Tun Dr. Mahathir,
I hold the same pessimistic view as Tun about our present economic situation. We now live in an era of massive economic hardship which most people find it tough to overcome the additional financial burden exerted by the escalating inflation.
Occasionally, Tun managed to show a sharp mind by making a good sense of mentioning the lack of domestic demand in economy due to AAB's cutting down the spending in mega projects. However, I wonder whether AAB will be able to curb the uptrend inflationary pressure if he has to continue the on-going ones or resume the shelfed ones of those mega projects as deemed necessary by Tun. I do agree with Tun that "we have lost our direction and we get no guidance." We have lost our direction simply because there is no known fixed direction about the Government's economic strategy for overcoming the stagflation problems. We get no guidance simply because AAB fails to understand the actual causes of our present economic problems.
We are not sure yet about the outcome on the issue of whether our current economic problems can be alleviated by AAB's taking measure to allow the petrol price to increase by 41% since 5.6.2008. It is because this kind of far-reaching price adjustment will create some chain effects that will involve with time lagging for several months before the real effects evidently appear on the surface. However, I personally hold the prediction that our current economic problems will be worsened off in the next few months. AAB fails to formulate a viable nationwide price control policy that will bring forth positive real economic changes to the Malaysian economy, even though he decides to allow the pump price to be pegged with the international crude price effective 1 September 2008. Ironically, the present BN government is simply lack of a national wages policy guideline, a guideline which may emulate the one that has been implemented very successfully by our neighbour Singapore since 1960s until this day.
As a man who sits at the helm of the country's utmost power, AAB by right should enjoy the privilege to seek advice from the prominent economists when formulating an economic policy, if he really knows of any, and should not simply take economic policy as something which should be decided during a 2-hours' Cabinet meeting on an impromptu basis.
The actual economic downshot of preventing price increases is that businesses are forced to bear the cost of inflation, which in turn naturally reduces their ability to hire, since they have less money. This increases unemployment, and so in the end the people who bear the cost of inflation are private individuals, since they are paid less and some have no work at all.
The actual economic upshot of preventing wage increases is to force private individuals to directly bear the cost of inflation. This would have happened anyway, indirectly, since if the pay rises had been given, the increase in costs due to inflation would have led to private individuals bearing the cost of inflation anyway.
Attempts to "reduce" inflation which don't actually involve real economic changes invariably only redistribute the cost inflation, and usually in very unfair ways. This may well explain that why nowadays there are many Malaysians, disregard of their ethnic origin, who would not hesitate to outrageously rise up and cry foul for being deprived of their fair share of the cake slice as promised by the NEP.
Onlooker
Tun's following comments are referred in the above discussion:
"7. Those were glorious years. The country grew and prospered. It became the model of the development of a developing country, a model of racial cooperation. It became known throughout the world where once no one could evenpronounce its name. It was the envy of other developing countries.
8. Malaysians abroad felt proud because the moment they identified themselves as Malaysians, immediately people talked of F1 in Sepang and the twin towers.
9. There seemed to be nothing to stop us from achieving our goal of becoming a developed country by 2020.
10. Now all these dreams seem to have faded away. We are involved in political wrangling of all kinds, our leaders seem to be uncertain about what to do, our foreign policy is in disarray etc etc.
11. We have lost our direction. And we get no guidance."
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Wither Malaysia
WHITHER MALAYSIA
Posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at August 8, 2008 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (215) | TrackBacks (0) | Previous Blog
1. I am very touched by the response to my article "The Country We Love" (July 27, 2008). We may have our differences, we may be of different races but it seems that we all love this country.
2. I have been abroad hundreds of times but I never fail to look forward to returning home. And as I step off the plane I would feel that sense of belonging that almost move me to tears. I am quite sure that every Malaysian feels this way upon returning to this, our very own homeland.
3. As Malaysia we are not an old country for we came into being only slightly more than 50 years ago. But it had been a very eventful half a century.
4. No one gave us much of a chance when in 1957 we lowered the Union Jack and flew the Jalur Gemilang. We were of many races, cultures and religions, divided again by our economic functions, by extreme disparities in material wealth.
5. But our wise founding fathers, our Tunku Abdul Rahman, our Tan Cheng Lock and our Tun Sambanthan worked out a unique form of racial cooperation that staved off any violent confrontation between the races.
6. That cooperation, embodied in the coalition of racial parties and the Alliance/National Front Governments enabled the country to remain peaceful, bar one or two hiccups for 50 years.
7. Those were glorious years. The country grew and prospered. It became the model of the development of a developing country, a model of racial cooperation. It became known throughout the world where once no one could evenpronounce its name. It was the envy of other developing countries.
8. Malaysians abroad felt proud because the moment they identified themselves as Malaysians, immediately people talked of F1 in Sepang and the twin towers.
9. There seemed to be nothing to stop us from achieving our goal of becoming a developed country by 2020.
10. Now all these dreams seem to have faded away. We are involved in political wrangling of all kinds, our leaders seem to be uncertain about what to do, our foreign policy is in disarray etc etc.
11. We have lost our direction. And we get no guidance.
12. We can withdraw into ourselves and merely wish our problems would go away or would solve themselves.
13. But that is wishful thinking. They will not solve themselves, they will not go away. If at all they will become worse, become much more difficult to resolve, as our people become more deeply divided.
14. The organisations created by our founding leaders which we were once confident could handle every problem have now deteriorated. Everything is about what is in it for me. Even the ordinary members of once respected political parties want something for themselves. Jobs, posts, titles, contracts and filthy lucre are the only things which matter.
15. Sacrifice? What sacrifice?
16. Who cares to sacrifice whatever. For most of the people we put our trust in to steer this beloved country to greater heights, the only sacrifice is to give up the Mercedes Benz for Proton Perdana, and that too very reluctantly.
17. I wasn't the best of leaders when I was in the hot seat.
18. But I did try my best. If my best is not good enough I am sorry.
19. But Dato Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun V.T. Sambanthan cannot be faulted in terms of the sacrifices they made, their contributions to building racial harmony, peace and stability for their country.
20. Could it be that we forgot to teach this generation of leaders about the sacrifices made by our founding fathers.
21. Could it be that we cannot handle wealth as we did poverty?
22. Could it be that our leaders lack honour and the sense to accept responsibility and to retire gracefully?
23. Some simply cannot accept the realities, the role they had played in the destruction of a near perfect system which had done so much for our country.
24. Yes we should "Cry the Beloved Country" as Alan Payton said of his South Africa of the Apartheid past.
25. But crying would take us nowhere.
26. It is time the silent majority stop being silent.
27. It is time to speak up and be counted.
28. If we love our country we must not allow crooks and charlatans to rape and steal it from us.
29. It is ours, this country of many races and religions.
30. We must stand together, we the concerned Malaysians, and defend our heritage.
Posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at August 8, 2008 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (215) | TrackBacks (0) | Previous Blog
1. I am very touched by the response to my article "The Country We Love" (July 27, 2008). We may have our differences, we may be of different races but it seems that we all love this country.
2. I have been abroad hundreds of times but I never fail to look forward to returning home. And as I step off the plane I would feel that sense of belonging that almost move me to tears. I am quite sure that every Malaysian feels this way upon returning to this, our very own homeland.
3. As Malaysia we are not an old country for we came into being only slightly more than 50 years ago. But it had been a very eventful half a century.
4. No one gave us much of a chance when in 1957 we lowered the Union Jack and flew the Jalur Gemilang. We were of many races, cultures and religions, divided again by our economic functions, by extreme disparities in material wealth.
5. But our wise founding fathers, our Tunku Abdul Rahman, our Tan Cheng Lock and our Tun Sambanthan worked out a unique form of racial cooperation that staved off any violent confrontation between the races.
6. That cooperation, embodied in the coalition of racial parties and the Alliance/National Front Governments enabled the country to remain peaceful, bar one or two hiccups for 50 years.
7. Those were glorious years. The country grew and prospered. It became the model of the development of a developing country, a model of racial cooperation. It became known throughout the world where once no one could evenpronounce its name. It was the envy of other developing countries.
8. Malaysians abroad felt proud because the moment they identified themselves as Malaysians, immediately people talked of F1 in Sepang and the twin towers.
9. There seemed to be nothing to stop us from achieving our goal of becoming a developed country by 2020.
10. Now all these dreams seem to have faded away. We are involved in political wrangling of all kinds, our leaders seem to be uncertain about what to do, our foreign policy is in disarray etc etc.
11. We have lost our direction. And we get no guidance.
12. We can withdraw into ourselves and merely wish our problems would go away or would solve themselves.
13. But that is wishful thinking. They will not solve themselves, they will not go away. If at all they will become worse, become much more difficult to resolve, as our people become more deeply divided.
14. The organisations created by our founding leaders which we were once confident could handle every problem have now deteriorated. Everything is about what is in it for me. Even the ordinary members of once respected political parties want something for themselves. Jobs, posts, titles, contracts and filthy lucre are the only things which matter.
15. Sacrifice? What sacrifice?
16. Who cares to sacrifice whatever. For most of the people we put our trust in to steer this beloved country to greater heights, the only sacrifice is to give up the Mercedes Benz for Proton Perdana, and that too very reluctantly.
17. I wasn't the best of leaders when I was in the hot seat.
18. But I did try my best. If my best is not good enough I am sorry.
19. But Dato Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun V.T. Sambanthan cannot be faulted in terms of the sacrifices they made, their contributions to building racial harmony, peace and stability for their country.
20. Could it be that we forgot to teach this generation of leaders about the sacrifices made by our founding fathers.
21. Could it be that we cannot handle wealth as we did poverty?
22. Could it be that our leaders lack honour and the sense to accept responsibility and to retire gracefully?
23. Some simply cannot accept the realities, the role they had played in the destruction of a near perfect system which had done so much for our country.
24. Yes we should "Cry the Beloved Country" as Alan Payton said of his South Africa of the Apartheid past.
25. But crying would take us nowhere.
26. It is time the silent majority stop being silent.
27. It is time to speak up and be counted.
28. If we love our country we must not allow crooks and charlatans to rape and steal it from us.
29. It is ours, this country of many races and religions.
30. We must stand together, we the concerned Malaysians, and defend our heritage.
Dr. Mahathir and Abdullah
By Onlooker on August 8, 2008 10:01 PM
Tun,
It seems that you are very desperate in trying to remove Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (AAB) from the current premiership of Malaysia, for reason only you yourself best know. It will be a vain effort if you ask AAB to retire gracefully immediately because AAB still has the high mood to stay in the PM office until 2010.
"18. But I did try my best. If my best is not good enough I am sorry."
Are you really sure that you did try your best already? Have you ever tried to start a political campaign and mobilise for a motion of no confidence in the Parliament? I believe you have never tried that yet.
So, do you intend to create a new history by helping to mobilise support for a replacement of the Prime Minister? It is fairly simple: just attempt to persuade the MPs of BN to cast a no confidence vote against AAB in the Parliament. I believe you can create a new era if you agree to actively take part and put in effort to ensure a success in casting of no confidence votes by the MPs in the Parliament. Do you want to serve as the power house for bringing a historical breakthrough in the development process of Malaysia's democratic system? I believe you can be the best again if you take part in the campaign for motion of no confidence against AAB in the Parliament. I believe both Anwar and Dato Mukhriz will parallelily be able to arrive at the common destination without having to sign a memorandum of mutual understanding in order to work towards a concerted effort in the Parliament for purpose of satisfying your thirstful agony, i.e. to remove AAB from the premiership.
But post-AAB, do you have confidence that the next Prime Minister will perform much better than AAB? What will you do if the next PM is doing much worse than AAB? Do you intend to overthrow this next PM by then? When can this overthrow game be ended? If the competency of this next PM is even much more uncertain, why can't we just wait for another 2 more years? Is it because you are always a "show-hand" gambler in the political game so that you don't want to wait for another 2 years? What makes you feel so sure that Dato Seri Najib Razak can do much better than AAB as the PM? Have you made a political covenant with Najib already? How can you be sure that Najib will not betray you like what AAB did if Najib has to become the next PM very soon?
Political game-play really brings along a lot of headache problems! Isn't it much wiser for Tun to just try relax a bit by leading a simple life of playing with grand children everyday? If Anwar is willing to drop his slander suit against Tun, will Tun consider let go all these messed-up trivialities in politics and go complete retiring? Time is short. It is really a high time for us to seek God now and not be bogged down too much with the worldly trivialities! No one can really be sure whether God will allow any one of us to live pass today and leap forward to tomorrow. Therefore please don't worry too much about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
May you find solace and peace in the Almighty, Tun!
Onlooker
What is a no confidence vote?
A no confidence vote is a motion brought forward in a legislative body by the opposition party. It is usually used as a tool to undermine the majority party, and can also be used to remove people from office, depending on the system of government. A no confidence motion is a very serious political event, as it suggests a lack of faith in the current government and a desire to change it before the next scheduled election. This type of vote is most common in parliamentary democracies.
In the United States, a no confidence vote is merely a symbolic act, although actions may be taken if an official or government fails a no confidence vote. The no confidence vote does alert the populace and the government to a problem, which can be very important. In other countries, a government can be removed as a result of a no confidence vote, usually through dissolving the current parliament and holding a special election. In other nations, it is possible to hold a constructive vote of no confidence, which means that the motion includes a recommendation for a successor.
When a constructive vote of no confidence is held, it ensures that the replacement for the failing government has backing, and helps to streamline the process of transitioning. When a conventional vote of no confidence is held, it can throw a nation into chaos. For this reason, a no confidence motion is proposed only when the opposition feels that it is the sole option remaining. A no confidence vote is sometimes also used as a political tool to stall for time or smear the majority party.
In nations which do not have a no confidence system, public officials can still be removed from office through impeachment or recall. Impeachment is a formal trial and subsequent request to step down held by a legislative body. Recall is a popular election which typically removes one public official and votes in his or her replacement. Although these measures work slightly differently than a no confidence vote does, they all have the same end impact.
No confidence votes can be an important part of a democratic system. When they are used as a political tool to humiliate the majority party, no confidence votes can still play a valuable role by notifying the general public to unrest within the government. They can also be used to replace corrupt and failing governments, assuming that corruption has not tainted the parliamentary system.
Tun,
It seems that you are very desperate in trying to remove Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (AAB) from the current premiership of Malaysia, for reason only you yourself best know. It will be a vain effort if you ask AAB to retire gracefully immediately because AAB still has the high mood to stay in the PM office until 2010.
"18. But I did try my best. If my best is not good enough I am sorry."
Are you really sure that you did try your best already? Have you ever tried to start a political campaign and mobilise for a motion of no confidence in the Parliament? I believe you have never tried that yet.
So, do you intend to create a new history by helping to mobilise support for a replacement of the Prime Minister? It is fairly simple: just attempt to persuade the MPs of BN to cast a no confidence vote against AAB in the Parliament. I believe you can create a new era if you agree to actively take part and put in effort to ensure a success in casting of no confidence votes by the MPs in the Parliament. Do you want to serve as the power house for bringing a historical breakthrough in the development process of Malaysia's democratic system? I believe you can be the best again if you take part in the campaign for motion of no confidence against AAB in the Parliament. I believe both Anwar and Dato Mukhriz will parallelily be able to arrive at the common destination without having to sign a memorandum of mutual understanding in order to work towards a concerted effort in the Parliament for purpose of satisfying your thirstful agony, i.e. to remove AAB from the premiership.
But post-AAB, do you have confidence that the next Prime Minister will perform much better than AAB? What will you do if the next PM is doing much worse than AAB? Do you intend to overthrow this next PM by then? When can this overthrow game be ended? If the competency of this next PM is even much more uncertain, why can't we just wait for another 2 more years? Is it because you are always a "show-hand" gambler in the political game so that you don't want to wait for another 2 years? What makes you feel so sure that Dato Seri Najib Razak can do much better than AAB as the PM? Have you made a political covenant with Najib already? How can you be sure that Najib will not betray you like what AAB did if Najib has to become the next PM very soon?
Political game-play really brings along a lot of headache problems! Isn't it much wiser for Tun to just try relax a bit by leading a simple life of playing with grand children everyday? If Anwar is willing to drop his slander suit against Tun, will Tun consider let go all these messed-up trivialities in politics and go complete retiring? Time is short. It is really a high time for us to seek God now and not be bogged down too much with the worldly trivialities! No one can really be sure whether God will allow any one of us to live pass today and leap forward to tomorrow. Therefore please don't worry too much about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
May you find solace and peace in the Almighty, Tun!
Onlooker
What is a no confidence vote?
A no confidence vote is a motion brought forward in a legislative body by the opposition party. It is usually used as a tool to undermine the majority party, and can also be used to remove people from office, depending on the system of government. A no confidence motion is a very serious political event, as it suggests a lack of faith in the current government and a desire to change it before the next scheduled election. This type of vote is most common in parliamentary democracies.
In the United States, a no confidence vote is merely a symbolic act, although actions may be taken if an official or government fails a no confidence vote. The no confidence vote does alert the populace and the government to a problem, which can be very important. In other countries, a government can be removed as a result of a no confidence vote, usually through dissolving the current parliament and holding a special election. In other nations, it is possible to hold a constructive vote of no confidence, which means that the motion includes a recommendation for a successor.
When a constructive vote of no confidence is held, it ensures that the replacement for the failing government has backing, and helps to streamline the process of transitioning. When a conventional vote of no confidence is held, it can throw a nation into chaos. For this reason, a no confidence motion is proposed only when the opposition feels that it is the sole option remaining. A no confidence vote is sometimes also used as a political tool to stall for time or smear the majority party.
In nations which do not have a no confidence system, public officials can still be removed from office through impeachment or recall. Impeachment is a formal trial and subsequent request to step down held by a legislative body. Recall is a popular election which typically removes one public official and votes in his or her replacement. Although these measures work slightly differently than a no confidence vote does, they all have the same end impact.
No confidence votes can be an important part of a democratic system. When they are used as a political tool to humiliate the majority party, no confidence votes can still play a valuable role by notifying the general public to unrest within the government. They can also be used to replace corrupt and failing governments, assuming that corruption has not tainted the parliamentary system.
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