Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Before meddling with subsidies, ask why we need subsidies
- 10 Qualities of a Great Nation
- Million Dollar Bribes Disguised As ‘Donations’ – UMNO’s Ever Changing Stories!
- The last lap
| Before meddling with subsidies, ask why we need subsidies Posted: 25 Oct 2012 04:00 PM PDT Two groups, CPI and Refsa-IDEAS, are debating government subsidies. This debate is critical because politicians are taking their cues from it. It is important that good judgement prevails. Much is at stake. But first, what is a subsidy? Why do we need it? Some believe subsidies are government money spent on primary healthcare, infrastructure, culture or the environment. But these are not subsidies. These are fundamental public provisions that a decent society would collectively provide for all its members in most ordinary circumstances. A subsidy is different. It is a special kind of public expenditure. A subsidy is designed to support a disadvantaged group that cannot secure the needs and necessities for survival because an underlying condition is persistently preventing their fulfillment. When we get a burn, we run cold water over it and bandage. It is lousy policy to do away with running water and bandages without properly attending to the cause, which is contact with fire. Similarly, subsidies may be essential to make life bearable for vulnerable groups and the needy as long as the root causes that provoke the subsidies are still there. Don't like subsidies? Address the underlying structural faults. To reduce (or even increase) a subsidy, study it and consider the data. Manoeuvring in the dark without information can be harmful. Now what are the underlying reasons that necessitate subsidies? There are of course sociological and behavioural factors. But a major reason is that we operate in an economic system that is systematically biased in favour of capitalist interests. In this pro-capitalist system, the lower income classes often do not get their fair share of the economic wealth that comes from economic growth. Business enterprises generate profits by shifting all sorts of hidden social costs onto society — an additional level of disenfranchisement. When a government allies itself with big businesses, it is all the more unfortunate. Creating "free markets" in this kind of political-economic condition will not remove the conditions that demand subsidies. It would aggravate them. That is why the Refsa-IDEAS proposal must be regarded with caution. Their motivation may be good, but their approach is narrow. IDEAS (Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs) is a free-market, neoliberal think-tank. Neoliberals believe that the market system is a magical mechanism: if it operates freely, without interference, it should ensure everybody's wellbeing. Hence why neoliberals tend to maintain that subsidies ought to be reduced or eliminated. For them, subsidies are bad 'government interventions'. Neoliberals would propose that individual citizens keep the money instead and spend it themselves to best satisfy their wants or needs through 'efficient' free markets. But markets are neither magical nor self-correcting. Not all things in life can, or should, be marketised and monetised into packages to be allocated by markets. Many essentials are best secured for everyone through government or other collective ways, not individually via markets.
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| 10 Qualities of a Great Nation Posted: 25 Oct 2012 03:14 PM PDT Hearing the empty rhetorics of some leaders of the current coalition, one can only come to the conclusion that they are bankrupt. Certainly not of material wealth but of ideas. What if there is a change in government and we have a chance to rebuild and reshape this nation? What kind of a nation would we want to build? What are the qualities that would make Malaysia a great nation? Let me state clearly that I for one do not believe that change for the better will come overnight for two reasons. You can't undo a political, administrative and social mindset that has been skewed towards a regime overnight. It will be a slow uphill task that requires perseverance. Secondly, the new government does not necessarily be different in ability and even integrity from the old or have all the answers. The difference is that there is a chance for real reform and for the voices and aspirations of the people to be heard, and that is, if we choose to actively and constructively engage the new administration. I would like to suggest 10 qualities that would make Malaysia a great nation, a place that we would be proud to call home and where we would see a reversal of the brain drain?.
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| Million Dollar Bribes Disguised As ‘Donations’ – UMNO’s Ever Changing Stories! Posted: 25 Oct 2012 02:18 PM PDT The story started back on that date when it was reported that timber trader Michael Chia had been arrested with RM40million in his suitcase, on his way to Sabah from Hong Kong. It created a news storm and a great number of denials. Chia denied he had been arrested or that the money was to do with him and Musa Aman denied he had anything to do with Michael Chia. But now, suddenly, after four years of these denials, UMNO's Mr Nazri has capitulated and admitted that after all the money was being sent by Chia to Musa. However not in a personal capacity but as a "perfectly proper" political 'donation'. Come on! Why didn't Musa, Mr Nazri and BN/UMNO just say so in the first place? Instead of playing President Clinton and saying as recently as April this year:
Why didn't Musa just say:
Changing stories Consider all the missed opportunities Musa/UMNO have had to clarify the situation. The arrest was first reported Way back in 2008. This was how the UMNO supporting Star Newspaper put it at the time:
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| Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:50 PM PDT On the advice of my doctor, I've been avoiding stressful activities for several months. Now I feel sufficiently rested to start writing again. Just the other day, Selangor UMNO confidently predicted that it would win 32 seats in the upcoming General Election, while an UMNO Division leader from Kelantan told me that the Barisan Nasional already had 28 seats in the bag. These assessments by BN leaders are wildly unrealistic. Taken with the Prime Minister's desperate plan to dispense another round of cash handouts in January, I am now convinced more than ever that the Pakatan Rakyat will form the government after the next General Election. Elections are around the corner and in racing parlance the contestants are now "in the straight". In this last stretch, it's important for parties not to make mistakes. The winner will, in fact, be the one who makes the least number of errors during this last lap. The BN has an easier task in this respect because there are only one or two leaders who are allowed to speak for the Government. Most of the time it's the Prime Minister, who takes centre stage on TV and in the newspapers. Even Rosmah has been kept quiet and is less visible nowadays. Pakatan, on the other hand, is less structured, and Parliamentarians in the PR coalition can say anything they want. This can give rise to costly mistakes, unless they refrain themselves from making controversial statements, especially on Islamic issues. Three factors will, however, clinch the elections for Pakatan. One is the voters' current restless mood. They are tired of the wait – never has the people of this country waited for so long, and they have been dragged along like a puppet on a string by the Prime Minister. While the Westminster model gives the PM the discretion to dissolve Parliament, it was not placed there for him to show off this power. It was meant to enable the PM to call for elections when all participating parties are ready, and when other stakeholders like the election monitoring group and the police are ready. When all parties are ready a date should be announced a year or so before elections are held. This collective readiness will ensure the people's maximum participation, which will hopefully result in a genuine mandate for the next government. That's what the PM's discretion in fixing the date is for. It's not a trick to be used to gain an unfair advantage over opponents. It's not meant to be used as a tool to surprise, tire or bankrupt them. The BN will pay a heavy price for this dilly-dallying, as the people are not amused. The second factor in Pakatan's favour is their obvious strength in Peninsular Malaysia. With the exception of Johor and Melaka, BN parties are struggling everywhere. The state governments of the four Pakatan states have done well in the last four years, and there is no reason for them to lose. Lim Guan Eng and Khalid Ibrahim have shown incredible strength in managing the two important states, despite all of the BN's efforts to topple them. Pakatan are also making strong gains in Terengganu, Perak and even in Pahang. I believe they will have majority seats in the Peninsular and that should be enough for them to be in the comfortable front row to negotiate with East Malaysian Parliamentarians as to who should form the Federal Government. There is no love lost in politics.
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