10/17 managed to bring only 5,000 people to the field, instead of 100,000 people. Thus, only 5% of the PH people believed in Kleptomania. Let’s evaluate some PH leaders (below):
MAHATHIR was a quasi-democrat, with an authoritarian style. He kept Chinese cronies to help finance whatever political project that he wanted to do. Thus, Malays were left out. NEP targets were badly missed in 1990. Thus, he created Vision 2020 as a new dream to forget NEP targets, thereby, denying UMNO’s promise to help the Malay race. Being a PM for 22 years, certainly, he managed to do a lot of economic projects. Upon his retirement, with a missed opportunity for his son, he then turned against UMNO by accusing it as not clean enough & not democratic enough. At 92 years old now, with a degraded intelligence, who will endorse him?
ANWAR was Mahathir’s successor for many years. After a failed attempt to oust his boss, he propagated a more democratic government for Malaysia, thereby, launching a Reform Movement. Later, his Pakatan collapsed after failing to become PM & CM; and after failing to prevent an internal party crisis. Anwar is not a leader for economic development. His clear interest was to overcome poverty among the Malay masses. Thus, once the Malays are not poor anymore, Anwar is left to reform on the democratic process & to entertain the traditional Ulama who have been supporting him since the 1970’s. He does not properly understand what makes a great industrialized country. Thus, Malaysia under Anwar is likely to become a better Egypt, or a better Pakistan only.
MUHYIDDIN appears to be a midway person between Mahathir & Anwar. He is less economically inclined than Mahathir, but more than Anwar. He is more Islamic & more ethical than Mahathir, but less Islamic than Anwar. Support for him is a lot cooler. Muhyiddin is broadly comparable to Musa & Abdullah Badawi, who can be rated as Grade B+ (generally) for the PM’s post. Perhaps, Anwar is rated as Grade B++ while Mahathir & Najib as Grade A. But Mahathir (A-) is rapidly depreciating now, while Najib (A+) is very much on the rise.
East Malaysians are very thankful to Najib for the toll-free Pan Borneo Highway. Similarly, East Coast people are very happy for the ECRL & the toll-free KB-Bentung Highway (410 km). Please give Najib another term to complete these projects. Please give him the motivation to do more. Other leaders are not ready for a critical evaluation. Anyway, this is just ONE opinion. Dear friends, you are welcome here.