Accordingly, his office issued a statement that it is due to the current global economic situation which requires his attention to ensure the country's economy stays strong. How strong is strong? How weak is weak? What's the current health of our economy.
It was reported that RM125 Billion had taken flight out of the country. What? Wow! Don't pray pray ah, I tell you. That's what Phua Chu Kang would say.
We are equally concerned about this flight of funds. We had witnessed how such situation could wreak havoc on an economy ten years ago that was dubbed 'The Asian Financial Crisis'. But the current phenomenon is only limited to Malaysia and it is doubtful that it will spread to regional countries.
Concerned, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development World Investment Report 2008 said that FDI outflow in Malaysia surpassed inflow by RM8.99 Billion in 2007.
FDI outflow? This is almost never unheard of until recently. A scary scene, Malaysia is the odd one out within the 10-member Asean trading bloc! Economist Dr Lim Teck Ghee told Malaysiakini that 'this could perhaps be a sign of a prolonge lack of confidence in the government and its economic policies'.
Hear that? A sign of lack of confidence. So while Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat is trying to get this flip-flopping lame duck Prime Minister to convene an emergency Parliament session so that the vote of no-confidence could be tabled, foreigners are already casting their votes!
The latest news, Transparency International today called on this UMNO government to free all ISA detainees or risk further foreign investments. Whatever happened to Justice Bao that was promoted to the rakyat back in 2004? MCA sold this flip-flopping lame duck Prime Minister to the electorate and the people at large that Badawi, dubbed Mr Clean, as Justice Bao.
A lot of people were taken in in the 2004 General Elections, including the famous blogger now turned MP, Jeff Ooi who voted for BN. Yes, how easily the rakyat were duped into believing such a corny idea.
Immediately after Badawi was announced and appointed as a DPM, he came to my hometown, Muar. It couldn't have been an official visit as he visited his buddy at his private home. Some leeches who are friends of his buddy took advantage of the situation and managed to get some close up shots of them together.
The picture made its way to a Chinese Daily. Yes, framed up, hanging on the wall, it makes a statement of whoever is in the picture pictured with this flip-flopping lame duck Prime Minister. That also made me recall how another businessman whom I went to Indonesia with during the height of the Asian Financial Crisis ten years ago. He had in his folder a picture of him with the then President Suharto. A picture is a statement, more powerful than the status of a Datuk!
Shortly after, this buddy of his met with an accident along the Plus highway and was warded at Pantai Hospital. Yep, Badawi took time off to pay him a personal visit. This ain't any secret to the people in this sleepy hollow.
People began to speculate how this buddy of his will reap benefits out of the 'strange relationship between politics and business'. Oh pardon me, in Malaysia, there's no such word as 'strange' when it comes to politics and business. If Jeff Ooi were to be reading this part, I'm sure he'd recall that these were the similar comments I left in his blog.
Anyway, somewhere along the way, calls were made to remove chicken from the list of controlled items. That was in March 2008. Three months later in June, Badawi's administration removed chicken from the list of controlled items. The RM6.00 per kg ceiling was abolished!
I wasn't blogging then but on the same news article, it gives us a perfect view of the mentality that our Ministers are made of. We have had enough laughters from Syed Botak's infamous ISA jokes but that one was from Shahrir!
"Since the country produces more chicken than it needs, it would no longer be SUBSIDISED"!
"The poultry industry has always operated on a commercial basis and that the ceiling price regime was unfairly imposed on producers in the ABSENCE OF SUBSIDIES from the Government".
The above statements, one was uttered by Shahrir while another was by Kwei Yew Tong, FLFAM's broiler unit chairman. I'm sure any one of you can pick out who said what.
Anyway, this sparks the spiralling cost of living as chicken is considered the cheapest meat that is consumed across the races. This was one of the factors that led to inflation so much so that we've hit record high of 8.5%, a first in 27 years. Meanwhile, The Star carries a news flash that Leong Hup sales will surpass the RM1 Billion mark in FY2009.
The rakyat suffers. Who gains? As in the case of the so-called fuel subsidy, read again what I posted earlier and you would again realise that a weak Ringgit benefits the government in terms of OIL profits while the rakyat is forced to fork out more to travel from point A to point B. I'm not just talking about vehicle owners but those who take public transportations too. Many things could've been avoided to lessen the burden of the rakyat but this strange kanasai government which practises rent is the reason why the rakyat are made to suffer.
Gajah same gajah lawan, pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah. That about sums up what's happening to this country that has gone to the dogs today.
Day after day, we are kept on our toes to know what's going on and to know what's happening and how this nation is moving ahead. The picture is cloudy, very very cloudy indeed. As a matter of fact, now that Anwar Ibrahim has dismisses 'deadline' for taking over as the government of the day, it is Najib's turn to keep us in suspense as he ain't answering any questions. His only commitments are that 'political questions will only be answered tomorrow' after the UMNO's supreme council emergency meeting tomorrow.
To the rakyat, they are already burdened with this spiralling high cost of living and they work hard to make ends meet. Some even wonder if they can afford to put a decent meal on the table to feed mouths.
As Hari Raya approaches, I see a lack of pelita brightening up the night. To some Muslims, this could be the bleakest Hari Raya celebrations they ever celebrated. And while they try to put up the best, UMNO neglects them.
What exactly does the future hold for everybody? Will Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat work harder and faster to butt-out this UMNO government and bring back the spark of life to the people?
To the Muslims, I wish you 'Selamat Berpuasa'.
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