By
William Pesek
Never underestimate the power of delusion. Just ask Muhyiddin Yassin,
the deputy prime minister of an Asian economy that last year almost
beat
Hong Kong as a destination for initial public offerings. The market in question:
Malaysia.
The Southeast Asian nation topped Group of Seven-member Canada in 2012, ending the year as the world's fifth-largest
IPO market.
Not bad, considering Malaysia is Asia's ninth-biggest stock market,
hardly a regional powerhouse. Malaysia was deemed a safe haven from
Europe's debt crisis and a reasonable play on the China growth story.
Yet Malaysian officials shouldn't get ahead of themselves in thinking
their economy has suddenly become a "darling of investors," as
Muhyiddin has said. There's a strong whiff of complacency in his recent
comments about how the government is raising its economic game. If only
it were.
Muhyiddin's boss, Prime Minister
Najib Razak, has talked a great game of reform. But
Malaysia
has yet to tackle the reason so many investors and multinational
companies underweight the place: affirmation-action policies that hold
back its growth and dynamism in the world's most competitive region.
Malaysia is sandwiched between industrial heavyweights Japan, Singapore, South Korea and
Taiwan, and a cast of fast-rising upstarts including China, India,
Indonesia, the
Philippines and
Vietnam. Malaysia needs to act boldly and expeditiously to dismantle productivity-killing quotas that benefit only ethnic Malays.
"It's
losing relevance and refuses to change its politically entrenched
affirmative-action policies to gain back its economic prowess," said
Chrisanne Chin, capital-markets consultant at IABT Research Malaysia.
"The government is only interested in keeping power."
That creates
a counterproductive brain-drain dynamic that encourages many non-Malays
to seek opportunities overseas, especially in
Singapore.
"The brain drain is very real as the government continues its downward
slide into mediocrity and decay," Chin said. "A darling of investors? I
think not."
Muhyiddin and Najib must be careful about believing
their own good press and get to work. Talking about leveling the playing
field in Malaysia isn't the same as doing it. Until that happens, many
executives and investors may take their business elsewhere.
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Malaysian PM caught up in murder, bribery scandal
Lindsay Murdoch
Persistent allegations could harm the ruling party's poll chances.
THE plot has all the trappings of a B-grade movie: the murder of a
glamorous Mongolian socialite amid allegations of high-level bribery,
blackmail, betrayal and political cover-up.
But these are real-life events, and they could set back the
chances of Malaysia's ruling coalition in an election that Prime
Minister Najib Razak must call by midyear.
Mr Najib denies involvement but the allegations will not go
away. The internet in Malaysia is running hot with allegations by a
disaffected businessman, Deepak Jaikishan, who is well connected in the
ruling United Malays National Organisation.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Photo: AFP
They relate in part to the alleged cover-up of the murder of
28-year-old Mongolian fashion model and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu
in a patch of jungle in the Kuala Lumpur suburbs in 2006.
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The second part of the controversy is driven by an inquiry
in France into a complex money trail left by Malaysia's $US2 billion
purchase of two French-Spanish built Scorpene submarines in 2002 while
Mr Najib was defence minister.
Ms Shaariibuu worked as a translator in the latter stages of the deal negotiations.
Businessman Abdul Razak Baginda, one of the PM's best friends and a policy adviser, was Ms Shaariibuu's lover.
Photo: Reuters
The link between the two events is a Ferrari-driving
businessman, Abdul Razak Baginda, one of Mr Najib's best friends and
policy advisers, who was the director of the Malaysian Strategic
Research Centre.
Mr Najib, who is preparing to contest his first election
since being installed in power by his party in 2009, denies ever meeting
Ms Shaariibuu or having any link with her. The government denies any
wrongdoing in the submarine purchases.
But it was two of Mr Najib's bodyguards who dragged Ms
Shaariibuu from a car, knocked her unconscious and shot her twice in the
head on October 19, 2006, according to court testimony. She had begged
for her life and apparently that of her unborn child.
The killers then wrapped her body in C4 plastic explosives
obtained from the military and blew her up, ensuring the foetus was
destroyed along with the identity of the father. For good measure, they
erased her entry into Malaysia from immigration records.
The Scorpene submarine story has been tumbling out since 2002 when Mr Najib ordered them from French ship builder DCNS.
Two French investigating magistrates are looking into
so-called ''commission'' payments of about $US160 million into
companies reportedly set up by Mr Baginda. Documents have been seized
from the DCNS offices in Paris.
Ms Shaariibuu, who spoke several languages, became Mr
Baginda's lover after they had met in Hong Kong. Stunningly beautiful,
she had been married to a popular Mongolian singer and to the son of a
famous Mongolian fashion designer.
Ms Shaariibuu admitted in a letter found after her murder
that she had been blackmailing Mr Baginda, who had jilted her after they
had travelled through Asia and Europe together.
She reportedly had wanted a $US500,000 cut to remain silent about her knowledge of the deal.
Ms Shaariibuu was abducted outside Mr Baginda's house, where
she was said to be causing a scene. Her murder was eventually uncovered
following continued pressure from her well-connected family and the
Mongolian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
The two bodyguards were convicted of murder in 2009 but have
claimed they are scapegoats and are appealing against death sentences.
Pleading with a court not to execute him in February 2009, Sirul Azhar
Umar described himself as a ''black sheep that has to be sacrificed'' to
protect unnamed people.
''I have no reason to cause hurt, what's more to take the life of the victim in such a cruel manner,'' he said.
''I appeal to the court, which has the powers to determine if
I live or die, not to sentence me so as to fulfil others' plans for
me.''
A judge sensationally dropped an abetting a murder charge
against Mr Baginda in 2008 before any evidence was heard and he is
believed to be living in exile in Britain with his family.
Among several claims made by Mr Deepak - a carpet dealer -
to opposition and independent websites are that he interceded to have a
private detective change his 2008 sworn declaration that Mr Najib
had had a sexual relationship with Ms Shaariibuu. The Prime Minister
has repeatedly denied any relationship with Ms Shaariibuu, calling it a
''terrible lie''.
Often sensational claims and counter claims in the case have
been barely reported in Malaysia's government-controlled mainstream
media.
The Malaysian human rights non-government organisation
SUARAM, whose approach to a magistrate in Paris in 2010 prompted the
French investigation, has complained of official harassment.
But the claims are hot issues on opposition and independent websites, led by the Hong Kong-based
Asia Sentinel
online magazine, which published confidential files on the case last
year and whose editor, John Berthelsen, has doggedly pursued the story
for years.
Malaysia, with a population of 28 million, has an internet
penetration of more than 62 per cent, one of the highest in south-east
Asia.
Some commentators in Kuala Lumpur, including Wong Choon Mei writing in the
Malaysia Chronicle,
have speculated that 59-year-old Mr Najib could be forced from office
before he gets to call the election. Jittery powerbrokers in UMNO fear
that if he remains head of the coalition, they may lose to the
opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
There is infighting in UMNO, which has shared power in the
country for more than 50 years, as the latest opinion polls show Mr
Najib's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level in 16 months.
Wong wrote in the
Chronicle on January 7 that UMNO
watchers believed former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had decided to
throw his weight behind Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, and
effect an 11th-hour change in leadership, although many have cautioned
that such a move could boomerang and create even greater infighting.
But Mr Najib, the son of Malaysia's second prime minister,
has emerged unscathed by the prosecution of his bodyguards and is
publicly ignoring the French inquiry and Mr Deepak's claims as he
presents himself as a reformist, abolishing several restrictive laws and
implementing a program to bolster unity among ethnic groups.
Malaysia's economy has fared well and the country is
considered by the Work Bank to be an attractive place to do business. On
January 8, Mr Najib denied rumours he had suffered a minor stroke due
to the pressure of the allegations by Mr Deepak, saying he is healthy.
''So don't listen to the blogs, please,'' he said.
Analysts say the election will be the strongest ever
challenge to UMNO's rule. Mr Najib has called the coming election ''a
defining point for the destiny of the people and country''.
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The one and only way of getting people to listen to Najib's speech. And this time it is the Indians from plantation. Free transport to collect free provisions. This is how Najib thinks of the Indians in Malaysia.
Tunku Aziz, you may be educated and experience in your field but definitely you are blinded and inhumane to our feeling of being robbed, cheated, deprived, neglected and divided by Barisan Nasional since the era of Mahathir Kutty, Pak Lah and today Najib.
As for Chandra, there is no word to describe a pariah.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/tunku-aziz-saturday-rally-betrayal-of-public-trust-mockery-of-democracy/