Najib, you can't band aid the economy

You can't band-aid the economy, Najib told

By FMT Staff

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian economy will continue to sink unless the government comes up with a wholesome reform plan and sincerely follows it through, said PAS leader Dzulkefly Ahmad.


He said it was time for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to admit that Malaysia was no longer attractive to investors, who prefer to take their money to neighbouring countries because of their more conducive political and economic climates.


Instead, he added, Najib was “desperately trying to band-aid the economy” to attract investors so that the national GDP could be pushed up to six percent in the next five years.


Lethargic and embarrassing—that was how he described the current state of the Malaysian economy, once among the most dynamic in Asia.


Foreign investments have fallen, compared to investments in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and even Vietnam.


A recent United Nations report said Malaysia was capable only of competing with third and fourth world nations like Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Timor-Leste.


It noted that foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Malaysia had plunged from USD2.56 billion in 2004 to negative USD2 billion in 2006, negative USD2.7 billion in 2007 and negative USD7.67 billion in 2008.


Malaysia is unmarketable


Dzulkefly said one of the reasons investors were running away was that the cronies of BN leaders had an unfair advantage over them.


“There was an exodus of RM24 billion in 2009 because local investors wanted to invest elsewhere,” said the MP for Kuala Selangor.


“Why is that? Because they allege that domestic opportunities have been reduced. They are not cronies; so they can’t compete. The Finance Ministry awards contracts only to certain companies. If you look hard, you’ll see the same faces all the time. It’s frustrating to investors.”


Dzulkefly also spoke of attempts to cover up huge corruption scandals, saying they had made Malaysia unmarketable.


“Just look at the country’s marketability today. With so many scandals, such as the controversial purchase of Scorpene submarines, it is no surprise that investors have a bad opinion about the country. These scandals have convinced them that Malaysia is a bad bet.”


He said the government must adopt a competitive attitude.


“There have been reports that Australian investors don’t want to come to Malaysia because the Internet services are weak,” he said.


“I brought this up in Parliament and read the reports out loud. Investors want speed. Investors want efficiency. We promised them megabyte broadbands, but they can get only kilobytes.”


Buying at higher price


He took the government to task for its indecisiveness in implementing the so-called New Economic Model in the face of attacks from the ultra-Malay movement Perkasa.


He called on Najib to stop blaming the global financial crisis for the shrinking FDIs, noting that other countries in the region were not as badly affected.


"The mistake here is that the BN leaders are still comatose,” he said.


“I recently raised the issue of the purchase of 38 train carriage units for Keretapi Tanah Melayu, said to cost RM1.8billion. When we checked, we discovered there was an excess payment of RM500 million.


“At the beginning there were eight bidders. But all their bids were rejected. The government went to China and bought the carriages for RM500 million more than the actual price.


“The Transport Ministry was apparently forced by the Finance Ministry to buy the units in China at a higher price.”