R We Wise Enough?? Hell No

Dear readers,

Please read the article wrote by Michael Backman and it was brought to my attention by Zaid Hakim. Undeniably wat he said are all bitterly true. Damm it.

I am strongly agree on all of the contentions below-mentioned. We are spending the money in such a wasteful way. We r wasting da effort n da sweat by placing our country on da world map but fail to draw da picture of equality and 'better-living' models in the country itself. Shame on me and the fellow Malaysians!!!!

Hence wat we could do? Sit doing nothing? Waiting 4 da next economic turmoil? (some experts forecast dat 2008 will be da fall of our economic growth ...n its worrying numbers of malaysians..I mean da alert-and-the-caring malaysians).

At the end of da day, I am questioning myself, why on earth da non-Malaysian realises this? Wat is he got to do with Malaysia? Why is so concerned by warning the government da danger in 19 years time?

n u know wat?

We r still debating on who is more islamic against others.

We r promoting da hell of "memperkasakan agenda nasional" without realising the actual-true-and-exact definition of agenda nasional.

We r launching 12 "Gagasan Negara bagi Menyokong Matlamat Wawasan 2020" but neglect da life of a 12 year old child who has to wake up as early as 0400, crossing da rainforest in barefoot for 4 miles just to get to school. (which I'm sure everyone agrees dat education is a basic rights for all)

Wat else? da list goes on....

so folks, come on. its da time for a change. I'm not interested to convey dis idea to our current leaders as they already got their own (not idealistic enough) agenda.but wud rather keen to share da inspiration with you, da younger generation who is gonna inherit da country.

Any takers?

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MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns. It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's time Malaysia grew up.

It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get on with the job of creating it. The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but at par value.

Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.

"Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to "Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.

This all happens in the context of Malaysia's grossly inflated sense of its place in the world.
Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to Malaysia's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or capital city.
As if to make this point, a recent episode of The Simpsons features a newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.

Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia's problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to underwrite all manner of excess. The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were built, which was their point.
It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur — there wasn't.
Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies. They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's handled by Australia's Westfield.

Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3 million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The trouble is, they're not. It's not their space program.

Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490 million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather". But the summer Olympics are held in the summer. So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a clue.

Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford. Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years away.

So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad.
It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).

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So wat say ye?

Please bear in mind that da article is not to reflect or to attack da UMNO Conference which took place days ago. Neither 2 combat da idea why all KULN leaders r given free flights to attend da less-than-a-week event but it is to reflect ourselves - R We Wise Enough in Spending The Money. (n please dun label me as anti-government figure. Its surprising me tho, upon returning from Nottingham Meet-the-Minister event, i was been identified as a potential Hizbi@Perikatan member.)

n luckily, my english-look-attire saves me from being listed by the SBs. LOL.

Have a nice day to all

Roger n Out