From Malaysia Kini
By Razak Ahmad and Royce Cheah
Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced an impressive raft of liberalisation measures since he took office in a bid to woo back investors, but his efforts may founder unless he takes steps to stamp out corruption.
Najib took the top job in April charged with renewing a government that was rocked in polls last year as many voters forsook the coalition that has ruled this Southeast Asian country for over half a century, tired of broken pledges to tackle graft.
Since he came to power, however, a scandal over a port trade zone close to the capital has emerged, exposing links between government politicians and business and worrying holders of US$1 billion of bonds who fear they may not be repaid.
Najib has promised to prosecute any wrongdoing but was forced at a recent presentation to investors in New York to promise that the government would honour the bonds that were initially sold with a fake government guarantee.
“Najib has to take hard measures against what has historically been accepted in Malaysia, which is corruption,” said a fund manager who attended the presentation and who is a bondholder of the Port Klang Free Trade Zone.
Costs for the free trade zone may spiral to RM12.45 billion from an initial RM1.8 billion, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers that identified potential conflicts of interest in land sales.
As a result of the concerns over corruption and the questions over repayment, bonds issued to finance the construction yield 5.9 percent, a full 213 basis points (2.13 percentage points) over five-year Malaysian government debt.
The fund manager, whose company policy does not allow him to be named, is a member of a bondholder group that wants the government to go a step further and issue iron-clad government
debt to replace the bonds, removing the risk of non-payment.
 Despite promises made by both Najib and his predecessor to end corrupt practices, Malaysia has fallen to a record low of 56th place among 180 countries polled in anti-graft watchdog Transparency International’s 2009 corruption perception index.That is still better than its emerging Asian neighbours such as 84th placed Thailand and 111th placed Indonesia, but Malaysia has fallen from 29th place in 2004 while Indonesia has risen from 133rd place over the same time period.
Najib has taken measures to stem vote buying in his own political party, Umno, but observers say there has been little change in tolerance of abuse among politicians and in the country as a whole.
The fall in Malaysia’s rankings has coincided with jitters over the stability of the country’s political system in the wake of the 2008 elections and portfolio investors withdrew almost US$40 billion between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009. Money trickled back in the third quarter but Malaysia is far from having to douse the flows of hot money that have flowed into the developing world’s top reformers such as Brazil and Indonesia. Political risks remain Najib’s reform efforts so far have seen some elements of the New Economic Policy (NEP), a four-decades-old economic and social affirmative action policy for the Malays and other indigenous communities, rolled back. He has received a generally positive response for that and other measures to lift investment caps for foreigners in areas like tourism and financial services so as to boost investment.
Politically, too, Najib has stabilised a government that was so wobbly in September 2008 that it had to ship 40 MPs to Taiwan to put them out of reach of Opposition L eader Anwar Ibrahim’s bid to lure them to join him and topple the Barisan Nasional coalition. Fights in ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian parties are occupying the premier’s time and stretching his ability to reach out to non-Malay voters who he needs win back in order to have a convincing national mandate when he goes to the polls. The biggest concern is MCA, the second-largest government party, which represents the 25 percent of the population that is ethnic Chinese and which is paralysed by a leadership row that has forced Najib to mediate. “Even if the MCA were to resolve its problems, it will likely not have enough time to win back the lost support from the community,” said James Chin, political science professor at - Reuters
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“There’s no denying that the rhetoric coming out from the (Malaysian) government has been extremely sound but the real test is implementation, and so far we have not seen anything yet,” said Terence Gomez, economics professor at the Universiti Malaya.
Malaysia saw its first flicker of interest on Tuesday when when US banking giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc took advantage of the liberalisation measures to set up a fund management and advisory business here.
Another hospital project which involved with rojak family memeber. we respect Indian who sell rojak on the street to earn his living, not like those rojak families who are leeches that suck on Rakyats blood. Thats why Lee Kuan Yew is clever and go apart with Malaya, mana boleh tahan with so many rajak families, sisters lah, brothers lah, cucu lah, mana cukup dia makan???? want big house, want bently, ferrari, all branded, anak2 cucu2 semua study overseas, mana $$$$? So, hand-in-hand work together with bee end to rompat Rakyat lah
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SEMUA AHLI-AHLI PARLIMEN, TAK KIRA BN ATAU PR, HARUS MEMBERI TUMPUAN KEPADA KENYATAAN INI. KENYATAAN INI BUKAN KOMEN DARI PEMBANGKANG, TAPI ADALAH ANALISA DARI PAKAR EKONOMI DAN PAKAR POLITIK DI INSTITUTE TINGGI. SILA BERI PERHATIAN, ADA KAH YB-YB SEMUA NAK MEMBIARKAN KEMELUT INI TERUS BERLAKU DAN BERLARUTAN. UBAHLAH KEADAAN INI. MASIH ADA MASA NI TUKARLAH PERERAJU NEGARA INI. JANGAN DIBIARKAN, KOK NANTI BERTUKAR SITUASI WANITA MALAYSIA JADI PEMBANTU RUMAH DI INDONESIA.
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kutty babu a/l langkau Reply:
December 13th, 2009 at 10:23 am
He!! masa tu Nirmala pula curah air panas dan letakan sterika pada badan Pembantu rumah Malaysia!! di Negara nya! dan Mohara arahkan kerabat pulang kepangkauan untuk di receh receh dan ditoreh!!
Saya tolak pandangan Noh Omar ini lah masa terbaik megajar rakyat malaysia berdikari!! belajar berkerja di Negara luar Negara sudah kekurangan kerja kerana di rampas oleh perkerja luar dan peluan perkerjaan baru tidak dicipta oleh kerana kemulet ekonomi semasa, lagi pun zaman Subsidi akan di tukar kepada zaman GST.
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problem kat pj tu hanya siMohamad saja boleh settle dan naikkan ekonomi kita..
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PROBLEM JUGA DENGAN DASAR PENDIDIKAN NEGARA
Masa tu Najib jadi Menteri Pendidikan. Tahun 1991 (kalau tak silap) pencapaian SPM sangat cemerelang, ribuan pelajar mendapat gred satu (melebihi 60%). Nak gahkan peningkatan pembelajaran dinegara yang diusahakan oleh UBN bgitu cemerlang. Ini semua boleh dimanupulasi. Semboyan politik UBN meruang diangkasa disambut dengan pujian oleh rakyat jelata. Ada yang buat kenduri kerana tak sangka anak yang dijangka dapat gred 3 boleh dapat gred satu.
Yang gred 1, masing-masing nak masuk U. Gawat lagi, yang aggregate 20 dapat masuk U yang 10 kebawah ada yang tecicir, dan banyak lagi yang gred 1 tak dapat tempat kerana tak cukup IPTA.
Lagi peranan UBN, menubuhkan IPTS dikalangan kroni supaya rakyat tak merungut kerana anak yang dimanupalasi keputusan menjadi pandai tak dapat sambung belajar. Rakyat merungut juga kerana kos yuran dan pembelajaran mahal. Tak apa, jangan risau UBN boleh bantu.
Bantu dengan PPTPN. Pelajar dipaksa berhutang nak tolong kroni. Dapat kerja ke, tak dapat kerja ke, lepas belajar mesti kena bayar. Mahathir kata “tak ada perkara didunia ini diberi percuma”. Itu sebab biasiswa dan per kapita SAR dihapusnya. Dia tak sedar udara yang disedutnya hari-hari tu Allah beri percuma. Punca air dan tenaga Allah beri percuma, penyudahnya rakyat dibebankan dengan kos yang tinggi kerana nak tolong kroni.
Macam mana nak bantu mak ayah, nak kahwin, nak beli kereta, nak beli rumah, duit gaji habis dengan hutang PPTPN. Tak bayar kena saman. Yang ngangor nak bayar dengan apa?. Nak kerja macam mana, yang ada kerja pun kenang buang kerja.
Bukan tak ada kerja. Kerja-kerja banyak dibolot oleh pekerja asing agar kerajaan dapat levi dan boleh mengisi kantong kroni. Pelajar tempatan dididik beroriantasikan kecemerlangan bukan berorientasi menguruskan diri. Bila dah dapat sijil cemerelang kekok nak mensesuaikan diri dengan kerja-kerja yang dibolot oleh rakyat asing.
Jangan nak megah anak cemerlang UPSR, PMR, SPM dan IPT walhasil apa yang terjadi pada anak2 sekarang akibat mainan politik UBN. Anak2 tak didik untuk menjayakan diri, sebaliknya tahun demi tahun kedengaran mengamalkan budaya songsang. Ada pula Pak Menteri nak cadangkan dibuat akta supaya mak ayah dipersalahkan keatas anak2 yang berbudaya songsang ini. Tak sedar salah UBN nak dibebankan kepada rakyat pula.
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you can never change what you tolerate. for years our leadership tolerated corrupt practices and sheer incompetence. they constantly look after the interests of a few at the expense of all malaysians. this practice has been going on for too long . sad to say the present generation is now facing the repercussions and consequences of a rotten system and a stagnated economy. on the ground all malaysians are suffering with rising inflation, increasing crime rate and 2 million foreign workers running around. more malaysians are migrating and outflow of funds is severe. change is impossible with the present leadership. only malaysians can change the system if they have the courage and conviction to change. In malaysia change is very superficial as practiced by the present system. in malaysia it is acknowledged , the leadership is part of the problem and not part of the solution. in fact they are the biggest problem. Malaysians will suffer if thy are not willing to change now. its now or never. just do it.
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Kepada En. Noh, kamu berhenti kerja di Malaysia dan jadi buruh dikebun di Indonesialah kalau begitu. Entah apa-apalah sikap kamu ini. Negara kita aman dan makmur, kerajaan berusaha bersungguh-sungguh untuk memajukan ekonomi kita, bukannya nak tolong kerajaan tapi mencetuskan masalah pula, macam mana ekonomi nak pulih kalau beginilah sikap anda sekalian. Fikirkanlah tulisan saya ini sedalam-dalamnya. Sekian, terima kasih.
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Anda semua ini anak manja, semua nakkan bantuan, tak mahu usaha dan bantu kerajaan, warganegara jenis apakah kamu semua ini, semua nak bantuan sahaja, bila kerajaan kenakan cukai melenting seolah-olah semua pendapatan anda dirampas oleh kerajaan. Pelik saya dengan tingkahlaku anda ini. Kepada yang menganggur, saya faham situasi anda, saya juga pernah dalam situasi berkenaan dahulu dalam keadaan yang meruncing begini juga, tapi sekaran tak macam dahulu macam-macam peluang ada, kerajaan berikan pelbagai peluang untuk berjaya, hanya usaha gigih dan tawakkal dan istiqomah sahaja yang akan memacu kita ke arah kejayaan. Berbagai peluang peniagaan ada, peluang dalam sektor makanan, jual tepi jalan pun boleh hidup senang juga, di Kuala Lumpur orang jual air tepi jalan boleh pakai Proton Saga, antara mahu dengan tak mahu sahaja. Bidang akuakultur, bidang penternakan dan macam-macam lagi peluang kerajaan sediakan, tetapi jangan kita bersikap hangat-hangat tahi ayam, berusaha gigih baru berjaya. Kalau kita masih tunggu orang suap makanan dalam mulut kita, maka minta maaflah, anda telah besar panjang, bukannya bayi lagi, sepatutnya berusaha gigih, kalau tukang suap ini sudah tiada, siapa nak suap anda lagi. Fikirkanlah tulisan saya ini sejujurnya, sekian, terima kasih.
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