The Idris Jala Show

 

I am tired of this overused excuse by anyone telling everyone that Idris Jala is not a politician. So? That caveat is supposed to confer on Idris Jala some sort of extraordinary quality that sets him apart from the thieving politicians? Or worse, to provide Idris Jala an immunity for his next faux pas?

My blood pressure goes up a few notches when I can already see some sycophantic writers and bloggers sing like drunk canaries waxing lyrical over the latest government initiatives in perking up the economy. Something like Johan Jaafar, who is now somewhere up in Media Prima, years ago who looked at Anwar's speeches and rendering of the Budget as something revolutionary. So too, people will see the current PM, in terms of dishing out projects greater and grander than previous PMs, will be regarded as most revolutionary.

Some people do indeed get wet dreams watching PowerPoint presentations. But then, maybe I shouldn't be too harsh over the many guests at the Idrs Jala show. I guess many of them are government civil servants and I pity them, if Idris Jala and his other co presenters spoke in English. I hope no one asks for a glass of cock, I mean coke.

But these are the people( civil servants and wage earners) who, in the scheme of Jala's things, are the vanguard to turbo drive our economy to trillion level GNI and thus make us have a per capita income of USD 15,000. Hurrah!.

What do we see as the driving catalysts for our economic transformation? A huge casino in Sabah. Maybe that's because there so many rich people in Sabah. Then, mostly real estate projects- new KL city, Sungai Besi land, MRT etc. these will be cash cows for the private sector. The oil and gas industry, biotechnology etc.

Maybe I have been an outsider in the economics profession for so long so as not to appreciate that investments in real estate are the driving force of the economy. Maybe I am old school still believing that the driver for economic growth will be our productive capacity, our competitiveness, our competencies and hard work.

But Idris Jala and his co drivers have succeeded in enthralling the PM and his economics-challenged leaders with grandiose plans involving billion Ringgit MRT, beautifying the KL city, cleaning up the river, constructing a bullet train linking Guan Eng's Country, through Putrajaya to Kuan Yew's Singapore. It's all the property bubble baby which sooner or later will burst.

Of course the businessmen in attendance are already salivating when its stated that private sector will provide the impetus. Heck, I too can do all the highways and MRT's if I am given soft loan from the EPF. See the road in front of Mid Valley? It's all EPF's money.

Just you wait, apply some pressure and I am sure, the PM says, all these are still at laboratory stage affirming the moniker of the PM that is fast gaining popularity- Najib TPM, Najib Tak Pernah MUktamad.

Don't care if you are or are not a politician. That does not excuse anyone from suffocating us with stupidity and banalities.

I thought sometime ago, this was the same fellow who warned Malaysians if they don't buck up, this country will go bankrupt. How will it go bankrupt? If we carry on spending like nobody's business such as spending indiscriminately on welfare and subsidies and so forth. In short it means any spending on unproductive enterprise or spending on welfare beneficiaries is leading this country to bankruptcy.

Now, if we go along this line of argument, accepting it as general rule that the biggest recipient of benefits in our country are the Malays, then the policies that could bring down this country, are the NEPish policies. Might as well if Jala had said, that our country will be bankrupt if we follow Malay centric affirmative policies. We must spend wisely only on productive and competitive agents.

Why can't Najib go to the people to say, look we can't operate on current policies. If we do, we will become this and this. We want to implement new economics. This is what people must do and Malays must do. We keep a look out for the poor and the infirmed and less endowed. The way out is for Malays to become more competent, more productive. We will help out these economic agents. Malays have nothing to fear. We are still the majority in this country. we have our constitution and we have our historical validation. Give something back to the Malays who feel far too much  has been taken from them.

The problem as I have said in many articles, Najib hasn't communicated well to the masses. He has only spoken to the banquet RSVP  room crowd  full of smoked salmon socialites.

Can the slew of high profile projects, be the answer in raising our competitiveness and productivity? Spending on unproductive enterprise yield no return and represent leakages to the economy . But equally so is reckless spending, spending not based on fundamentals.

Everyone is euphoric over the announcement of the same minister now. we are now suffocated with all sorts of grandiose ideas that- wait a second, not call for prudent and disciplined spending, but spending without a care in the world. Where is the money coming from?

We are inundated with all sort of ideas coming out from labs. How does it all fit together? As it stands, there is now the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP), the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the National Key Result Areas (NKRAs), the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs),  the New Economic Model (NEM), and the Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs), leading to concerns that the various initiatives risk becoming a confusing rojak of acronyms.

Are we addressing the quality and needs based educational requirements? Is our education system ready to supply the 3.3 million competent and knowledgeable workers to fill the jobs that have been PROJECTED to be created by the EPPs and BOs?

Maybe Perkasa should look into this. The core element of the NEM and the ETP is to make the private sector the main driving force of the economy. Funds of USD444 billion will be required for the EPPs and BOs, 92 per cent of which is targeted to come from the private sector including GLCs. Do the GLCs have the money and will the Private sector be enticed to spend?

They will I think if cheap funds are available. Right now the cheapest and easiest source of soft loans is the EPF. That's our money. So, we tell Jala, just as spending on the things he mentioned can bankrupt this country, reckless application of OUR money can also do the job even more devastatingly.