by Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser
PM NAJIB MUST INSTITUTE GOOD GOVERNANCE BEFORE THE COUNTRY CAN ACHIEVE HIGH ECONOMY FOR THE PEOPLE.
Dr. Zakaria, executive director of MIER at an economic conference on 26th January, stated that for Malaysia to become a high income country, it must liberalise the economy to attract both foreign direct investments as well as domestic investments. This is a hopeful statement, from a dedicated public servant, who wants to see his country prosper.
Unfortunately, he is going to be disappointed, not for lack of trying, but because the political and economic realities do not encourage both foreign and domestic investors to put money in this country.
Widespread corruption, racial prejudices and over regulation of the economy are unfriendly and deter investors to invest. Under an unstable cloud, the investors will not deem the climate here favourable to investors. In fact, this has led to a huge outflow of capital from the country.
DISASTROUS CAPITAL FLIGHT
UBS investment bank reported that in 2009 there was a disastrous capital flight from the country amounting to 50% of the GDP, and the nation’s foreign reserves fell close to 25%
The capital flight was due to ‘political instability, massive official corruption and discrimination against non-Malays.’ There is also a massive flight of human capital. The government admitted that over 300,000 citizens emigrated last year, and these are people with talent and skills.
THIS IS AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION. Here you have a diligent, conscientious government official, earnestly making a plea to liberalise the economy, but he is thwarted and obstructed in doing his duty because of bad governance, injustices and lack of transparency.
PM Najib must first put his house/government in order, and get rid of corruption before he can expect his government and civil servants to perform their duties and serve the people.
#1 by monsterball on Friday, 29 January 2010 - 4:26 pm
What Dr. Chen Man Hin wrote are either …all lies or Dr. Zakaria is fed with wrong information…. making a fool of himself.
Personally…I think Dr. Chen knows what he is talking about..as he is always in touch with the people for real truths and news.
I serve hundreds of customers…and never seen so many want to cut cost and retrench workers to survive..for he past one year or so…getting worst every month.
What Dr.Zakaria need to do..is take few days off..visit shops and companies…big and small…and get facts.but best is with banks…if he can get them to trust him with facts….revealing the shocking news…he may not know.
Banks need not reveal details..just show the graph of each company…up or down.
All down…be it businesses .profits or turnovers.
#2 by DCLXVI on Saturday, 30 January 2010 - 12:27 am
Good governance?
The Najib-Muhyiddin administration seems to believe more in good public relation exercises to give a impression to the people that everything’s coming up roses…
#3 by Syeikhs85 on Saturday, 30 January 2010 - 1:37 pm
Dr. Zakaria, executive director of MIER was right to state that for Malaysia to become a high income country, it must liberalise the economy to attract both foreign direct investments as well as domestic investments. I am sure he had said this to see his country prosper. However, this good open minded statement must not politicized. We must live in reality and fact not perception. When we ourselves do not recognize the efforts in fighting corruption and perceive the country in faces a corruption problem then the foreign investor will shy away from investing in this country. Likewise the domestic investors will have fear in making any investment. This will discourage economic growth.
Well, we must accept the reality that corruption is not fast widespread but under control or even minimized to some greedy and shameful ‘individuals’ who don’t seems to care about their homeland but to make quick richness for themselves. These individuals fail to realize for themselves that the wealth they make from corruption don’t last and they will be severely punished in the after world for the sin done.
Is there a real problem of corruption in this beloved country? The reality and facts shows not so. We can examine this by observing the situation nowadays. If a few years a go will have to queue for hours to get our driving licenses to be renewed or even have to get the services of ‘touts’ to have a fast renewal but not anymore. We can even drive to any postal counters to do that. Likewise, renewal of International Passports used to take months but not any more. I have the opportunity to renew my passport in only less than one hour at Kajang Immigration Office. My son got his new International Passport in the same day too. No touts or middlemen needed to get this services. Application for MyCard could be done in the same day and on Saturdays too. These are some reformation to the service sectors but there are more to come.
We should not only see the history on the service provided but must live in reality and fact. This reality and fact showed that the loop holes of corrupt practices were now filled. Everyone must accept the facts that the service sector is fast moving to excellence and efficiency. Given time, I am sure there will be lot of excellence services for the public at large. This are the transformation of good governance introduced by the civil service.
Lets support the move in fighting corruption and live in a world of peace and harmony.
#4 by frankyapp on Saturday, 30 January 2010 - 2:45 pm
Sure Dr Zakaria would like to see the economy liberalised,who would not but would it synchronizes with Umnoputra’s ideal.See guys,these people want to be supremacists forever and with this kind of mentality/attitude,wonder how Dr Zakaria is going to take the bull by its horns.Umnoputra’s ketuanan is non-negotiable,hence who would want to associate with them except those who work hand in glove to benefiting fast and easy bucks.Now tell me how’s the foreign investors to fit in under this kind of situation.Pretty sure we want to support the move in fighting corruption but where would you be landed as a whistle blower ? The record showed most landed into various troubles,some even got killed or murdered. Now where is the act to protect witnesses or whistle blower. U see guys,in Malaysia,it’s pretty un-forgiveable to play hero. This’s the reality and Umnoputras want to keep it their ways. Any solution,yes just change the regime.