“The world economy is slowing sharply, and the euro region headed for recession this year, the International Monetary Fund predicted Tuesday in a bleak update of global conditions. Overall, the world economy is expected to expand 3.25 percent in 2012 - down from the 4 percent projected by the IMF in the fall.
That figure includes 8.2 percent growth in China, still the world’s most quickly expanding economy, and 7 percent in India. U.S. growth is forecast at 1.8 percent, the same as the fund projected in the fall. In those cases and for the rest of the world, growth was being crimped by what remains the world’s major economic risk - the ongoing financial crisis in the euro zone. In a trio of reports released Tuesday morning, the IMF forecasts a “mild recession” for the 17-nation euro zone this year, and warns that matters could easily worsen”.
The above is indeed a grim outlook from the world financial body and will definitely affect the Malaysian economy, but what is Prime Minister Najib Razak doing about it?
Well, it looks like he is going to do what he does best - NOTHING!
To understand the man, you need to know his background
Having been brought up with a silver spoon, the 58-year-old Najib is oblivious to the actual predicament and hardship faced by the people, both hardcore poor and those who can hardly make ends meet.
As he is constantly being surrounded by all the good things in life, he can never understand what the word poor means. There may not be a good correlation for such an inference but the fact is - Najib is not able to and does not care for the people.
His main concern now is to ensure that UMNO-BN wins the 13th general election so that he can remain the prime minister of Malaysia. It is a simple one-item priority.
The rest is of little concern to him as he seems to show no worry at all about the state of our economy. He continues to hand out more goodies to the people with the latest being the RM500 per household that earns less than RM3,000 per month. How caring can this be when it is a one-off aid meant to entice votes for GE-13?
Long list of flops
Then the award of Proton to DRB-Hicom, which immediately said they didn't have money but must borrow from Maybank, which in turn has to borrow from somewhere else. What if the whole exercise flops and Maybank ends up with a huge bad debt? By the way, if you have guessed that the Employee Provident Fund and PNB are among the biggest Maybank shareholders - which ultimately translates to the ordinary Malaysian worker and the poor Malay fishermen and farmers - then you are right.
The Ministry of Defence is also going to waste money on some exorbitantly expensive naval vessels, similar to the useless Scorpene submarines that Najib ordered in 2002 and allegedly received a RM570million kickback from. No wonder, current Defense minister Zahid Hamidi has had his eye on the Typhoon jet fighter for a while now. What a juicy piece of steak this must be for him!
MRT Corp, set up under the Ministry of Finance is expected to raise bonds soon for financing the RM50 billion Klang Valley MRT project. More money has to be borrowed and interest paid. Of course when the project starts there will be economic activities, but like all previous mega projects it is just a transient rise and will abruptly disappear once the money-making scheme is completed. Malaysians will then be treated to the same sour ending with the National Debt ballooning dangerously, while UMNO leaders and their cronies smile all the way to the bank, pockets bulging even more than ever.
The future is plain to see. The people will suffer from the poor service and with the maintenance of the KVMRT deteriorating so rapidly, the project will eventually need a bail out. No surprises for Malaysians used to this by now. With all due respect, history has shown that all the Malaysian LRT lines were bailed out because of bad planning and poor construction.
But for the KVMRT - the mother of all potential bailouts - this project is not going anywhere, and the completed structures will end up as white elephants, with the overall system only be partially completed. Due to its myriad problems, the entire system won’t be able to work and function properly. The KVMRT is doomed from the start. Don't forget - you read it first here!
The Iskandar project in Johor has been hailed by UMNO as being a huge success. But sad to say, that is only on paper. UMNO has been on an advertisement propaganda to show the people that all is fine on the southern end. But basically, it is mere photo-shoots, nice photos, charts and statistics but Iskandar, like the KVMRT, will only benefit select contractors and be of limited economic reach because the project will hang halfway due to poor planning.
Not economic projects but money-making schemes
You see, only the 'first mile' is important. This is where the crony contractors and developers get their hands on the juicy government contracts. What doe they care if the entire project fails to integrate with both the local and national economy? After does Najib, the PM and also Finance minister care? No, he is even more busy than they are excavating the economy for his benefit and those of select UMNO allies.
UMNO and Najib have succeeded only in launching money-making schemes. This is why Malaysia is slowly but surely going bankrupt. The people are not getting richer. Only a certain group have become fabulously rich. This is the problem with all UMNO economic activities. Because of their short-term nature, there is no lasting effect and in the end they create more trouble and burden for the people.
The IPPs are milking TNB and Petronas dry and that directly hurts the people who have to pay high fuel and energy tariffs. The completed highways are still collecting the ever increasing tolls and the effect is hiking the cost of everything. Again, this is another example of the UMNO money-making schemes, the worst and most clumsily covered-up example being the RM12.5billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal.
Praised for doing nothing
So, what a joke it was when the World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF) crowned Najib the Father of Modernisation and Transformation when he has not even completed a single term in office and he has not even won a mandate of his own to lead Malaysia.
Despite all that, MCA president Chua Soi Lek put on a great show of support, tapping contacts in the WCEF group to honor Najib. But the joke was on them because the WCEF actually gave Najib an award for doing nothing!
What an achievement indeed! Were they being sarcastic by awarding Najib such a “grand” accolade that even the mainstream media did not dare to play up for fear it might spark nationwide sarcasm and boomerang on the BN.
But if ridicule, empty promises, giving more burden to the people, leading Malaysia to the brink of bankruptcy, whitewashing financial debacles like the RM250mil Shahrizat-NFC scandal and indecisiveness are the basis for the award, then Najib truly deserves it. What say you?
