Remember the phrase, “gaya mesti ada, mati tidak apa”

The Malaysian government is proud that there will be a Malaysian astronaut next year in conjunction with our country’s 50^th  Merdeka celebrations. For this trip Malaysian taxpayers are paying RM 95 million. Pretty expensive to have the ‘gaya’ to try some teh tarik or roti canai in space. I am sure some of you are saying let’s have teh tarik here and use the RM 95 million to solve our perennial flood problems.

Do Malaysians get any technological transfer or benefits except for PR and publicity and feel good factor for BN? Even PR is limited as going to space is not that unique anymore and does not attract that much international attention as there are even millionaires who can become space tourists.

But the real cost may be higher as this was supposed to be sweetener to get Malaysia to purchase 18 Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30 MKM fighter jets in May 2003 for US$ 900 million(RM 3.42 billion then). Is US $ 50 million for an untested fighter jet too high? That is why Malaysian Air Force is unique in that pilots must understand English and Russian with two types of planes in service – American and Russian. The logistics and incompatibility has only added on to our maintenance costs.

So throw in the astronaut for RM 95 million which works out a total cost of RM 3.5 billion – that’s where our money has gone. For wasteful white elephants projects and corruption that makes many of us worse off and some people very rich – the money it’s all gone.

We still have some left because we have been blessed with oil. But even that would not last long as oil resources will be depleted in 19 years. But the oil crunch will come earlier in 2011 when Malaysia becomes a net importer and not a net exporter of oil.

Will wiping out corruption and waste the solution. That is only part of the solution. The real problem is getting rid of New Economic Policy (NEP), the father of all waste, corruption, inefficiencies and mediocrity.
 

Are UMNO and Khairy afraid of answering the question who amongst the Malays own the 45% or RM 325 billion out of the total RM 715 billion market capitalization of Bursa Malaysia? Malaysians, especially Malays who do not possess millions of shares or imported vehicles APs, should focus on the important question who the rich Malays are who have benefited. And not be distracted by false lies of such rich or millionaire UMNO leaders who do not wish to answer this question and try to distract attention with lies that the 30% bumi equity of the NEP has not been achieved.

How many poor Malays or Malaysians can afford to buy RM 9.2 million worth of shares like Khairy Jamaluddin? Or so powerful until Mukhriz Mahathir, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir’s Mohamad son, had to beg him to reinstate a RM 214.3 million contract for Opcom Sdn Bhd to supply fiber optics to Telecom Malaysia in 2003. Only after Mukhriz begged Khairy was the contract reinstated although the value was slashed by 15%.

Or can be like MCA Youth Deputy President Ling Hee Liong who can borrow RM 1.2 billion to control 3 publicly listed companies.

How many can spend RM 3.5 million on a wedding by Datuk Roslan Hashim? Malacca-born businessman Roslan said his wedding gifts to his bride included RM444,444.44 in cash and a further RM22,222.22 in dowry. Other gifts include a BMW 320i worth RM250,000, a RM150,000 jewellery set, a diamond ring worth RM20,000, a RM25,000 Rolex watch and other designer items. 

Or other rich Malays who have benefited from the NEP such as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi. In court documents on the divorce settlement with his former wife Zariah Hashim @ Farida Effendi revealed that he had generously given her assets worth more than RM20 million, exclusive use of two houses in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching worth RM10 million and RM2.5 million, respectively. Since the divorce, Effendi claimed that he provided monetary assistance amounting to almost RM1 million, costs of maintaining the house, maids, drivers, security and cash.

Tajudin Ramli sold Malaysia Airlines shares at RM 8 per share for RM 1.8 billion when the market price was less than half at RM 3.68, a premium of RM 1 billion. If the public lost RM 1 billion then Halim Saad was worse.

Halim Saad get cash rich United Engineers Malaysia (UEM)  to purchase his 32.6% worth of shares in Renong without triggering a mandatory general offer during the Asian financial crisis in 1997.  In the midst of the Asian fnancial Crisis.  Halim committed to a put option to buy back his shares from UEM for RM3.2 billion within 3 years.  And guess what?  UEM never saw the return of their money and Halim today is relieved of all his financial obligations.

The entire episode saw the share prices of UEM and Renong plunged within 3 months from RM8.75 and RM3.16 to RM1.60 and RM0.66 respectively wiping off hundreds of millions off the wealth of thousands of minority shareholders, many of whom were bumiputeras as well as bumiputera funds.

And RM3.2 billion will work out to almost RM 40,000 for every household living below the poverty line, many of whom are the bumiputeras the Government and UMNO claim they were seeking to help.  And yet every single sen of that money went to a single individual, probably representing the interest of the rich and powerful in the country.
 

Vision 2020 Of A Developed Nation Has Failed.

Prime Minister’s Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s announcement of the 3^rd Indsutrial Masterplan (IMP3) target of 6.3 % average economic growth in the next 15 years is an admission of failure of achieving Vision 2020 of turning Malaysia into a developed nation. Clearly Malaysia would not be a developed state by 2020 with only 6.3% average economic growth when the target for the next 15 years to achieve developed nation status is 8.8%

When former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahahtir Mohamad presented Vision 2020 on 28th February 1991, he required an average annual growth of 7% during the three decades to 2020 so that our GDP in 2020 can be RM 920 billion in real (1990 Ringgit) terms. Malaysia is capable of reaching its gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of RM920 billion in 2020 only if it achieves an average growth of 8.8 percent in the next 15 years from 2006-2005. 

Malay Research & Strategy Foundation fellow consultant Datuk Dr Mohd Dahan Abd Latiff said the projection was based along the calculation of the GDP of RM262 billion in 2005. He said with the 6% GDP growth already set for 9MP, or RM351 billion target in 2010, growth for the remaining 10 years -- 2011 to 2020 has to be at about 10.2 percent. The target of 10.2% for 2011-2020 is clearly impossible as the National Mission had set a growth rate of only 6.5% for this period. Even this 6.5% growth rate is doubtful as Malaysia is expected to be an oil importer from 2011-2020.

What we want ?

Just as the 2007 Budget has not benefited lower-income groups, we should adopt the correct macroeconomic policy and discard nationally divisive and outdated policies of quotas and subsidies. Such racial policies like the NEP must be replaced by those which forges national unity and encourages competition, value creation and meritocracy. Malaysian must abandon the racial premise of the NEP and its false pursuit of 30% bumi equity to pursue the real UMNO Malay owners who possess the 45% market capitalization of Bursa Malaysia.

Malaysia must learn from developing countries that has successfully made the transition to developed country status how they strengthened competitiveness. Experience from these countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have shown that  quotas and discriminatory type policies were rejected. Emphasis was always on developing human resources to ensure the best and brightest are chosen. For this reason even though these countries lacked natural resources, they progressed more rapidly than countries blessed with abundant natural resources.

From a situation where Malaysia was almost thrice more prosperous than Korea in 1966, Korea is now more than 3 times more prosperous than Malaysia.

In 1966 annual per capita Gross Domestic Product(GDP) was less than US$ 130 as compared to Malaysia’s US$350. By 1980, barely 10 years after the NEP, South Korea had caught up with a per capita GNP of US$1900 as compared to Malyaysia’s US$ 1,830. By 2005 according to the International Monetary Fund., GDP per capita in Korea had far exceeded Malaysia at US$16,421 as compared to Malaysia’s US$5,040. From a position where Malaysia was almost 3 times better than South Korea, NEP has made us three times worse.

The New Economic Policy(NEP) and the 30% bumi equity requirement are the principal reasons why Malaysia performed worse than South Korea. Instead of promoting transparency, we promote corruption. Instead of merit, we have quotas. Instead of technical “know-how” we have political “know-who”. Lack of competitiveness, inefficiency and poor productivity is the price we pay for the government’s continued reliance on the NEP.

Many non-Malays who have suffered under the NEP knows that the NEP is bad for economic health. In absolute terms, Malaysia has made progress. But in relative terms to other countries the NEP has dragged down our growth rates by at least 3-4%. Our challenge then is to convince non-Malays that NEP is bad for them too. NEP is like taking sweets. After taking for 36 years, taking more sweets will only cause diabetes that will eventually kill you.