gdp's Comments

The Malaysian Insider : Main - Malaysia - Minister denies renting crowd for Putrajaya youth rally @ Mon Jun 11 2012

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:36:34 +0000

This link describes exactly how the government "hires" crowds: http://zewt.blogspot.com/2012/04/free-trip-story.... They just offer free trips to people and take them to these events. Ahmad Shabery only said they did not pay money. But they don't have to pay money. Just give people free food and free bus ride. No cash exchanged hands. So they can all wash their hands clean.

The Malaysian Insider : Main - Malaysia - Under fire, Liow surrenders ‘WWW 15’ @ Mon Jun 11 2012

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:31:54 +0000

Even Sultan has to pay for number plate. Why all ministers are eligible for free plates?

The Malaysian Insider : Main - Sports - Fans left fuming as men’s final spills into Monday @ Mon Jun 11 2012

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 02:39:28 +0000

Next time... just build a roof over the stadium...

The Malaysian Insider : Main - Malaysia - Dr M says does not fear old scandals being probed @ Mon Jun 04 2012

Tue, 5 Jun 2012 09:57:09 +0000

Aiyo, the reason is simple. If you dig out all the scandals and lay them down one by one, the court case will take centuries. He will probably croak by then. So why be afraid??

The Malaysian Insider : Mobile - Malaysia - Minimum wage will cause unemployment, inflation, say employers, economists @ Thu

Thu, 3 May 2012 02:31:50 +0000

You are reading the comments out of context. Yes, minimum wages are necessary, but it should not be the first and only step. The labour market in Malaysia is in dire need of overhaul. The countries that have implemented minimum wages successfully have corresponding productivity increases to match the increase in wages. Malaysia does not necessarily have this because some people refuse to work hard and choose to rely on their "entitlements" and "subsidies". These issues must be addressed along with the minimum wage and not dealt with separately. What the government is doing is very short-sighted thinking and can only be seen as "vote-fishing". On its own, a minimum wage is most definitely a populist move. But this should be accompanied by a productivity movement, campaigning for people to work hard and improve their productivity. Talent is still not being rewarded by merit. Women are still staying out of the labour force. Our able-bodied youth are still being coddled and kept out of the work force. These are things that must be addressed as well to make the labour reforms comprehensive and useful. Actually, what was reported was that a minimum wage can "create inflationary effects" not CAUSE HIGHER INFLATION. Those are two very different things. One is creating the pressure to push prices higher. But in my opinion, this should probably be one-off as companies adjust prices to cater for higher costs of labour. A one-off price adjustment is by no means considered "higher inflation". It is akin to implementing GST. You will not call that higher inflation. In order to CAUSE higher inflation, it must lead to a sustained price level increase across a broad category over time. This is unlikely to happen under a minimum wage scenario.

The Malaysian Insider : Main - Business - Growth despite decline in oil shows economic resilience says Idris @ Tue Feb 28 20

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:08:30 +0000

I am sorry to say that Idris Jala is only presenting half of the statistics. Maybe even less than that. If you look at the GDP data provided by the Department of Statistics, you will also see that government final consumption expenditure has surged by 21.7% and 23.6% in 3Q and 4Q 2011 respectively. If you convert this into contribution to GDP growth, these 2 components have contributed 2.6 and 4.1 percentage points in 3Q and 4Q 2011 compared with the average of 0.7 percentage points before that. So to do a similar comparison with that done by our "smart" Pemandu CEO, instead of adding the "oil production" on top of our GDP, let us try removing the artificial propping up of the economy by the government and see where we stand. Using the average contribution as the baseline case, Malaysia's GDP growth in 3Q and 4Q 2011 would have been ONLY 3.9% and 1.8%!!! This would have resulted in an overall GDP growth in 2011 of a "massive" 3.8%!!!! So Idris Jala, please do not use distorted statistics to make your arguments. The only reason Malaysia is still doing well is that the government is propping up the economy. This means that, when you talk about the other sectors "doing well", they are only doing well because the government is supporting them.

The Malaysian Insider : Mobile - Opinion - Azrul Mohd Khalib - Wanted: Common sense officer @ Wed Nov 02 2011

Wed, 2 Nov 2011 05:15:48 +0000

You are being way too kind to them. Do you not think that they would know if the prices that they were paying were far beyond exorbitant? You have stopped short of describing the actual picture. The plain and simple fact of the matter is overbilling and rent-seeking. The billed amount does not reflect the actual amount of cash that changed hands. It is far more likely that the excess between the market price and the billed price is shared between the buyer and the seller. First of all, the AG or the MACC must be given prosecuting power. Otherwise, they are just another toothless agency. This is akin to the ICAC of Hong Kong. Secondly, the recommendations of the AG are all wrong. They recommend the same thing year in and year out and nothing ever happens. My recommendation is easy. The person who signs the contract MUST be held responsible for all accounts of overbilling, unless that person can prove that someone else did it. This ensures the transparency in multi-stages. First, the signatory has to do his/her own research to ensure that overbilling does not occur. Secondly, the signatory will not be in co-hoods with the actual perpetrators. Thirdly, the signatory (usually the director etc) will hire people he can trust to do the work without implicating him. In short, just make the head responsible for all the lackeys. He would then have no choice but to ensure his lackeys do their jobs. Right now, everything is "close one eye". In Singapore, ANY form of involvement with regard to bribery or rent-seeking is punishable by being blacklisted from the civil service and forfeiture of pension entirely. That is how serious they take corruption. What about Malaysia? In the event we can prove any wrongdoing, the worst case scenario for the perpetrator is that, he/she is transferred to another department. This is an outrage!

The Malaysian Insider : Main - Business - Food prices push September inflation rate up @ Mon Oct 24 2011

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:17:48 +0000

It is actually more than double. And this is not just in one year. If you compare the world CPI against Malaysia's CPI, from 1970 onwards, the prices of consumer goods around the world have risen more than 8 times compared with Malaysia. All this has gone into subsidies and whatnot.

The Malaysian Insider : Ex-PKA GM: ‘I don’t understand bonds’ - The Malaysian Insider

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:33:11 +0000

This is going to be another black comedy in the making. The best part is, the Malaysian people are paying for this movie production through taxes and corruption. He says he doesn't know. She says she doesn't know. So in the end, who knows? Claiming ignorance does not absolve you from wrongdoing. If I see a red light and I drive through it and say that I didn't know red light means stop, will I still be breaking the law? I think if you don't know, it makes things even worse. If you don't know and you asked only one person, that shows how negligent you are. Nowadays, if you don't know anything, just GOOGLE la!!

The Malaysian Insider : Najib wants telcos to swallow prepaid service tax - The Malaysian Insider

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:43:43 +0000

Najib, did you ever study economics? This is the nature of oligopolies. Price collusion is only avoidable through regulation. You can pretend to side with the people in appealing to the telco's to not impose taxes on the people, but remember that you are the one who raised the service tax from 5% to 6%. Even if the telco's agree to swallow the tax, they can easily just re-price their packages by colluding to increase the price by exactly 6%, but then charge no taxes, and charge it to inflation. After all, our teh tarik has been increasing in price as well. So why not prepaid cards? There is nothing unfair about the service tax. It is a proportional tax where people who consume more are taxed more (in absolute terms). For those who reload once every 3 months or so, the effect of the tax is negligible. So don't pretend to side with the people. Simpletons like us understand why taxes have to be imposed. What we cannot understand is, how the taxes are being used to fund corruption and rent-seeking. That is quite simply unacceptable and is an outrage.

The Malaysian Insider : Pakatan dares BN to end race formula - The Malaysian Insider

Wed, 7 Sep 2011 09:54:49 +0000

Once again, BN needs Tony Pua to explain to them what is obviously common sense. Holding the Chinese community hostage by threatening to reject all posts will get MCA nowhere. The season for fear-based politics is over. The people have shown it in Bersih 2.0, and will show it again at the next GE. You simply cannot blackmail the people into voting for you by threatening to deny them their rights (right to representation, right to free speech etc). Even saying that sounds oxymoronic. Out of the many politicians around, Tony Pua has made the most sense to me. I sincerely hope that his role as a politician will continue to expand, as he has the ability to change the country for the better, simply with common sense and great ideas.

The Malaysian Insider : Prasarana reserves ‘at least’ 30pc of MRT for Bumi contractors - The Malaysian Insider

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:45:33 +0000

This is like taking one step forward and 2 steps back. The Bumi agenda is shooting Najib in the foot.. again. The focus of the country especially in bad times like these is to produce the most output with the least amount of input (maximum efficiency). If top quality contractors are not allowed to do these projects, who is going to be responsible for the safety and what happens if accidents like the ones in the high-speed trains in China occurs? How else are we going to get the best quality for money? Once a poor quality MRT is in place, the costs will snowball as maintenance and repairs will go on forever. This will not go away unless the whole line is replaced and that will double the costs. It pays to do this right the first time around. Please don't disappoint the rakyat again.

The Malaysian Insider : Prasarana reserves ‘at least’ 30pc of MRT for Bumi contractors - The Malaysian Insider

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:00:20 +0000

This is like taking one step forward and two steps back. Najib has allowed the vested interests to shoot him in the foot again. All the businessmen are like piranhas. They are all out to make money for themselves. Which one among them have come up to say that they will build the best MRT there is? What about safety issues? If we allow RM2 companies to build these MRTs, who is going to be responsible when there are safety violations and worse, accidents like the high-speed train in China? Let the most competent do the work for the sake of the rakyat!

The Malaysian Insider : The Malaysian Insider

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:57:15 +0000

Mata is going to be so sick... Look forward to it in the EPL. It is unfortunate that he is joining Chelsea. I think he is a better fit for Arsenal's playing style.

The Malaysian Insider : The Malaysian Insider

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:32:00 +0000

"He noted that the problem was not just that Bumiputera firms were not as competitive, but that there were not enough of them. As such, there was a need “for a level playing field” without which the racial gap in the economy would continue to grow." How does the number of participants from a particular race relate to "level playing field"? His logic is flawed. Totally trying to hoodwink the people again. By simply increasing the number of RM2 companies is not going to solve the problem of competitiveness or equity. It will just burden the country through further subsidies and rent-seeking. If the Bumiputera community comprises 80% of the lower 40% in terms of income, by helping the lower 40% in terms of income will essentially help the poorest 32% of all Bumiputeras. That is even more than the 30% equity participation that the government is trying to achieve. Giving a few people a large share of equity does not solve the inequality problem. Giving 10 people 30% share of equity does not meet the objective of affirmative action. As the "Brain Drain" report from the World Bank reported, the income inequality has widened AFTER controlling for race. This means that even among Bumiputera's, the income inequality has widened, and this is courtesy of the "affirmative action" that Teraju is trying to achieve.

The Malaysian Insider : Tsu Koon claims sowed seeds of Guan Eng’s gains - The Malaysian Insider

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:16:37 +0000

Penang went into a slump after Lim Chong Eu was kicked out of politics. I don't see any semblance of contribution by Koh Tsu Koon in Penang. The biggest reminder of Koh Tsu Koon's contribution is that ugly roundabout in Gelugor that has flowers that look like giant male genitalia. Guan Eng's contributions are recoginized on a global scale via the Transparency International report. The improvement in the corruption situation is why investments return to Penang. All I see from Tsu Koon is sour grapes.

The Malaysian Insider : Post

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:05:48 +0000

Everyone already knows that there strict meritocracy leads to inequality. The key issue here is needs-based affirmative action vs race-based affirmative action. How do you justify that, Najib? How do you explain to those who need the assistance? You can't hoodwink the people anymore. In addition, the goal is to provide equal opportunities. Level the playing ground, not grant rewards to a select few. They are totally different things.

The Malaysian Insider : Oil falls to US$81 on weak US economic data - The Malaysian Insider

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:28:15 +0000

Nothing to reduce. If anything, the pressure is on the removal of subsidies for RON95. How many people actually use RON97? Keeping subsidies on petrol prices is unsustainable in the long run and is very much akin to vote-buying. If you can be happy simply with lower fuel prices, it means they have succeeded.