High Income Economy?

Source: http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/letterssurat/35909-high-income-economy-more-like-high-expenditure-economy-

By batsman

In times of perceived failure, confusion and heightened suspicions with the new ways, it is a natural tendency to fall back on the old ways. After all the old ways have got us this far and the new ways threaten to destroy everything we have built up and worked for. Fear, uncertainty and insecurity are natural targets for the practitioners of dirty tricks. The 1Malaysia advertising campaign and accompanying black ops seems to have reached the peak of its influence.

Looks like the hopes and aspirations placed on the high tide of the 2008 elections tsunami has gone out with the low tide of another elections shambles. Perceptions such as fear and uncertainty overpower those of hope and aspiration. It is now time for real pain instead of perceived pain to work into the nervous fabric of society before the next level of realization and understanding can be achieved.

The Malaysian economy is dominated by inter-locking sets of monopolies, the biggest of which is the civil service. With Selangor expected to raise another corps of 300,000 RELA members, Malaysian society is now confirmed as a uniformed society. There is hardly a family in Malaysia which does not have 2 or 3 persons who possess some form of uniform or other whether company uniforms, NGO uniforms or government uniforms. Perhaps this applies to Selangor only since the other states are still stuck with their quota of RELA members and do not envisage any increase, but still, the uniforms are everywhere.

Does this mean then that Malaysia is a homogeneous society? Hardly - any 2 year old Mongoloid can tell you that.

So it is that while we are promised a high income economy, the outcome is most likely a high expenditure economy starting with the expenditures of the 2011 budget and 10MP, not to mention 100 storey buildings and dinner tickets to hear lousy singers.

This conclusion derives from the monopolistic nature of the Malaysian economy, starting with the Malaysian government itself. Monopolies are high price economic animals. The only reason to organize a monopoly is to control and eventually drive up the prices of everything. Imagine a world without OPEC. Petrol would still be 50 cents a gallon in the US.

And why did the world’s big airlines organize an air cargo cartel? Was it to keep prices down? And why air cargo and not paying passengers? Could it be that air cargo is far away from prying eyes and not immediately felt by paying passengers?

So monopolies are not only disliked by people, but illegal under most regimes. That is why Singapore Airlines got fined a hefty sum for its part in the air cargo cartel. Fortunately the cartel did not bother to invite MAS to join. Could it be that MAS and Singapore Airlines are irreconcilable competitors?

In Malaysia, unfortunately the government itself is a monopoly. Instead of being in the business of government, it actively involves itself in commercial and business dealings. This makes Malaysians inured to monopolies. It becomes a fact of life in Malaysia. The government is expected to take part in business. It is part and parcel of the patronage which again is part and parcel of our culture.

Unfortunately, being in business, the government eventually treats some segments of society in Malaysia as competitors. This creates feelings of competitive ill will against some of the people it is supposed to protect and care for. And being government it has every right to call such people traitors or ungrateful or disloyal, especially if they are reluctant to join the police and armed forces. So disloyalty is one of the accepted reasons for their reluctance to join the armed forces. So one large segment of the population is cast into the black hole of outcasts and since they are also business competitors, very likely they lose all protection and rights of citizens and can be called immigrants as well.

I guess this is the natural outcome of things if governments take part actively in commerce and business.

The other outcome is that monopolies are created in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, such monopolies have a life of their own and often become unruly and disobedient (even truly ungrateful). So the inter-locking is not perfect. This can be seen from the fact that licenses withdrawn with immediate effect from bas express companies have no immediate effect and the companies are reported to continue to open their counters and continue to sell tickets.

So it is that seeing loved ones killed or maimed in accidents become one of the painful experiences that are most likely to increase the level of people’s understanding about bad government, bad policies and bad laws.

The other painful experiences affect the pocket. Insurance for cars have shot through the roof. Apparently it is almost impossible to get 3rd party insurance these days and old cars are impossible to be insured. Is this the result of a monopoly or cartel working its magic? Drivers have no choice in the matter since insurance is mandatory. Isn’t this perfect soil for a monopoly to work its magic and empty the pockets of drivers as if by magic?

Is the government aware of these issues faced by the rakyat? More curiously, is the opposition aware? If so, the government as usual, has taken decisions to avoid cultivating a skilled maintenance culture among the people such that they care for and keep their cars in good serviceable order instead of trashing it for a few years and then selling it as scrap because it is impossible or unaffordable to get insurance for old cars anyway.

Is this the attitude of the bas express operators – save money on maintenance since it is not possible to get insurance for old vehicles anyway? So what if a few passengers get killed because of poor maintenance? Some VIP can always be relied upon come out to say that accident buses are in perfect working order anyway. So why eventually withdraw the licenses of the bas operators whose vehicles get into serious accidents? Shouldn’t TI look into some of these mundane and boring issues as well?

The prices of basic foodstuff are on the rise for some time now. The government seems almost helpless in the face of the monopolies it has created, or is it only feigned helplessness? What do you think?

Hopefully the real cumulative pain of all these real issues can wake people up from their drugged like slumber and challenge people to take risks to try out a new way for the sake of the future. Can they? Or is the comatose too deep and too serious?

While the people are sovereign and their decisions on who they elect to power must be respected, there is also room for lobbies and NGOs to bring issues to the people for consideration. In this the MCLM can play a much hoped for role since political parties seem to be too absorbed in their own quarrels and problems to bring such issues to the fore or has the government monopoly on NFA chops completely demoralized everyone oledi or is it because some people are so disloyal to the country that they are reluctant to join the campaigns to make things better in Malaysia or is it because the traitors are sabotaging people’s thinking or is it because the incentives are too small or is it because people are fed up of the big mouths of government ministers as well as activists or is it because …….? heeheehee

Ekonomi lebih perlahan

Sumber:http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=1109&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Ekonomi&pg=ek_01.htm

KUALA LUMPUR 8 Nov. - Bank Dunia menjangkakan pertumbuhan ekonomi Malaysia lebih perlahan daripada 7.4 peratus tahun ini kepada 4.8 peratus tahun depan walaupun pemulihan yang memberangsangkan tahun ke tahun.

Unjuran itu berdasarkan kepada kelemahan dalam ekonomi global yang menjadi punca ketidaktentuan dalam jangka sederhana.

Pakar ekonomi kanan Jabatan Asia dan Pasifik Bank Dunia, Philip Schellekens berkata, pemulihan kekal sukar memandangkan eksport dan beberapa petunjuk pengeluaran industri merosot pada pertengahan tahun dan akan terus menurun, selari dengan kemelut ekonomi berpanjangan di negara-negara utama.

''Aktiviti ekonomi dijangka terus menyusut pada separuh kedua 2010.

''Pertumbuhan ekonomi negara yang mencapai 7.4 peratus dijangka menurun kepada 4.8 peratus pada tahun depan,'' katanya pada pelancaran Laporan Dwitahunan Pemantauan Ekonomi Malaysia Bank Dunia 2010: Pertumbuhan Terangkum di sini hari ini.

Tambah beliau, permintaan domestik dijangka terus memacu pertumbuhan jangka sederhana dan pengukuhan permintaan daripada G3 dan China kekal menjadi punca ketidakstabilan.

Meskipun kemiskinan telah menjunam, ketidakadilan kekal pada peringkat yang tinggi dan cabaran-cabaran masih wujud kerana Malaysia dalam proses untuk menyertai liga negara-negara berpendapatan tinggi, menurut Pengarah Sektor Pembangunan Insan Asia Timur dan Rantau Pasifik, Emmanuel Jimenez.

Sementara itu, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop yakin Malaysia mampu mencatat pertumbuhan lima hingga enam peratus tahun depan.

Beliau berkata, menerusi tumpuan berterusan dalam mengenal pasti bidang, pelaksanaan dan campur tangan dasar dalam perancangan, negara akan mengekalkan momentum pertumbuhannya.

''Momentum kita baik, ada banyak program. Kita tidak mempunyai masalah dalaman, namun terdapat masalah di rantau ini dan negara maju pula berhadapan cabaran yang akan menjejaskan ekonomi kita pada tahap tertentu.

"Saya yakin unjuran itu adalah sebelum campur tangan dasar baharu. Kami akan mencuba yang terbaik untuk merealisasikan matlamat dan unjuran ini memberikan Malaysia sebab untuk berusaha lebih keras.

"Menerusi dasar tambahan, langkah yang tepat, memastikan projek dilaksanakan dengan penyertaan aktif sektor swasta dan fasa pelaksanaan yang lebih pantas," katanya pada sidang media selepas melancarkan laporan Bank Dunia ke atas ekonomi Malaysia di sini.

Schellekens berkata, jika kerajaan Malaysia melaksanakan secara konsisten reformasi struktur, terdapat peluang peningkatan untuk negara mengekalkan momentum pertumbuhan.

"Malaysia perlu menunjukkan komitmen padu yang akan memacu pertumbuhan, bagaimanapun cabarannya ialah ketidaktentuan ekonomi global," katanya.

Beliau berkata, bagi memenuhi sasaran pertumbuhan Rancangan Malaysia Ke-10, Malaysia perlu mencatatkan peningkatan ketara dalam produktiviti dan pelaburan.

"Dua pendekatan dalam Program Transformasi Ekonomi (ETP) dengan menggabungkan dasar pengurangan dengan projek utama swasta, menyediakan platform yang baik,'' ujarnya.

Schellekens berkata, Wawasan 2020 boleh dicapai dengan syarat ETP dilaksanakan sepenuhnya.

Kuasa beli kita merosot

Sumber:http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=1108&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Ekonomi&pg=ek_01.htm

Oleh AINUL ASNIERA AHSAN

bisnes@utusan.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR 7 Nov. - Kerajaan diminta melihat secara serius kemerosotan kuasa membeli di kalangan rakyat Malaysia yang semakin membimbangkan di tengah-tengah kejatuhan dolar Amerika Syarikat (AS) , sedangkan penyusutan mata wang paling berpengaruh di dunia itu sepatutnya memberi faedah kepada nilai ringgit.

Pengurus Kanan Kumpulan TA Investment Bhd., Alsetdek Al Haj Ali berkata, ini kerana penurunan kuasa beli itu menjadi petunjuk kepada ketidak seimbangan ekonomi, kemajuan dan kemakmuran dalam sesebuah negara.

Beliau berkata, Malaysia menggunakan indeks inflasi yang terdiri daripada barangan kawalan dalam menentukan kestabilan ekonomi negara sedangkan kuasa beli adalah petunjuk sebenar.

Menurut beliau, secara rasionalnya apabila nilai ringgit meningkat, sepatutnya keupayaan untuk berbelanja di kalangan rakyat Malaysia lebih besar.

Bagaimanapun, katanya, keadaan itu tidak berlaku, sebaliknya kemerosotan kuasa beli semakin terjejas sejak kebelakangan ini.

''Persoalannya mengapa rakyat kita tidak dapat menikmati kelebihan kenaikan nilai ringgit berbanding dolar AS dalam kuasa beli?.

''Jadi, mengapa kita perlu gembira apabila kejatuhan nilai mata wang, walhal nilai ringgit semakin tidak dirasai,'' katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia di sini.

Beliau berkata, tahap kuasa beli di Malaysia terlalu berbeza berbanding di Amerika Syarikat kerana sekurang-kurangnya rakyat negara itu masih berpeluang membeli lebih banyak barang di pasar raya walaupun nilai mata wangnya menyusut.

''Sepatutnya kuasa membeli di kalangan rakyat AS lebih sukar kerana mata wang mereka tidak memberi apa-apa makna, tambahan pula negara itu adalah negara pengimport tetapi mengapa mereka terus menikmati kuasa membeli?

''Jawapannya adalah model ekonomi negara itu jauh berbeza dengan Malaysia walaupun kita dalam proses ke arah itu.

''Di negara maju, lebih banyak rakyat berbelanja bagi barang tertentu, lebih murah harganya tetapi di Malaysia lebih banyak barangan tertentu dibeli, harganya boleh meningkat. Itu bezanya dan ia perlu diberi perhatian oleh kerajaan,'' katanya.

Sebab itu, katanya. rakyat Singapura masih boleh menikmati harga teh tarik S$0.80 secawan pada nilai mata wang mereka tetapi di Malaysia harga bagi minuman itu terus meningkat daripada RM1.00 kepada RM1.50 hingga RM1.80.

Singapura masih mampu mengekalkan nilai mata wangnya kerana strategi monetari negara itu yang meningkatkan dolar Singapura.

''Sebab itu, walaupun berlaku kenaikan dalam dolar Singapura, kuasa membeli di kalangan rakyatnya tidak terjejas, seperti di AS, tambahnya.

Berikutan itu, katanya, kerajaan perlu mengatasi masalah ini dengan segera kerana sekiranya dibiarkan ia boleh mengundang kepada ketidakstabilan ekonomi isi rumah tempatan.

Tegas beliau, kerajaan sepatutnya turut melakukan pemantauan barangan bukan kawalan yang sebenarnya menjadi barangan asas keperluan dapur, selain barangan kawalan.

Jelasnya, ia penting kerana barangan asas yang diperlukan untuk menjalani kehidupan seharian telah menunjukkan peningkatan melebihi 100 peratus.

''Kalau dibandingkan dengan tepung, berapa banyaklah yang digunakan oleh isi rumah berbanding keperluan seperti sabun mandi dan sabun basuh,'' ujarnya.

''Tiada ada gunanya kita bersorak kerana nilai ringgit lebih tinggi berbanding dolar AS, jika nilai ringgit tidak membawa apa-apa makna kepada rakyat.

Katanya, dengan pendapatan sebanyak RM3,000 dan tinggal di Kuala Lumpur, jumlah gaji itu sudah tidak memberi sebarang makna kepada pekerja.

Sebaliknya, dengan gaji tersebut, pekerja yang tinggal di Kuala Lumpur boleh dikategorikan sebagai penduduk miskin kerana kos hidup yang tinggi dan penyusutan kuasa membeli.

''Apa yang anda boleh beli dengan RM100 di pasar raya sekarang kerana harga ikan pun sudah berbelas ringgit untuk setiap kilo, begitu juga dengan sayur, hampir semua barang naik,'' katanya.

Public universities must embrace academic excellence

Source: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=53514

by BA Hamzah

ACADEMIC excellence is the sine quo non of a great university. Without academic excellence public universities are like factories producing half-baked products hazardous to any user. A university education without quality is a life-time defective investment, a waste of scarce public funds that gives false hope to the rakyat and it will deprive the nation of the much needed brain power.

Universities are not about buildings and large halls; what counts is the universality of their scholarship. Qualified, open-minded and dedicated teachers with excellent communication skills tend to produce critical minded-students who will make good citizens.

The ambitious economic transformation programmes will come to nought without a versatile, knowledgeable and scalable technical and managerial brain power which the nation expects from public universities. Going by the university ranking index, the performance of our public universities is disappointing. None of the 21 public funded universities were among the top 100 since 2004.

Prejudices aside, Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli and Symonds (QS) World University are widely recognised as rating agencies for assessing scholarship or academic excellence. The same criteria (peer review, recruiter review, citations, student/staff ratio and international staff) for ranking the top universities are also used to grade universities in Malaysia. To dispute our position and yet accept their ranking for Harvard, MIT, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge sounds like sour grapes.

We live in a world of opinion polls where perception indices matter. I am a bit perplexed by our expectation: on the one hand, we seem to have embraced their findings, albeit in some cases, reluctantly. But when it comes to THE and QS ranking index, some people are angry. Are they angry with the criteria or because outsiders have exposed the poor quality of scholarship in our universities?

The lack-lustre performance of our universities is symptomatic of a larger structural problem.

According to some analysts the standard of academic excellence began to decline since 1971 following the decision to use Malay as the medium of instruction as recommended in the 1956 Razak Report.

Those who have read the Razak Report (Report of the Education Committee, 1956) are familiar with the recommendation to make the national language as the medium of instruction in schools. Conveniently forgotten is the recommendation in para 71 which says "we recommend that the study of the Malayan national language and that of the English language shall be compulsory. The reason for the study of the Malay language is the intention ... to make Malay the national language of the country. The reason for teaching English is that we desire that no secondary school pupil shall be at a disadvantage in the matter either of employment or of higher education in Malaya or overseas as long as it is necessary to use the English language for these purposes."

Had our politicians and policymakers insisted on the mandatory use of English in our schools, the quality of academic scholarship in our public universities would most likely remain respectably high. This point was highlighted in a World Bank Report (2007) on higher education in Malaysia ("Malaysia and the Knowledge Economy: Building a World-Class Higher Education System"). The consequence of not embracing international standards (like using English) in our education system has, in the opinion of the report, been detrimental to our economy. It also affects diplomacy, international trade and access to global minds.

The report says, among other things, that to sustain its competitive edge Malaysia needs a world class education system that provides knowledge-based manpower to propel the country into an innovative economy. It reiterates the need to improve "the overall effectiveness of the university and national innovation system". The report chided our schools and universities for failing to effectively deliver knowledge and they need to buck up.

Some 50,000 graduates were not employed in 2004, according to the report, because of skills mismatch -meaning public universities did not prepare their graduates well for the job market. Suggestions in the report for universities to introduce soft skills in the curricula are veiled language, implying failure to produce students with relevant transferable skills and relevant knowledge.

The report also finds graduates of public universities lacking in effective communication skills to take advantage of global job opportunities. Of course, it is understood that the purpose of higher education is much greater than preparing students for jobs.

The report also calls on policymakers to focus more on monitoring and evaluation of their policy education outputs than "has been hitherto the case in Malaysia". Deciphered, it means our schools and universities are miles behind the best in the region. The university ranking index has acknowledged this assertion.

The report says the decline in the education quality has affected Malaysia’s economic attractiveness in the region. In 2007, for example, the World Economic Forum ranked Malaysia 24th on Growth Economic Index and 23rd on Business Competitiveness Index among 116 countries. Although Malaysia was ahead of the Philippines and Thailand in both indices, it was placed below South Korea and Singapore.

In terms of innovation, which measures creativity, Malaysia was ranked 60th on UNCTAD’s World Investment Report. Malaysia was rated higher than China and India but behind Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Japan. These countries (except Thailand) were ahead of Malaysia in terms of the number of patents registered with the US Patent and Trade mark Office. For 2001-2005, Malaysia registered 49 patents compared with 11,152 for Korea and 795 for Singapore. In 2004, MIT generated 133 patents.

Malaysia was also behind these economies in terms of the number of researchers per million people; Malaysia (294), Korea (2,979), Singapore (4,532) and China (633). Malaysia also spends less than these economies for R&D as a percentage of GDP. The figure for Malaysia for 2002 was 0.69%; Korea 2.53%, Singapore 2.15%, China 1.2% and Japan 3.12%. There is plenty of catching up to do for Malaysia to remain in the league.

The World Bank Report further reiterated that "Malaysia’s quest to become a sophisticated knowledge-based economy is likely to be frustrated, unless policies to link Malaysian firms with universities and research institutes are strengthened." Though a mouthful it begs a pressing question. Except in very few cases, research by multinationals are firm-specific and they do not always contribute to local needs.

The report also suggested that "to compete economically Malaysia needs to integrate science, engineering and technology knowledge into the production process." The policy that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad introduced to use English to teach maths and science in schools was primarily aimed at expediting the transition process from the current economic mode to an innovative economic model. Unfortunately, the current government has abandoned this policy. This policy change is likely to delay Malaysia achieving the innovative economic mode.

To move forward with confidence Malaysia needs to embrace academic excellence from primary school to university level and align the national educational policy with the international standards and adopt at the same time the international best practices in education.

Auditor-General’s Report

Source:http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=53512

What are we waiting for?

What is the purpose of publishing the Auditor-General’s Report?

a) To show that at least one government department is doing its job;

b) To satisfy a statutory requirement made by Parliament;

c) To amuse and entertain taxpayers on the antics of some sectors of the civil service;

d) To provide comic relief to some of our depressed taxpayers;

e) To ensure that large volumes of paper ordered by the printer is utilised

f) All of the above.

TODAY’S column is not a quiz show like Who wants to be a Millionaire or Deal or No Deal and there are no cash prizes to be won. In all probability, the answer to the question must be (f). Let it be said that there is no offence or disrespect to the erstwhile auditor-general (AG), Tan Sri Amrin Buang, and his team of dedicated officials who go through government documents meticulously, make their findings and then present them to the people via Parliament.

Like the National Audit Office in England, our AG’s Office’s objectives are:

• To hold government to account for the way it uses public money.
  
• To support, by helping public service managers improve performance.
  
• To safeguard the interests of citizens who as taxpayers are responsible for paying for public services.
  
• To champion the interests of citizens as users of public services.

The AG has never been on a fault-finding exercise. He wants to help the departments and agencies to improve their allocation and control of public money through more robust financial management and increasingly transparent reporting. He wants to help the government make better use of information to achieve improved performance and productivity, as well as to support clearer accountability.

In the course of his duties, he finds irregularities and by including them in the reports, the AG wants tighter controls, accountability and transparency in the spending of taxpayers’ money.

If so, why are we, year-in, year-out, hearing the same old miserable bad news of overspending, misuse of power and money and abuse of the system? Is no one afraid of the AG and his reports? Has the civil service come to a stage where it cares a damn about what the AG has to say? Have department heads come to the conclusion that they are immune from prosecution because they made illegal decisions on the instructions of their political bosses? Does anyone in authority care to read these reports and take appropriate action?

Take the 2004 report of the AG on the Port Klang Authority which was tabled in Parliament the following year. It categorically outlined the financial and procedural flaws. If anyone had taken immediate remedial steps or inquired into the findings, the Port Klang Free Zone would not be in the mess it is now in. But the bitter truth is – no one bothered.

Measuring government performance is vital and the AG tells us if the taxpayer is getting value for money. Besides, he is supposed to let the government departments and agencies learn from experience and improve performance.

But have they learnt? Has anyone been prosecuted for their over-indulgence and putting their hands into the till? What are the authorities waiting for? They are quick to prosecute menial offences but when large sums of money are misused or used without authority, there seems to be some sort of reluctance to do so? Are they going to fall back on the catch-all phrase – "insufficient evidence to prosecute"?

Malaysians have on many occasions been told that "no one is above the law" and that it is perfect. If so, why haven’t the perpetrators of fraud against the people been spared, as if, they are above the law?

Four years ago, I described the AG’s voluminous reports as "catalogues of shame". From paying RM7,000 for a 23-inch TV set to RM80 for a screw driver, they have done it all. And they still walk around and continue signing off as "saya yang menurut perintah" and continue to draw their salaries and perks, while the lesser mortals – the ordinary taxpayers – continue to pay their emoluments although they had committed fraud against the same people who pay their salaries.

The question that has to be answered is: When are we going to take the auditor-general seriously and act against wrongdoers he has named without fear or favour? If we don’t, we’ll be wasting time, effort and money in producing these annual reports.

R. Nadeswaran

International Symposium on Poverty Alleviation, Istanbul, 13-15 Oct 2010 (III)

International Symposium on Poverty Alleviation, Istanbul, 13-15 Oct 2010 (II)