Why is the Prime Minister and BN leaders keeping a deadly silence as Malaysians witnessed the sad drop of the ringgit by 1% today against the Singapore dollar to a historic low of nearly RM 3.31 and a new 24 year old low for the US dollar at RM4.70? There is no point asking the most powerful person in Malaysia now, UMNO President and BN Chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who alone decides the fate of the current Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and the make-up of BN MPs in the coming general election, with the absolute power to issue authorisation letters to the BN candidates.
Ahmad has made it crystal clear that winning the next general elections is desperately needed ‘now or never” to ensure that BN leaders like himself, Mohamad Hassan, MCA’s Wee Ka Siong, MIC leaders Vigneswaran Sanasee and M. Saravanan, can escaped being charged for corruption. In the meantime, the government seems to be paralyzed by the rapid depreciating ringgit over the past few days, with nary an assurance given to financial markets to shore up the value of the ringgit.
Government Paralysis Must Stop
This government paralysis must stop when there is supposed to be a caretaker Prime Minister and Cabinet to deal with the current financial crisis. With the weakened ringgit, Malaysians and businesses face a bleak financial future with soaring imported costs, higher cost of living and higher interest costs expected to be imposed by Bank Negara next month.
Neither the caretaker Prime Minister nor a single caretaker Cabinet Minister has addressed these serious concerns affecting businesses and the rakyat. This is highly irresponsible when they are still getting paid for doing nothing, even though Parliament is dissolved.
DAP had suggested structural economic reforms similar to the recommendations of the World Bank on 27 September, that fiscal and structural economic reforms be carried out in education, digitalisation and improving the investment climate to transform Malaysia into an innovation-based economy that is more productive and competitive. This was also conveyed to the Finance Minister during the pre-2023 Budget discussions by the DAP team led by Secretary-General Loke Siew Fook.