Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 18 Oct 2011 05:39 PM PDT Ali Kadir, The Malaysian Insider I find it incredulous that so much angst and disbelief has been exhibited by Opposition politicians, pundits and readers of news portals, including The Malaysian Insider, over the lies that Lim Guan Eng's son had behaved inappropriately towards a girl in his school and the matter was hushed up. This is Umno. Should any of us be surprised with politicians from that party? It has been my point for a while that the only hope for Umno is for the party to lose it all at the next polls, and do a major overhaul while in the wilderness, find new leaders, rediscover a moral core and come back. The party is tired, bankrupt of ideas or people of integrity. It is a fallacy to believe that the second line of politicians such as Khairy or that Kota Belud MP will be any different from the corrupt batch of ministers and MPs who sad to say are leaders of Malaysia. They have been cut from the same cloth as the likes of Ibrahim Ali and only know about patronage politics and benefiting from the government largesse of contracts. At a time when the world economy is slumping and every responsible government is thinking about doing its best to prepare its country for a soft landing, Umno has been doing the only thing it knows what to do — indulge in lies. No one believes Najib Razak's growth estimates of 5 and 6 per cent next year, not even the MIER or banks. But in Parliament, it is business as usual as Umno/BN MPs have been in denial mode (I don't believe 99 per cent of them even know what they are talking about when they speak about the economy). So my advice to Lim Guan Eng and the rest of his supporters is stop wasting time by reacting with shock and indignation at the tactics being employed by your opponents. Leopards can't change their stripes, nor devils change their ways. The last line is a message that all of us Malaysians should keep in our hearts and ponder.
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| Posted: 18 Oct 2011 04:56 PM PDT Bureaucratic red tape, flip-flop decision-making are among the numerous factors contributing to Malaysia's lack of attractiveness as an investment destination. Fast forward a decade later to 2006 and Malaysia obtained US$6 billion while Thailand attracted US$9.5 billion. And in 2009 Malaysia's FDI was a miserable US$1.38 billion while for Thailand, it was US$5.9 billion. In 1996, too, Malaysia's FDI at US$7.3 billion was not too distant from Singapore's FDI at US$9.68 billion. But now Singapore, at close to US$17 billion, has forged ahead leaving us to bite the dust and compete with countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Selena Tay, Free Malaysia Today It is a sad but true fact that for the past five years or so Malaysia has constantly been losing out in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI). Either our regional competitors have caught up with us or we have stalled. In any case, at the end of the day we have lost out. This is in no small part due to the lack of political will by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in the areas of policy-making and political expediency. Where numbers are concerned, the salient point to note is in the area of FDI wherein those of our neighbours which used to be trailing us have now surpassed us. The 2010 World Investment Report (WIR) issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed up some ugly truths about Malaysia, wherein it has made "great achievements" for the first time in financial history. Listed below are three historical events: Losing out in FDI to neighbouring countries In 1998, for the first time, Thailand overtook Malaysia in attracting more FDI, and in 2005 it was the turn of Indonesia. Vietnam defeated us for the first time in 2008 and the Philippines followed suit in 2009. In the 2010 UNCTAD World Investment Report, Singapore is way ahead in the stratosphere, hovering close to the US$17 billion mark, Thailand at a distant second with US$5.9 billion, Indonesia nearing US$5 billion and Vietnam with more than US$4 billion, the Philippines at US1.95 billion and Malaysia standing at US$1.38 billion. Malaysia only succeeded in defeating Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Timor-Leste. It looks like Malaysia is now in the Little League. Malaysia's position in the FDI world ranking was 62nd in 2006 but it suffered a tremendous drop to 123rd in 2009, which is such a massive decline in the space of just three years. Biggest drop in FDI in 2009 Thailand is considered to have done better than Malaysia as there was a year-long political turmoil caused by the Red Shirts organising sit-ins in the capital city of Bangkok. Despite that, their decline was not as great as ours. Singapore, Brunei, Philippines and Myanmar chalked up an increase in FDI. Another first for Malaysia: FDI outflow more than inflow in 2009 This negative FDI indicates that Malaysia is fast becoming an unattractive investment destination despite what the federal government claims. This can be attributed to the investors' (local as well as foreign) lack of confidence in the existing government policies as well as the lack of robust economic growth that will generate healthy returns for their investments. Malaysian FDI flows has been in the negative since declining from US$1.09 billion in 2005 to a net negative of US$0.02 billion in 2006 to a net negative US$2.7 billion in 2007 and a net negative of US$7.67 billion in 2008. The year 2009 was also the first time Malaysia obtained less than US$2 billion in FDI with the figure of US$1.38 billion. In 1996, Thailand's FDI was around US$2 billion while Malaysia raked in US$7.3 billion. Fast forward a decade later to 2006 and Malaysia obtained US$6 billion while Thailand attracted US$9.5 billion. And in 2009 Malaysia's FDI was a miserable US$1.38 billion while for Thailand, it was US$5.9 billion. In 1996, too, Malaysia's FDI at US$7.3 billion was not too distant from Singapore's FDI at US$9.68 billion. But now Singapore, at close to US$17 billion, has forged ahead leaving us to bite the dust and compete with countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. All these are due to Malaysia having a number of issues such as troublesome bureaucratic red tape, flip-flop decision-making such as omission of the Equal Opportunities Commission due to pressure from certain quarters, unclear policies (where is the New Economic Model – NEM Part 2 – which was supposed to be rolled out in June 2010 and then postponed to the later part of 2010 only to be abandoned altogether?) and a lack of skilled labour. These factors contributed to Malaysia's lack of attractiveness as an investment destination.
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| Politics is not dirty, Umno is! Posted: 18 Oct 2011 04:39 PM PDT Indeed, Umno has chosen the path of self-destruction. It has become a disgrace to its own race and religion. It will reap the evil deeds that it has sown with impunity. It will receive the damned destiny it so deserves. By Martin Jalleh Darkness descends on Bolehland. Politicians in Umno stoop low, so very low, by resorting to gutter politics of the most disgusting kind never seen before. The Umnoputras are desperate. They are very disturbed. Dr M has warned them that "…if the general election is held now, Umno may lose big…" mainly due to their own political dystrophy. Their ground support is slowly disappearing. They may be dumped in the coming General Election and driven out of Putrajaya. They abandon all sense of human decency to remain entrenched. They are led by a equally desperate president who had proudly declared In the UMNO Assembly last year that there will be "crushed bodies, lost lives and ethnic cleansing" if the status quo was not kept. Najib is very nervous. He plays a double game and speaks with a forked tongue. He and his party fight for survival at all costs. There are no limits in their political devices to demolish the Opposition – no matter how despicable. Still in a state of denial, Umno is morally and politically bankrupt. To cling on to their power, popularity, position and privileges, Umno's warlords have deployed politicians without principles. The recent baseless slander against the teenage son of Lim Guan Eng by pro-Umno blogs is an indication that they will even drag the children of Opposition leaders into their dirty smear game. That the Umno Youth chief could even spread the lie, add his snide comments to the slander and later defend himself and justify the dastardly act shows that Umno is devoid of any sense of shame. The party that portrays itself as the great defender of Islamic and moral values resorts to the most diabolical to defeat its political foes and openly displays its religious disguise and hypocrisy. Deep in depravity and debauchery Umno becomes laughable with its stories on sexual misconduct. It is not that Opposition leaders are infallible, but that Umno has become just unbelievable! Further, what a tragic-comedy when the self-declared political champion of the Malays for 61 years have degenerated into a professional producer cum editor, purveyor and pedlar of pornography! Umno's script to repair its badly dented image has become so predictable and pathetic. It does not take much to decipher the dangerous direction it has taken to stay in control: · Destroy the greatest danger to Umno – Anwar Ibrahim, by launching a relentless and slanderous attack on him with a second sham sodomy trial, sex videos and the help of spin doctors. · Damage the credibility and integrity of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders with ceaseless calumnies of wrongdoing and downplaying the successes of the PR states…till the coalition disintegrates. · Discredit the coalition with the help of deserters, detractors and disgruntled leaders of PR parties with them spewing out their stale and silly exposé. · Demonise, denigrate, defame, disparage, even denounce as traitors those who dissent against or criticize Umno and the government and those who dare to march for genuine political reform. · Distract the nation from the failures of the Umno-dominated government and the damning evidence that the country is going to the dogs and we have become a perfect "sham democracy". · Divert the people's attention from the Umnoputras bleeding the country dry. Deceive the nation with Najib's publicity stunts and populist slogans. Distort the truth about the economy. · Divide and rule this country along racial and religious lines and provide Umno's newspapers the licence to publish unsubstantiated and wild allegations aimed at fomenting distrust and discord. · Drag in the King and the royalty as pawns in their dirty political game. (Umno and Najib have made use of the palace to push and protect their agenda and vested interests.) Alas, what has Najib, Umno and the BN delivered -- a divided nation, decaying institutions, a dour economy with deepening debts, a PM dogged by allegations and a disturbing diaspora rate! Tengku Razaleigh once so rightly declared that Umno has "indeed lost its soul" and "is tempted more and more to fan racial feeling and abuse public institutions to maintain power. This is a death spiral." Indeed, Umno has chosen the path of self-destruction. It has become a disgrace to its own race and religion. It will reap the evil deeds that it has sown with impunity. It will receive the damned destiny it so deserves. |
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