Budget 2011 : Malaysia towards a failed state and bankrupt nation 2019
Lim Kit Siang
In the nine years from 1995 to 2003, Tun Dr. Mahathir as Prime Minister saw Malaysia’s TI CPI score stuck in the narrow groove between 4.8 in 2000 to 5.32 in 1996 while the CPI ranking fell 14 places from No. 23 in 1995 to No. 37 in 2003.
2011 Budget not a child of New Economic Model but bears all the marks of old discredited Mahathirish policies (Part 1 of 5)
On Monday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
It was also the start of a week which saw the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) suffering a triple blow.
The first blow was Monday’s tabling in Parliament of the 2009 Auditor-General’s Reports which continues to be annual tale of horrors of waste, mismanagement, misuse of public funds and corruption – as highlighted by headlines like:
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Federal government debt hits five-year high;
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KTMB mired in RM1.45 billion debt;
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Only 18.2% of pupils bring free eBooks to school;
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Stimulus funds used for chandeliers, home theatre, government audit shows;
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PTPTN to face whopping RM46 bil deficit;
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PTPTN okayed RM23 mil to students who didn’t apply;
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Million-ringgit scanner stuck in KLIA, under-utilisation woes;
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‘Sandwich kosong’ for school kids, sardines missing.
The Auditor-General’s Reports, which were completed in June/July this year, were deliberately held back when they should have been tabled on the first day of the budget meeting of Parliament on Oct. 11, clearly to avoid the “annual horror stories” from stealing the thunder from Najib’s 2011 Budget speech on Oct. 15 and his Umno Presidential Address on Oct. 21 – testimony that the Barisan Nasional government is not fully serious and committed to GTP and even Najib’s “People First Performance First” mantra.
The second blow was yesterday when the 2010 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was released – highlighting the failure of the key National Key Results Area (NKRA) in fighting corruption which targeted to increase the CPI score from the new low of 4.5 in 2009 to 4.9 by 2010. In actual fact, Malaysia’s CPI score in 2010 sunk to the lowest in 16 years.
In the nine years from 1995 to 2003, Tun Dr. Mahathir as Prime Minister saw Malaysia’s TI CPI score stuck in the narrow groove between 4.8 in 2000 to 5.32 in 1996 while the CPI ranking fell 14 places from No. 23 in 1995 to No. 37 in 2003.
In the five-year premiership of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s TI CPI ranking fell 10 places from 37 in 2003 to 47 placing in 2008, while CPI score stuck between 5.0 to 5.1.
In his 18 months as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak presided over the worst single-year plunge in TI CPI ranking and score, i.e. a nine-placing fall from No. 47 in 2008 to No. 56 in 2009, with the score plunging to the lowest ever of 4.5 last year. For 2010, Malaysia’s ranking is still at the worst spot of No. 56 hile the CPI score fell further to 4.4
Abdullah’s National Integrity Plan, launched in 2004 with the five-year target to improve Malaysia’s TI CPI from 37th place in 2003 to at least 30th position in 2008 and the 5.2 CPI score for Malaysia in 2003 to at least 6.5 by 2008 was an utter failure but Najib’s 18 months have seen both Malaysia’s TI CPI rank and score plumbed to new depths despite all the fanfare and hulaballoo of GTP, NKRAs and national transformation.
The third blow to Najib’s GTP is today’s release of 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index ranking Malaysia 43rd out of 110 countries, behind Singapore – 17, Japan – 18, Hong Kong – 20, Taiwan – 22, South Korea – 27 though ahead of Thailand – 52, China – 58, Vietnam – 61, Philippines – 64 and Indonesia – 70.
The Legatum Prosperity Index sub-index on “safety and security” ranking Malaysia as No. 52 out of 110 warrants serious attention as it impacts on our international competitiveness as well as another NKRA on keeping crime low.
Based on this sub-index, the publication The Diplomat recently published a photo essay on “The Safest Places in the Asia-Pacific”. The ten safest nations named are firstly Singapore followed by New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam and Kazakhstan.
The exclusion of Malaysia from this list is a national shame. What has the Prime Minister and the Home Minister got to say?
