It seems that playing the blame game is a favorite pursuit of many who regard themselves as political leaders. Do we want such leaders? Leadership can be defined as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." Ultimately, it is about creating ways for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." and is different from political posturing where politicians take a position on an issue strictly because of its advantages.
The World Foreign Investment Report (WIR) released by UNCTAD on July 22nd this year showed that showed that FDI in Malaysia plunged 81 per cent last year, trailing behind countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. Most disappointingly, it was also the first time ever in history that Malaysia attracted less investment than the Philippines.
Before that fateful announcement, PM Najib announced on June 11th that Malaysia hopes to build greater confidence in its economic policies as well as improve the services sector in the face of an expected more than half drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) this year.
Since that disclosure by WIR, what has been happening for the past 2.5 months?
July 2010
MP Tony Pua said HERE that the fall in FDI was caused by "a lack of confidence in Malaysia’s economy (which) has driven foreign direct investment (FDI) to our neighbours, leaving the once-roaring “Asian tiger” to compete with Indochina countries.
Selected comments from Malaysiakini readers on the causes of the drop in FDI as seen in Malaysiakini HERE are astounding to say the least.
Various economists expressed their opinions HERE about the disturbing trend including:
On July 31st 2010, Datuk Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin, chief executive, Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia wrote a very good article HERE about the steps being taken to draw investments and cited a few reasons for the drop in FDI.
August 2010
A google search on FDI reports/comments did not show up any notable report/comment on the FDI drop in Malaysia.
September 2010
TDM blogged about it HERE. The Malaysian Insider reported HERE that Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that low foreign direct investment is a global problem and should not be linked to Malay rights group Perkasa. He said, “It’s not because of Perkasa. It’s simply because there is not enough FDI.
The latest to join the fray is his son. Bernama reported HERE:
The time has come for all parties concerned to put an end to this childish blame game and face reality squarely and bravely.
If there is a problem that concerns the rakyat, disclose it and then deal with it with positive suggestions instead of recycling old issues with no suggestions at hand.
Forget about who is at fault. There can never be consensus on that issue. If there is nothing good they can say, silence is the best option. If it is an internal problem, settle it within instead of washing dirty linen in public.
What they need to do is to give CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS or POSITIVE SUGGESTIONS as to :
* what they are doing to increase FDIs
* what they are doing in their own constituencies to help the rakyat who elected them to office
* how they are spending their $$ constituency allocations
* improvements made to their constituency/ministry
* statistics to back up all their claims
* valid suggestions with concrete steps as to how these can be achieved
* suggestions as to how weaknesses they have identified can be overcome
Enough of blaming here, there and everywhere.
For once, do something.
I can understand when a report is released and then many would want to make statements. But come on, it has been almost two months already since the WIR report was released. Surely the blame game should have stopped?
Are they harping on these issues because they have run out of salvos?
When can we get to read positive statements from the authorities concerned that make the rakyat feel happy, united, hopeful, positive and proud of being Malaysian?
When can we see POSITIVE results of their so-called plans and dreams or strategies etc?
When can we hear them telling us DEFINITE IMPROVEMENTS in the various ministries starting from the education sector?
When can we read reports which DO NOT tell us how many MILLIONS will be spent to do this and that and after that everything is quiet and no one seems to know what happened and if at all these were carried out and what were the resuls?
Any man in the street can take part in the blame game.
We did not elect politicians to start blaming each other.
We elected them to office to steer the country in the right direction. The PM seems to be trying to do that BUT does it appear as though ALL his are supporting him?
End the blame game NOW.
Always, PUT THE RAKYAT FIRST!!!
The World Foreign Investment Report (WIR) released by UNCTAD on July 22nd this year showed that showed that FDI in Malaysia plunged 81 per cent last year, trailing behind countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. Most disappointingly, it was also the first time ever in history that Malaysia attracted less investment than the Philippines.
Before that fateful announcement, PM Najib announced on June 11th that Malaysia hopes to build greater confidence in its economic policies as well as improve the services sector in the face of an expected more than half drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) this year.
Since that disclosure by WIR, what has been happening for the past 2.5 months?
July 2010
MP Tony Pua said HERE that the fall in FDI was caused by "a lack of confidence in Malaysia’s economy (which) has driven foreign direct investment (FDI) to our neighbours, leaving the once-roaring “Asian tiger” to compete with Indochina countries.
Selected comments from Malaysiakini readers on the causes of the drop in FDI as seen in Malaysiakini HERE are astounding to say the least.
Various economists expressed their opinions HERE about the disturbing trend including:
a)RAM Holdings group chief economist Yeah Kim Leng said that should the FDI that has flowed to the neighbouring countries rather than Malaysia, be of high value and be more technology driven, then we could very well lose out on the opportunity to be the regional meeting point. Especially when ASEAN is mulling region-wide economic cooperation.
The lack of FDI could also mean that the country may not be able to upgrade its investments and could in the end, “hollow out”.
“It could result in de-industrialisation. In the short term, Malaysia could lose skilled and unskilled workers. In the medium to long term, we will need to focus on higher value and technology driven investments to put us back ahead of our neighbouring countries. Malaysia could end up being caught in the middle-income trap,” he said.
b)Centre of Policy Initiatives Director Lim Teck Ghee also waved off claims that the FDI has little to do with the Najib administration’s aim of turning the country in a high-income nation.
“Of course the FDI has a lot to do with the income of a country’s workers. More FDI means we would have higher capability to export instead of import. The jobs would then be of higher quality. Moving towards a high-income country means that professionals no longer earn RM3,000 or RM4,000 but at least RM15,000. Can our SME’s (small and medium industry) provide for it?” he asked.
On July 31st 2010, Datuk Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin, chief executive, Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia wrote a very good article HERE about the steps being taken to draw investments and cited a few reasons for the drop in FDI.
August 2010
A google search on FDI reports/comments did not show up any notable report/comment on the FDI drop in Malaysia.
September 2010
TDM blogged about it HERE. The Malaysian Insider reported HERE that Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that low foreign direct investment is a global problem and should not be linked to Malay rights group Perkasa. He said, “It’s not because of Perkasa. It’s simply because there is not enough FDI.
The latest to join the fray is his son. Bernama reported HERE:
Measures taken by the federal government have helped to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) this year contrary to the poor showing in 2008 and 2009 resulting from the opposition's disparaging remarks about the country, Mukhriz Mahathir said yesterday.
The Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister said the disparaging remarks directed at the BN government had instilled fear in foreign investors, so much so that FDI in 2008 and 2009 dropped by up to 81 percent.
When the investors kept away, the opposition blamed the federal government for what they claimed to be inefficiency in drawing investments.
"They cause the problem and they blame us for it. However, the government always does its best to attract foreign investors," he told reporters when met at the Aidilfitri open house of Pendang Umno Youth head Akrom Abdul Hamid in Pendang.
The time has come for all parties concerned to put an end to this childish blame game and face reality squarely and bravely.
If there is a problem that concerns the rakyat, disclose it and then deal with it with positive suggestions instead of recycling old issues with no suggestions at hand.
Forget about who is at fault. There can never be consensus on that issue. If there is nothing good they can say, silence is the best option. If it is an internal problem, settle it within instead of washing dirty linen in public.
What they need to do is to give CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS or POSITIVE SUGGESTIONS as to :
* what they are doing to increase FDIs
* what they are doing in their own constituencies to help the rakyat who elected them to office
* how they are spending their $$ constituency allocations
* improvements made to their constituency/ministry
* statistics to back up all their claims
* valid suggestions with concrete steps as to how these can be achieved
* suggestions as to how weaknesses they have identified can be overcome
Enough of blaming here, there and everywhere.
For once, do something.
I can understand when a report is released and then many would want to make statements. But come on, it has been almost two months already since the WIR report was released. Surely the blame game should have stopped?
Are they harping on these issues because they have run out of salvos?
When can we get to read positive statements from the authorities concerned that make the rakyat feel happy, united, hopeful, positive and proud of being Malaysian?
When can we see POSITIVE results of their so-called plans and dreams or strategies etc?
When can we hear them telling us DEFINITE IMPROVEMENTS in the various ministries starting from the education sector?
When can we read reports which DO NOT tell us how many MILLIONS will be spent to do this and that and after that everything is quiet and no one seems to know what happened and if at all these were carried out and what were the resuls?
Any man in the street can take part in the blame game.
We did not elect politicians to start blaming each other.
We elected them to office to steer the country in the right direction. The PM seems to be trying to do that BUT does it appear as though ALL his are supporting him?
End the blame game NOW.
Always, PUT THE RAKYAT FIRST!!!
Anonymous It's not the PM's fault lah!
He's merely the jagaman or the gate-keeper.
But if he spent the RM$2.0+ tril, it will still pad up the GDP. Or won't it?