The economic Transformation Plan is a radical agenda. The problem is, it wasn't delivered by the PM- the main driver. What is meant to become an energising agenda, turned out to be dull and average. Those familiar with freshmen's presentations will see similarities. It's just a cum laude delivery.
Over the next 10 years we will be spending 1.44 trillion. 60% will come from the private sector in the form of private investments. 40% from the government. Indirectly through the GLCs(32%) and directly from the government(8%). We need to spend this amount to get to a targeted income of 1.77 trillion. By which time, our income per capita is expected to be in the region of USD15-20 thousand.
The key word here is we are going to spend. The people who wrote the ETP didn't say anything about targeting for a balanced budget. Because we have been fed with this idea that budget deficits are ok if money is used for development purposes. But where are the development projects that we can say and judge as being for national interests? We fear that deficit budgets are fast becoming justification for awarding public money for private interests.
budget deficits can also be symptoms of financial imprudence and financial indiscipline. Public money is being spent by the government of the day. No one spends our money better than we ourselves can. The missing link is, even though it's OUR money, we don't have a say about how we are going to spend it.
Here is what I think. When the PM came into office he declared that the era of government knows best is over. I thought that meant the era of a bossing around government, of government crowding out entrepreneurship is over. Yet we haven't seen flesh put onto the bones. Big government is resurfacing in the form of partnership with the big market players.
Look carefully at the various EPPs and BOs- you will come away thinking these are plans culled from business plans by the very companies mentioned. These are plans by big companies who have been identified and writings about business projects already spoken for.
In other words, what the PM declared has turned out to be largely untrue. The ETP and all the other acronyms are political gadgetry signalling the coming of an era of even bigger government.
At this point in time, we seem to can't do anything. The government will de-sensitise itself and will mute itself against criticisms. It will just carry on. The rapaciousness by which corporate players swooped in to grab the spoils is astonishing. The MMC group for example, headed by Syed Mokhtar Bukhari who has his fingers in almost every business in Malaysia is another example to show what the ETP actually is. It's a license for big corporate players to raid our country. it brings new meaning to the term rapaciousness. From now on we will syed bukhari the economy or we will Gamuda the economy. We will YTL the economy, we will Berjaya the economy, we will MRCB the economy. We may even later privatise the whole business of government. This is the meaning of making the private sector as engine for our ETP.
How can we the rakyat do anything about it? I was listening to the speech given by David Cameron at the Conservative Party Convention the other day. I am sure many others did too. One passage in the speech that caught my attention was this:-
The state of our nation is not just determined by the government and those who run it. It is determined by millions of individual actions – by what each of us do and what we choose not to do.
In my opinion, the present predicament that we face is the result of what many of us choose NOT to do. We have not kicked out or we have not given the PM the reason to kick out the purveyors of the idea of bigger government. We have not expressed our disgust directly to the leader of this country that this country is on the verge of mismanagement. We have not expressed our disgust and anger that this country is not a private company run at will and as they please by profiteers and privateers.
In another remarkable passage, David Cameron said:-
citizenship isn't a transaction in which you put your taxes in and get your services out. It's a relationship – you're part of something bigger than you, and it matters what you think and feel and do. So to get out of the mess we're in, changing the government is not enough. We need to change the way we think about ourselves, and our role in society.
Sak,
ReplyDeleteI am not being negative OK. But all these economic planning, at the end of the day, as can be generally expected, "indah khabar dari rupa". Yang "dekat" kpd mereka akan bertambah kaya, si miskin yg tinggal "jauh", kekal miskin begitu lah.
Yup, I know, any governing party will have to come up with something. Although am apolitical, if there is tsunami in the next GE, all of these will be scrapped; only the consultants will laugh away to the banks.
Sak, any updates on the previous "corridor, corridor" thingy. Bungkus atau jalan atau assimilated into the current acronyms? Please update us.
Many TKS Sak.
"The state of our nation is not just determined by the government and those who run it. It is determined by millions of individual actions – by what each of us do and what we choose not to do.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the present predicament that we face is the result of what many of us choose NOT to do."
Well said Dato, yes, quite many of us has awoken. Thanks to RPK and bloggers like you, the people has indeed acted earlier by sacking PL.
Najib has lost one battle against Perkasa and he cannot afford another. My NKRA for najib is how fast he can get rid of these Liberals before the people get rid of him.
Najib needs to buck up or he will suffer the same fate.
PEOPLE, THE BOSS.
/// We have not expressed our disgust directly to the leader of this country that this country is on the verge of mismanagement. ///
ReplyDeleteOn the verge? That is very kind and the understatement of the year.
Yes, what happened to the corridors, Idris Jala --- yoor government dont want to own it now? Its also project for 2020. Its not incleded in your new ETP... if we add them the your numbers would be bigger , we can have a higher income. Or the corridors already jammed, because its made in China.
ReplyDeletePUTRAJAYA, Oct 7 – The government will establish an information and communications technology (ICT) “finishing school” to train 25,000 knowledge workers needed to take the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) to its third phase of development starting next year.
ReplyDeleteName any other country who have a similar type of programme?To a simpleton like me,my conclusions are ;
1.The education system is a failure because it produces graduates not good enough for the industry.
2.The industry is spoon fed i.e the government is expected to train their employee thus saving on their HR cost.In the old days,industries provide training,,classroom n hands on as part of their HRD policy.
3.The constraint on DDI/FDI is due to lack of human resources.Once this log jam is resolved ,investments will surge.As this initiative is focussed on ICT,expect similar schemes for other industries;possibly encompassing 700,000 graduates.
4.Some one will be making big money on building infra n supplying computers.
Thank you Malaysia
Help US pls..BigCo on the prowl
ReplyDeleteFrom the STAR today >
RHB Research said while theoretically open bidding should ensure the best value for money, it suspected that “urgency” might take precedence in the case of this MRT project.
“We equate the MRT project to the backbone of the Greater KL National Key Economic Area (NKEA) under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
“Thus, we are unsure if the Government can afford to spend a few extra months to evaluate an alternative proposal,” it said in a report yesterday.
Nevertheless, RHB Research believed that most, if not all, related players would benefit from the MRT project given the sheer size of the project, as long as it got off the ground.
“In any case, the Gamuda-MMC JV already said that it only intends to keep the tunneling works that make up about 30% of total project value with the remaining 70% to be awarded out to other players on a competitive basis,” it said.
Takes YEARS to do feasibility,routing and plan for MRT projects.Its essential to have holistic cost/benefit reviews and comparisons incl with other public transportation modes.
ReplyDeleteBut in Msia its only 3 months in the labs and the project is green lighted.And the pressure is on the govt to DELIVER.
We have not maximised the existing "heavily subsidized" networks and yet we are rushing headlong into another big ticket,bet our future investments.Is buzzwords the driving force or just a camouflage to satisfy the addiction to Big Capex.
After all MRT will be "largely" govt funded i.e about RM 1500/rakyat before interest n opex.
Pity the families somewhere in Gua Musang surviving on 700 per month and subsidizing the RM 30K guys in Greater KL and Gamuda/MMC.
Save us please.
Dato,
ReplyDeleteHow do this piece jive with yr support for the return of the bribe-giver of NS back to the machinery of the BN govt?
Indeed - 'We need to change the way we think about ourselves, and our role in society.'
So who talks/writes flowery?
Or r all politicians, existing & ex-, all of the same mode?
Ass-u-me con-sultants through & through?
The government does heed our say. It only listens to cronies like Syed Moktar Bukhairy. You apply for an acre of land to rear some goats and you are ignored. The billionaire asks for 1200 hectares of prime land and it is considered done.Some caring government.
ReplyDeleteETP
ReplyDeleteAssume Every Challenge will go your way.
Dear Sakmongkol
ReplyDelete“Look carefully at the various EPPs and BOs - you will come away thinking these are plans culled from business plans by the very companies mentioned. This is the meaning of making the private sector as engine for our ETP”.
Najib knows that the government is broke – it is running a huge budget deficit and government revenue relies too heavily on Petronas money. He knows that the kind of investments needed to lift the economy must come from the private investments. Let’s give him a good mark here.
Where he goes awfully wrong is the way in which he allows the private sector to bid for public projects. As opposed to what you say, he is NOT increasing government involvement or investments. He is privatizing them, but in the most inefficient, costly and unfair way. Instead of open and transparent tenders, awarding to the lowest pre-qualified tender, he is choosing a method that is prone to corruption and guarantees a very high price. This is using the so-called Swiss Challenge method. In this method, a favoured party (Gamuda, MMC, YTL, et al) is invited to design the project and offer a price and terms. Then others are invited to match or better this price. The logic (if there is one) of this method is that the private company came up with the idea, and the government does not have the financial or technical resources to design and plan, so these functions are taken over by the private company. Naturally the project designer with a head start in time and intimate knowledge of the project wins hands down.
This method is supposed to work in less developed countries where the government hardly exists. Is this the case here? If it is not then what could possibly be the government’s, or rather, the leaders’ motive? My answer is that this is to support cronyism because there is a symbiotic relationship between the cronies and the political leaders. How do we deduce this? Everyone knows that the political parties need loads of money to run the general elections and the party machinery. This cannot be done via the puny membership fees; so external funds are constantly needed. Billions, not millions, are needed. And if we are to believe what we read, money is also needed to pay frogs to jump. So political parties in power abuse public funds through public procurements and tenders. This not only keeps corrupt political parties in power it also rewards all the corrupt middlemen involved. The public is short changed, corruption runs riot, and our country goes down the drain. Let’s wake up to what is happening in the name of economic development.
Mesej XX Untuk Najib?
ReplyDeleteWe need to bring out the broom and sapu the rubbish. The next election will be a clean sweep out of the garbage.
ReplyDeleteLatest initiative,,presumably dreamt up by Pemandu gang >> Finishing School for graduates.
ReplyDeleteMay I suggest a finishing school for MPs and ADUNs?
Dato Sak,
ReplyDeleteAs you know one of the golden rules in setting goals is to set achievable ones.
What is the probability or portion of the 60% investment from private sector will come in? If not or anything less, what happen? Where is the alternative plan B? (another rule to planning)
Even if the investors come in they will demands all kind of guarantees e.g. PLUS. At the end of the day the rakyat pays. Will the investors not ask for their pound of flesh?
Given the risks and returns perhaps investors would like something safer and more predictable. And more investor friendly country other than Malaysia.
Which brings to the case of Government's involvement. If at the end of the day the rakyat pays why don't the government just runs the program with participation from private sector in terms of services to the program?
What ETP is trying to achieve would mostly be achieve through an investment environment that is level playing fields for all, clean and fast approval and a fair limitation process and judiciary system just in case one need to pursue this course of action. (no businessman would want to waste resources down this route as option 1).
It is a decent program with weakness here and there, glaring lack of details especially in energy / nuclear. One which the country need but will the Government of the day have the balls to carry out fairly and equally?
Robbo
unfortunately dato sak, this country does not practice alternative actions or counter-proposals to whatever the govt said.
ReplyDeleteyou are umno, these proposals are all from this UMNO led govt. are there any pressure from the party to toe the party line, if there is any? definitely not.
while our opposition parties are well tied up in their own political intrigue. they are far far away from giving their version of the economy.
and our NGOs are very very much too busy on racial issues., or at least thats what our media normally would say about them.
do we have unions highlighting the state of our economy? union of accountants, ada ka?
so, its on to your very articulate blog that we turn to, just to read something sensible about malaysia.
for that thank you, and carry on.
Dato sak,
ReplyDelete1. Setelah membaca ulasan-ulsan dato mengenai ETP ini, pada saya ia tidak lebih dari agenda lama yang diolah pada skala mega.
2. yang mendapat manafaatnya masih dari puak-puak yang sama. Yang menjadi tekaan di hati ini, berapa ratus billion kah kali ini akan dibahagi-bahagikan kepada pemain-pemain utamanya?
PKFZ angkanya RM 12 Billion. Dengan ETP yang mencecah RM 1.44 Trillion, tentunya yang akan masuk kantung akan jauh lebih besar dari RM 12 Billion tu.
bat8
Salam Dato'
ReplyDeleteMany must have thought the ETP would contribute strongly to Najib's premiership.
For most of us now sharing your views of the ETP, it serves fair warning and confirming that the Najib's Government has lost its way long ago!
Well Malaysians are just just too funny.
ReplyDeleteThey want to be high income country but does not know from where the income is coming to increase double all our income (not by inflation ) by 2020.
In the past Malaysia grew because of tin and rubber..and a bit of oil plus the business acumen of the country's business community.
Korea grew and got into global digital electronics like handphones, LCDs etc. China grew because of she became the factory of the world.
Singapore grew because of a host of services from financial to biotech etc and being the HQ of multi national companies.
...and so on.
and here you guys still talk of wanting to become a high income country by JUST SPENDING MONEY ON INFRASTRUCTURES?
Gosh how long can that money lasts? For the period of construction then what? You have no new income generating sector to boast of. Rubber is half dead, Palm oil .. Indonesia has overtaken us, Oil is depleting ... where is our income coming from?
Not only that , the human resources that can really help the country are leaving .. and continue to leave.
So can anyone enlighten what all these ETP nonsense that can make us rich ?
We see day in and day out ,such people running companies .. they go bankcrupt soon after getting bank loans and spent all the money on cars and beautiful offices leaving only 10% for working capital.
Any difference guys the way we run the country?
Very soon there would a dearth of any talent left or in fact local business investmetns as it is just plain stupid and well nigh impossible to get straight and fair contracts from the government with all those NEP or whatso not thing.
Just news release KL drop 8 rungs in Global city survey... Drop, drop and drop.
This is in line with the exodus of good people... thanks to guys like Perkasa and the little Napoleans.
“The KLIFD is critical in the development of a dynamic, globally competitive financial sector that will promote economic growth, attract foreign direct investment and create jobs.
ReplyDeleteHe said a world class leadership was not merely there to lead but to inspire others to follow.
"It requires the capability of making the right decision with fully informed reasoning, seamless execution and outcome-driven mentality.
"To do this, we need to cultivate a knowledge-based public service. Thus, our immediate challenge is how to ensure that talented and knowledgeable Malaysians out there will contribute towards the nation becoming a better country to live in.
Statements by PM today...
R there huge invstments in BUILDINGS in Silicon Valley when Amazon,Ebay,Google began their journey?
In this age of internet is LOCATION still a major competitive edge?
Is PutraJaya fully occupied i.e optimised?Are we really short of commercial space?Will the cost of doing business be lower with all these new greenfield devts?
Najib said an institutional and structural change could only happen when leaders not only understand what must be done but have the integrity, humility and determination to bring this great nation to the next horizon.
Do the leaders understand the new dynamics?
and final nail..
He said a world class leadership was not merely there to lead but to inspire others to follow.
R we creating new paradigms or just rehashing ancient game plays?
I have just returned from Ottawa.When I was there I was cracking my little head to try and find out what is wrong with us that makes us run and walk on the spot.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the people of Canada driving in an orderly fashion on their highways a little bell rang in my ears. Do not get me wrong. Canada also has its fair share of bad drivers but their numbers has not reached the critical level to have an impact on the good drivers.
It was then did I realise our Car of State is being driven exactly in the manner in which our divers behave on our roads.
Firstly, we are not driving in our lanes, park wherever we like and break the laws as often as we can or are allowed to do so.We are driving our cars without any accountability.
Secondly, our eyes are focussed on the rear view mirror looking for short cuts and trying to get to our destination as quickly as we can even if it means that all rules can go to hell. Hence, we sacrifice quality for short-term profits.
Thirdly,by some strange convoluted engineering we have secretly converted the four forwrd gears into reverse gears and the one reverse gear into a forward gear. Hence we take one step forward and four steps backwards. This has made us experts in dressing up the naked truth.
Fourthly, unlike the cars on the Canadian roads our cars are shinning and clean. So no one, not even the law, suspects that something is wrong.We constantly pay homage to moral values.
So may be, this is only an outside chance, if we can get out traffic in order may be we may be able to get the Car of the State to be driven in a manner in which it should be driven.
We also need the assistance of GOD to give our leaders the wisdom to do what is right the first time instead of trying to do it unsuccessfully in the end.
Dato'
ReplyDeletewell said. Tetapi there is one more story that dato' must pen in. This is regarding the proposed take over of plus by syed mokhtar..
Tak de melayu lain ke? Semuanye dia nak bolot airport, port, beras dan macam macam lag lah!
Hek man! Me and you can also take over if the govt nak jual sangat. With the cash available in plus I am sure it can be used to leverage any funding exercise.
My theory is that the risk of losing in pru12 is sinking in. So this is a preemptive exercise in case the current govt is at the losing end. If so let's raid our hand dato'. I think we can do a better job than those people.
One think for sure if we can take over I know of a plan how to reduce the toll rate, isn't that what we all want?
Since when Pemandu, which was establish as the so call economic planner, is now a developer/operator of the new bus terminal is bandar tasik permaisuri.
ReplyDeleteLooks like idris jala and boys dah mula tunjuk taring. Kalau macam ni memang betullah dia cakap we are slowly but surely men- Muflis-kan negara yang ku cintai ini.
I suppose to survive is to generate income; individuals, businesses, and governments. Money generated is then spent. If umno guys are crowding too many around the river mouth of money flow, then Umno guys are just opportunists. To be able to generate income is the better adventure that ensure strength and freedom. But most ministers and the boys are too quick to jump to the river mouths and fight with ordinary folks.
ReplyDeletehigh time to scrutinize each SEDC
ReplyDeleteobsession with high sounding names -APCO/ ETP/ETS HIGH INCOME ECONOMY
ReplyDeleteto me they mean FUCK ALL
Does anyone in the PM office know how much a bus driver with Transnational -
the largest bus company gets?
Let us get real -
according to many drivers that I have talked to-
BASIC SALARY RM 468
OVERTIME - 2HR/DAY @RM 3/HR --RM 6/DAY
ASSUMING BUS DRIVER WORK 25 DAYS A MONTH OVER TIME ---RM 150
GROSS MONTHLY INCOME ------------ RM 618
NETT INCOME AFTER PAYING 11% KWSP ---------- RM 566
THIS IS THE REALITY
Did anybody in the pee em office know about this?
When told of this I could not believe it. The bus takes an indon worker from
kang to shah alam . And the indon guy told me he fixed the floor tiles in houses on a sub
contract basis. He got about rm 500 - 1000 a day. that is a high income job.
And the guy who drove him to work get less than rm 20/a day
side note
--------------
the pay that a transnational bus driver got currently is the same pay that he got
in 2000 . presumably the salary when mara had paid during that time
when transnational was privatised, it was assumed that salaries and perks as
a privatised entity would improve . This never happened.
A failure in privatisation?
A chinaman bus company operating the same route could pay their drivers upto rm 3000/month
And the bus company had recently received their bus permit!!!t
What gomen transformation?
--------------------------
gomen can form a new body to tackle all sorts of issues- span, spud whatever
when faced with the same recurring issues, the organisations become like an ostrich putting
its head in the sand when faced with a problem
I am guy who used lots of public transport, having had a good experience of it during
my stay overseas. And I find that we ahve adequate and sufficiently good public transport.
The only problem is the agencies running the transportation system is not flexible and
bluntly very stupid in their approach to solving transport problems
the ets
--------
a 700 seater premium train running from ipoh to seremban by the hour [i am not sure of
the exact timing ] and I have notice on many occassions and have confirmed with the
people at the train stations taht it was only carrying 20 or so passengers.
Why?
Is this a political decision?
Or some over paid conn- sultants have projected that there are adequate riderships which turn
out to be rubbish.
What a prudent european gomen would do?
----------------------------------------
In the first place this kind of rubbish in will not take place in europe.
Only melayu run-chingkie advised [ chingkie transport minister] gomen
have this sort of fiasco.
Why not terminate the ets/
LOGICAL , MONEY SAVING AND ALSO FACE SAVING
LOOK , NO GOMEN IN THE WORLD RUN AN EMPTY TRAIN SERVICE!!!!!!!
After all Ipoh is well serviced by good bus transport and taxi service
ipoh is not kobe or yokohama that needs to be connected to kl. Take it as true-
IPoh is just a sleepy hollow with not enough passengers coming to kl
are all the etp's just good politics - to talk until the cows come home
but nothing more will come out of it
khong khek khuat
There is a national obsession with high sounding names -APCO/ ETP/ETS HIGH INCOME ECONOMY
ReplyDeleteto me they mean FUCK ALL
Does anyone in the PM office know how much a bus driver with Transnational -
the largest bus company gets?
Let us get real -
according to many drivers that I have talked to-
BASIC SALARY RM 468
OVERTIME - 2HR/DAY @RM 3/HR --RM 6/DAY
ASSUMING BUS DRIVER WORK 25 DAYS A MONTH OVER TIME ---RM 150
GROSS MONTHLY INCOME ------------ RM 618
NETT INCOME AFTER PAYING 11% KWSP ---------- RM 566
THIS IS THE REALITY
Did anybody in the pee em office know about this?
When told of this I could not believe it. The bus takes an indon worker from
kang to shah alam . And the indon guy told me he fixed the floor tiles in houses on a sub
contract basis. He got about rm 500 - 1000 a day. that is a high income job.
And the guy who drove him to work get less than rm 20/a day
side note
--------------
the pay that a transnational bus driver got currently is the same pay that he got
in 2000 . presumably the salary when mara had paid during that time
when transnational was privatised, it was assumed that salaries and perks as
a privatised entity would improve . This never happened.
A failure in privatisation?
A chinaman bus company operating the same route could pay their drivers upto rm 3000/month
And the bus company had recently received their bus permit!!!t
[continue part2]
[part 2]
ReplyDeleteWhat gomen transformation?
--------------------------
gomen can form a new body to tackle all sorts of issues- span, spud whatever
when faced with the same recurring issues, the organisations become like an ostrich putting
its head in the sand when faced with a problem
I am guy who used lots of public transport, having had a good experience of it during
my stay overseas. And I find that we ahve adequate and sufficiently good public transport.
The only problem is the agencies running the transportation system is not flexible and
bluntly very stupid in their approach to solving transport problems
the ets
--------
a 700 seater premium train running from ipoh to seremban by the hour [i am not sure of
the exact timing ] and I have notice on many occassions and have confirmed with the
people at the train stations taht it was only carrying 20 or so passengers.
Why?
Is this a political decision?
Or some over paid conn- sultants have projected that there are adequate riderships which turn
out to be rubbish.
What a prudent european gomen would do?
----------------------------------------
In the first place this kind of rubbish in will not take place in europe.
Only melayu run-chingkie advised [ chingkie transport minister] gomen
have this sort of fiasco.
Why not terminate the ets/
LOGICAL , MONEY SAVING AND ALSO FACE SAVING
LOOK , NO GOMEN IN THE WORLD RUN AN EMPTY TRAIN SERVICE!!!!!!!
After all Ipoh is well serviced by good bus transport and taxi service
ipoh is not kobe or yokohama that needs to be connected to kl. Take it as true-
IPoh is just a sleepy hollow with not enough passengers coming to kl
are all the etp's just good politics - to talk until the cows come home
but nothing more will come out of it
khong khek khuat
Sak,
ReplyDeletei have been following your blog aspan for almost a year n i know you r a loyal malay nationalist loyal umno member but i think it high time to follow your head than your heart.you have have never been appreciated by those rotten to the core leaders of umno what more you r a member in the Pee Man rosmah najis constituent of pekan.High time 4 u both to change your loyalty to malaysian specially your own race to get them out of the hardship that msian face in years to come.Even a blind can see that this sandiwra will continue just as this bastard n their cronies will rob n rape till kingdom come n like u say there r no intelligent n sincere cabinet member in this present government except baggages n a failed nation as of now cud only be saved with a change of government.Only option is to switch to the opposition as of now for time is running out.Forget about the differences of ideology or colours this cud easily b neutralised or change by the genuine sincererity of all of u to want a better malaysia 4 all malaysian.once we r only safe ground then u can start helping your fellow poor malay brethen n i can assure u the other races will back u with no terms n conditions for a better malaysia.You have got the brains n ideology n together with your good buddy aspan who i admire 4 his sincerety 2gether with khalid samad dr dzul lge tony pua nurul nizar n lots more young n dedicated leaders of the future will bring back the glory of a once proud n mighty malaysia .give it a thought sak let your head control your heart 4 once.