A I S E H M A N . O R G

Just listen to the UMNO general assembly. It's nothing more than a bunch of chest-thumping juveniles who know nothing of the bigger picture. Monkey see, monkey do. Unfortunately those at the top are supposed to do better, but they too get carried away in the annual chest-thumping exercise. The fat lady openly tells investors that they can go elsewhere. We contradict ourselves when we launch projects like the SJER - some want Singapore money, some don't.

Right now, guess who is supporting UMNO's stealing habits ? The taxpayers. Who contributes a major portion of the taxes ? The Chinese.

I don't think they care about FDI since they already have their fingers in the till. They will go on stealing until the country comes to its knees - like you say, with crumbs left.

if it was just make or break time, it would be simple. The problem is it does not appear that it can break. This is the same issue when Marcos was in power in the Philippine - he kept denying there were problems until he broke the bank.

Honestly, we have been here before. In the 1970s, UMNO politicians on a nationalist anti-foreign bend, would not open up the country for foreign investments and UMNO spent until this country came close to bankruptcy. People were surpised that Dr. M opened up the country for FDI but the truth is he had no choice.

The NEP policy is a protectionist fiscally irresponsible policy. This PM has tried initially to reign in spending but as we can see, he has blown the budget again and again from pressures within UMNO. Its not critical yet because this PM is actually afraid of overspending. If he should fall, the likes of Najib or Muhiyiddin would not be as responsible.

More importantly, we are not moving ahead i.e., we are falling behind. Indonesia already have more FDI than us last year and will again this year. Vietnam FDI will overtake both Malaysia and Indonesia this year.

FDI is not just about business confidence. Its also a signal of confidence in institution like our education, our civil service our police or courts. A falling FDI is a signal of these institutions not catching up with change. If one has to take a guess from comments by investors, its the education that is the biggest lost of confidence.

And they know it, which is why there have been change in personnel in education of higher learning. But the changes are meek like the PM and not anywhere even close to enough to reverse the decline. All it does is stop the decline. We are certaintly not catching up with others.

The worst is yet to come people; can anyone imagine what will happen when tne oil wells in the country ran dry ?

"If you insist on being concerned with only your share of the cake, then this country will soon have only crumbs to eat."

Aisehman, you speak as though they are capable of thinking about the interests of others. Errhmm... I must say I am surprised.

guys i found this article
have a look

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry
Michael Backman
November 15, 2006

MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns. It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's time Malaysia grew up.
It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get on with the job of creating it.

The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but at par value.

Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.

"Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to "Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.

This all happens in the context of Malaysia's grossly inflated sense of its place in the world.

Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to Malaysia's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or capital city.

As if to make this point, a recent episode of The Simpsons features a newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.

Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia's problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to underwrite all manner of excess.

The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were built, which was their point.

It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur — there wasn't.

Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies.

They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's handled by Australia's Westfield.

Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3 million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The trouble is, they're not. It's not their space program.

Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490 million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather".

But the summer Olympics are held in the summer.

So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a clue.

Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford.

Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years

away.

So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad.

It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).

email: michaelbackman@yahoo.com

http://www.michaelbackman.com

Well said Aisehman. I think there are only a handful of people who are well aware of what's going on and also the danger we are currently facing in the country, economically.

One of our main export, which is oil, will soon deplete in less than 10 years time. When the oil is gone, and if we do not have any major plans to compensate the losses of the oil by then, the country's economy will be hit hard. Really hard.

The prince of Dubai was far sighted enough to foresee the circumstance of being without oil in the future. Therefore, he had transformed the cash from oil revenue into building mega structures, turning it into one of the top tourist destination in the world. Now on the other hand, what are the Umno-putras doing now for the future?

And i agree whole heartily with the statement of investors are not interested in Malaysia anymore. A classic example, Intel investing 1 billion dollar in building plant at vietnam. Why not in Penang which arguably a more advanced place than Vietnam? Or is it because of the governments' policies? Or the people of the countries?

I really hope the government will make business more competitive here. A good example of a monopolize business in this country is the internet broadband industry. We are still stuck with 1MPS connection for the past few years now while our 'beloved' Singaporeans are enjoying a lovely 25MBS. Do i need to mention what the Japanese and Korean are currently having now? TM Net is obviously taking full advantage of the situation since most household line are controlled by Telekom and there are almost no other companies which can offer a better broadband deal (the best deals of the lousiest offers). Not to mention the government is always behind the back of Telekom.

There are so many destructive things happening in the country right now. We might not feel the pinch now, but i won't dare to say the same in the next 10 years time. Those UMNO dudes are taking a very typical laid-back approach - enjoy now while we can, when the problem strikes, then only we start to think what to do. Hello? By the time you all donkeys realize what's going on, the Vietnamese will already be 100 times more far ahead than us.

Exactly. Your view is refected in this article in Melbourne Age,

http://www.malaysiakini.com/link/eNoNyEkOwyAMAMAXgSFNaNXfuMUNltiEjVB+31zmMEm1vwHWWlYT4Un224rFCZWWwGcKVxKBlTiTKZjxEkbz4xgziWEV03pvQ2dl5XtwkBmzVq6nieOCzbkA3oPfb8NjC+E43P562qQl/wFhBCtS

The holey man is trying and needs more time. The fiddler at it:
THREE TIMES A KAFIR
p.s. Had late lunch at a "halal" Chinese noodles restaurant in Telawi, met two ex-journos, one of them now a free-lance PR consultant, who said she was "so shocked" to hear the PM use the word "kafir" not once, not twice but thrice in his address to the Umno delegates.
http://rockybru.blogspot.com/2006/11/three-times-kafir.html

thanks for this topic, aisehman.

it's damn important; those jokers are hiding something from the rakyat; when the crunch comes, they'll be the first to scoot to their piles overseas.

we don't even have to go oveseas to feel the vibrancy; when they say theirs is some 5% growth rate, you can feel it; when we say ours is that rate, we can't see it, let alone feel it.

And here they are talking about mindset change and keeping rights forever. And spending on nonsense like empire days are back.

It's suicide.

Thanks, Mr Backman - well-written article.

how true, mate.

if only the low/middle segment of malay population realise the propaganda/muslihat employed by the politician championing the race. But i think its too late to wake them up now, unless the political segment will it. But looking at the new batch of politician like khairy and hisham, the point of no return is not too far off.

Just picture the KLCC with slums all around it in the future, with proton in the ambit of VW, cyberjaya accorded as certified MSC ghosttown, F1 circuit for horse racing and other white elephant by the many zakarias rotting in silence.

it will be a great reminder of Vision 2020. Of Mahathir, the bapa kemodenan. Malaysia is shoved down this path. The culture of corruption, the norm of complacency, the spirit of "malaysia boleh" built on thin air (swim the english channel, sail the world, climb everest, rocket the ignorant astronaut).

Philipine will certainly welcome another peer. more than 1/2 of their population living in slum. They may take comfort in companionship.

WELCOME to the bolehland. But do take note: your PR needs 10 years for processing.

1. Don't play play with fire.
2. Don't abuse the freedom i give you dudes.
3. Stop the fucking debate.
4. Don't stir the shithole, it stinko.
5. Don't question our rights.
6. Don't question our special status.
7. Don't like? Go elsewhere.
8. Don't like? Go back tongsan.
9. Dont play play. Later i soak keris in fucking Chinese blood.
10.Don't talk art. 11.
11.Don't talk interfaith.
12.Don't question my stylo-mylo of leadership.
13.Don't worry, we're okay.
14.Don't worry, change your lifestyle.
15.Don't worry, 2020 coming, ready or not.
16.Don't question my wife's big hair & shoulder pads.
16.Don't fuck with UMNO. We rule.

We know what to do in the next GE which will come about in 6 months or 24 months.

In the meantime, are there acts of 'civil disobedience' that Malaysians can do to remind AAB his time is running out?

I am not advocating a show of 'people power' by going down to the streets. Instead, there are some very simple deeds that ordinary Malaysians can do individually e.g. transferring your saving account funds from one bank to another. Multiply one transaction by 20 million accounts and you'll have a 'Mexican wave' of money slushing about in this country every month or quarterly. It's basically waving your flag of disapproval in AAB's face. And it's not illegal.

We don't do polls like in the U.S. Neither is the option for a referendum possible. If there is indeed a growing apathy towards the current administration, how do we gauge it?

Besides, it beats pounding away on my keyboard, posting a comment and trying to make a positive contribution. Heck, if any of you have a better idea, post it.

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Malays are a proud race just like other races. This is reflected by our Petronas Towers, Malay astronaut, etc. Therefore it comes as a surprise they are not willing to scale back on affirmative action and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with pride that they equal. They have many people of calibre which I am sure can stand on their own without government support. After nearly 50 years, they should have more confidence in themselves. Otherwise, they will never be able to get away from the crutch mentality.

Worried? No FDI? Who needs FDI when you have EPF?

Wonder if we are going the way of Argentina.

Can almost see Rosmah singing: "...don't cry for me..." in her big hair and bigger shoulder pads at menteri wives high tea (did you see the way they shopped during the umno fun-fair?).

Godfather said:

Right now, guess who is supporting UMNO's stealing habits ? The taxpayers. Who contributes a major portion of the taxes ? The Chinese.
-------------------------------------------------

It is more than that, has any of you heard of IRD going to chinese companies to so called audit them with the view of 'squeezing' (read extort) every possible ringgit out of them by threatening a full audit if the additional amount of tax 'offer' to these traders were not accepted.