Sunday, June 07, 2009

PAS - Liberalisation A Step Backwards

One fine day in April on the 27th, the Prime Minister of Malaysia made an Executive decision on behalf of the Government of Malaysia.

In his Press Statement, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced additional liberalisation of the Malaysian economy.

On this faithful day, it was decided that the financial sector shall be liberalized, hot on the heels of the services sector quota lift about a week before.

In the words of the PM himself,

The liberalisation measures announced today will also provide greater access to consumers to a wider ranger of world-class financial products and services and further strengthen our position in Islamc finance to become an international Islamic financial hub


Read

1. Govt lifts 30% bumi rule for 27 services sub sectors (April 22nd)
2. Financial sector liberalisation (April 27th)


During the 55th Muktamar PAS, which was attended by DAP leaders like Jeff Ooi and Lim Kit Siang as well as PKR President Datin Seri Wan Azizah, there were fiery speeches made on many areas.

In the final day of the Muktamar PAS, the Youth movement passed a resolution that slammed the Najib Administration on the liberalisation policy.


Ahmad Sabki Yusof, the Youth VP said that it is a step backwards that could destroy Muslim Bumiputera businesses in the long run.

A delegate also added that

It is a move to kill off bumiputera entrepreneurs’ businesses despite Umno claiming that it has been defending the Malay people’s right. Turned out that it is only empty talk and Umno has betrayed the Malays

Read the full piece : Liberalisation of economy 'a step backwards'


This is totally against the Pakatan spirit, don't you think Pak Anwar and Uncle Lim (s) ? Remember the shout of a Malaysian Economic Agenda ?

I hope Pakatan Rakyat supporters and leaders do not sweep things under the carpet anymore. Come clean and transparent instead of being elegantly silent as this is not the first controversy from Pakatan Rakyat.

Allow me to bring back some memories

1. Housing quota only a suggestion by MB
2. Lee: Guan Eng contradicting himself
3. Kedah Land Policy - Pakatan Rakyat reverts to initial housing quota


What happened to the vocal pro - Opposition bloggers and readers who ridicule the National Economic Policy ?

Does that mean that Barisan Nasional has been right all along in their policies to elevate the economic status of the Bumiputera ?

Why are Pakatan supporters so silent ? It is indeed an eerie feeling to sit in the political world where the sound of a pin drop can be heard clearly.

Could the silence be because Pakatan supporters know they need the support base of PAS to win the next election and because of this, they refuse to slam their coalition partner ?

Trojan horse in PAS was not from UMNO or BN, we all know this all the time.

As I have said the in the past, the NEP and Bumiputera policies executed by Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad were to ensure that Malaysia propels ahead with 100% contributions from every single citizen.

Without the NEP and the policies, the economic growth will see itself generated by only 30% of the people due to the "divide and rule" policies of our colonial masters - the British.

Today, the ball game has changed. In the words of our PM and DPM,

Other Asean countries have opened their services sector and we are way behind in this. You mean to say our people can’t compete? What’s wrong with our people? (Najib)

The liberalisation of Malaysia’s services and financial sectors is essential for the country’s economic expansion. Otherwise, the country would suffer huge losses, lose its competitiveness and be left behind. (Muhyiddin)


Continue the elegant silence, supporters and leaders of Pakatan Rakyat.


(Credits to The Star, MStar, Muktamar 55 and Daylife for the photos)

5 comments:

Syameer Firdaus said...

you see, even if with the new economic policy, the chinese hold the majority in the economic pie and behind it only come the bumiputra followed by the indian.

so what's the problem with the NEP? It does benefit the malay but doesn't affect the other races. In fact, the amanah saham for the bumiputra still haven't sold out.

The amanah saham for the chinese have sold out in the first day so what's the problem for the other races not to accept the NEP?

Goh Wei Liang said...

Good words there Syameer. I have tough time whenever I explain the NEP to my friends.

I stick by with DS Najib's words this time because in an economic crisis, we need such policies to encourage FDIs.

Progressive liberalisation must take place also.

Jimmy Tham said...

Allow me to start off my view by stating how all those sub sectors "opening up" are actually pointless gimmick, those sectors are either too capital intensive or have long been dominated by bumi. It is a non-event really. Financial sector liberalisation is ok but what Malaysia has that can attract megabanks to come set up a branch here in Msia when they have a better choice down south?

So to those pro-BN bloggers who are for NEP, why not slam the government for not sticking to NEP? (bigdog excluded, he did criticise the liberalisation of financial sector after all)

To be frank, I never trust PR when it comes to economy. No experience, no nuts or anything. That's why, I reiterate again, a reformed BN can easily crush PR even with their hands tied behind their back.

Syameer,

NEP is alright but do you need quota in university? Do you need subsidies for those who can afford bungalows and semi-d? NEP has achieved its merit and even if it is still needed, there's much to change and reform i.e. free education for bumi students who make the cut into uni and only subsidise the low cost and link house. The point is, why does it has to be racial based? Poor malay, right, we have poor chinese and indians too and it would be better if helps are given across the board.

We can argue all we want on NEP but the fact that Malaysia is no longer the proud asian tiger nor are we able to achieve vision 2020 highlight the failure of the government policy. Allow me to end this comment by citing an article from malaysiafinance.

http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/2009/06/can-asian-markets-continue-to.html

Malaysia's stock performance at the second lowest compare to its peer and this speaks volume about successful is Malaysia is in attracting FDI.

Anonymous said...

all the BN judges just bent the law - THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO EVEN WRITE A JUDGEMENT. WHATEVER THE INCUMBENT WANTS - these judges deliver. Notice how fast the blogger tells us the law is just even to PKR. no it isn't.

No written judgement.

Ah tiam fah


==

Time is running out for Nizar
By Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — With every passing day, Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin grows more anxious.

The popular PAS leader has only 12 days left to file his appeal to the Federal Court to uphold a High Court ruling that he is the rightful mentri besar of Perak.

But to date, Nizar has yet to receive the written grounds of judgment from the Court of Appeal which rejected his bid for the top state post last month.

Lawyers for Nizar told The Malaysian Insider they have already drafted the appeal to the Federal Court, and are ready to file it any day now.

But they want to wait until they receive the appeal court’s judgment in full before taking the next step.

They are confident they will receive the crucial written judgment in the next few days.

The written judgment, while not a must for his case to be forwarded to the apex court, will provide his massive legal team the key reasons for the dismissal. Without it, they are taking pot shots in the dark.

The legal team, headed by former Bar Council president Sulaiman Abdullah, maintains there are important constitutional questions that have not been answered.

The Court of Appeal had on May 22 overturned the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision a week earlier to declare Nizar the legitimate mentri besar.

Nizar was given 30 days from then to file his appeal to the top court.

If he fails to do so within the time frame, he would automatically be judged to have given up his quest for the mentri besar's seat.

And that is something that he is simply not able to accept, not after five months of sweat and tears.

Anonymous said...

First let me declare that I am not pro-political parties but I would like to believe that I am for truth, justice and fairness.

Your observation that the pro-PR group tended to go overboard in their zeal is quite correct but this is also not very different if you visit the pro-BN blogs. It is in the nature of human to defend their turf and those that they held as honourable. If the pro-PR group exhibited more zeal in their responses it is, in my mind, due to 50 years of repression and oppression. It is the first time in our history that a change could happen.

The NEP is a policy that may have high sounding objectives and its failure is not only in implementation but also in its conception. To argue that this is necessary due to the disparity created by the british colonialists would be barking up the wrong tree. To argue that this is an expression of article 153 of the constitution is also not accurate. In fact clause 9(I stand corrected) made NEP illegal.

NEP after so many years have not shown a single shred of evidence that it had helped the those malays that needed it the most. The evidence however suggest a widening disparity between the well to do malays and those less fortunate (refer to anilnetto site).