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Measly salaries: No thanks to previous PMs’ financial and economic abuses
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19. 2024: Suspected CIA-backed political website Malaysia Chronicle (MC) has posted a blogger’s commentary that a Malaysian varsity lecturer is earning RM10,000 as a cleaner in Singapore but only RM1,900 in Malaysia after five years.
While it is very, very true that Malaysian workers are measly paid, the question is why.
MC is quick to blame it on Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister (PMX) Anwar Ibrahim. Is that fair - the PMX and his so-called Madani Unity Government has been in office for slightly over a year.
So, the right question is what have the nine previous prime ministers done for the socio-economic advancement of the rakyat dan negara (people and country)?
All they did was to ramp up a national debt of more than RM1.5 trillion and raise the sufferings of the rakyat.
And the same former prime ministers, namely the disgraced jailbird Najib Abdul Razak, the racist Muhyiddin “I Am Malay First” Yassin and Ismail “Turtle Egg” Sabri are trying to topple Anwar by engineering another backdoor government.
Of course, they are also joined by other former and still Umno seniors and Taliban-like PAS leaders.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below the MC article and reports on Malaysia's financial and economic woes:
WHAT! MALAYSIAN VARSITY LECTURER EARNING RM10K AS CLEANER IN SINGAPORE - BUT ONLY RM1,900 HERE AFTER 5 YEARS! - WHEN WILL ANWAR REGIME GET CRACKING TO WORK ON A COMPETITIVE ECONOMY - AND STOP THE ENDLESS POLITICKING & GRANDSTANDING!
TETAPI KAUM ELIT MALAYSIA LAGI KAYA DPD KAUM ELIT SINGAPURA
Here is some news that is now becoming more common. Now there is a flood of Malays going across to work in Singapore. Not only that but the number of Malays migrating to Australia is also increasing.
M'sian univ lecturer earns five times more working as cleaner in S'pore
his salary at university was RM1,900 after five years
some months I did not have enough money.
Sometimes, I couldn't make it through middle of the month
My salary stagnant while cost of living kept rising
he decided to look for a job in Singapore
he found a job as a cleaner in Singapore
basic salary SGD3,100 (RM10,860)
his new wage across the causeway eased his financial burdens
working in Singapore can change your fortune.
With the first paycheck alone, I settled various things
travelling back and forth to Singapore worth the remuneration
Earning a high salary (in Singapore) can be a reality
My Comments :
But rest assured that Malaysia has more millionaires and billionaires than Singapore. The rich here in Malaysia are super rich while in Singapore they are just normal rich.
This situation is reflective of the caste system that now exists in Malaysia. The super elite are those who have some cable connections to the politicians, to the government (at federal, state and local govt levels). They get rich by pull and connections rather than being able to compete effectively. They have licenses, monopolies, advantages that the ordinary citizen does not have.
The ordinary people who do not have the connections get left out. Hence the flow of money, wealth and resources in the economy is not decided by effort, being able to compete and hard work. Hard work may not bring you the rewards you deserve.
The elite who have connections and are on the inside track can get rich with almost not working at all. So the flow of resources in this type of economy is not decided by market forces.
What does this really mean? It means that there are only so many eggs in the basket. There is only so much money and wealth in the economy at any one time. Those with the cables and connections get more of the eggs. They get more of the money in the economy for much less effort than the ordinary citizen.
In Malaysia each time the ordinary citizen buys a car he pays very high prices to the few elite who possess the APs and the connections. They become super rich. The ordinary citizen becomes poorer. Plus the insanely high motor vehicle import taxes and duties payable to the gomen.
In the picture above in Los Angeles, California the Toyota Camry sells at only about US$26,000 (about RM122,000 ! ! ! ). In Malaysia the selling prices for Toyota Camrys start at RM219,800 !! Almost RM100,000 more than the price in Los Angeles, California.
Tuan-Tuan California is one of the most expensive places in the world in terms of workers salaries and rental for car showrooms. Yet the American car buyers can buy a Toyota Camry for almost RM100,000 less than in Malaysia where a university lecturer with five years work experience was paid only RM1,900 monthly salary. He was forced to go and work in Singapore as a cleaner to earn more money.
So in Malaysia the workers (even university graduates) are paid peanuts while car prices are so expensive.
In the United States (as one example only) their salaries are high but their car prices are much, much cheaper than here in Malaysia.
Tuan-Tuan pay attention ok. So here in Malaysia the salaries (Item A) paid to the labour force is very low but our car prices (item B) are so high. I am using car prices just as one example - there are many, many more examples where Malaysians pay unfair and monopolistic prices.
So item B minus item A = very, very high profits being made by intermediaries in our economy.
These intermediaries are the gomen (high taxes, duties, levies etc), the elite (monopolists, license holders, AP holders) etc. This is the economic system that we have in this country.
This is how the flow of economic resources in this country is skewed, tilted to one side or senget sebelah. This has been going on for almost 50 years now.
So you can work and work and work, you can slog and slog and slog. You will see your children work and work and work. But you are never going to make a really comfortable income. That is becoming more elusive.
Kalau anak Tuan-Tuan sudah belajar sampai universiti, suruh anak Tuan-Tuan pergi kerja cleaner di Singapura.
Written by https://syedsoutsidethebox.blogspot.com/
Politics Now!
Malaysia to cut subsidies to manage ballooning debt: Anwar
Published Tue, Feb 14, 2023 · 7:00 pm
n Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is set to table the country's revised 2023 budget to parliament on Feb 24.PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
MALAYSIA will tackle its rising debt levels through subsidy reduction and good governance, instead of imposing new, broad-based consumption taxes, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday (Feb 14).
Anwar said the South-east Asian nation’s debts and liabilities stood at about RM1.5 trillion (S$459.2 billion), or 82 per cent of its gross domestic product. He added that the sum included 1MDB’s debt of RM18.2 billion.
The prime minister was speaking in parliament, in response to a question by another lawmaker.
“The steps we are taking to manage this, firstly, is to improve governance,” he said, “because some of the billion-ringgit spending lost was because of weak management, leakages, which caused debts to be higher than the economy’s growth.”
Anwar said the government did not have plans to reintroduce the goods and services tax, which was abolished by the Mahathir Mohamad administration in 2018. Instead, he said, the government would continue to lower subsidies for the rich and review public spending without burdening the poor.
He pointed to the adjustments in electricity tariffs announced in December last year. - THE BUSINESS TIMES
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
FRIDAY, 8.30 AM
Anwar, who doubles as finance minister, is set to table Malaysia’s revised 2023 budget to parliament on Feb 24. He has been preaching fiscal prudence as the country stares down still-elevated debt levels in the wake of a Covid-era spending drive.
With the second-widest fiscal deficit in South-east Asia, Malaysia has seen its budget strained by the cost of keeping essentials at below-market prices. Government subsidies were forecast to reach a record RM80 billion in 2022, with concessions on fuels and cooking gas alone projected to account for about half that amount.
The World Bank’s Malaysia Economic Monitor, published on Jan 3, showed that the country’s revenue level remained low and trailed comparative peers. The document predicted that government revenue would resume its declining trend in 2023 on moderating crude oil prices. BLOOMBERG
No News Is Bad News: Was Dr M blaming himself and his 22-years of administrations and governance for the financial and economic abuses?:
Abuses pushed Malaysia's debt over 1 trillion ringgit says Mahathir
Reuters
May 21, 2018
11:50 AM GMT+8Updated 6 years ago
Malaysia's newly elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad attends a news conference in Menara Yayasan Selangor, Pataling Jaya, Malaysia May 12, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights, opens new tab
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia is saddled with over 1 trillion ringgit ($251.70 billion) in debt, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday, blaming the previous government led by former protege Najib Razak who now faces domestic graft investigations.
Mahathir, 92, led an opposition coalition to a spectacular win over Najib's previously undefeated ruling alliance in a general election on May 9, having campaigned aggressively over people's rising living costs and a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
"We find that the country's finances for example, was abused in a way that now we are facing trouble settling debts that have risen to a trillion ringgit," Mahathir said when speaking for the first time to staff of the prime minister's office.
"We have never had to deal with this before. Before we never faced debts higher than 300 billion ringgit, but now it has climbed to 1 trillion ringgit," Mahathir said.
In his first week in charge, Mahathir announced that a broad-based goods and services tax (GST) would be zero-rated from June 1, as his government works to replace it with a reinstated sales and services tax (SST).
Mahathir had also promised to reintroduce fuel subsidies besides doing away with GST, all part of his coalition's pledge to tamp down rising living costs.
Mahathir's fiscal measures, however, would widen Malaysia's fiscal deficit and are credit negative without any offsetting measures, according to ratings agency Moody's.
Najib's government had planned to collect 43.8 billion ringgit ($11.05 billion) in 2018 in GST, about 18 percent of total revenue.
During the election campaign, Najib had warned that Mahathir's economic proposals would result in debt ballooning to over 1 trillion ringgit.
Najib also rebutted opposition claims that federal debt had risen to alarming levels under his governance, and said that debt amounted to about 50.9 percent of its GDP at June 2017, which was below the government's limit of 55 percent.
Mahathir said last week that many of the figures recording the country's financial position may be false.
Malaysia's anti-graft agency has summoned Najib to give a statement on Tuesday in connection with a probe on SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
The summons came days after police raided six premises linked to the former prime minister as part of investigations into the state investment fund that Najib founded in 2009.
Among the items seized include 284 boxes of designer handbags and dozens of bags filled with cash and jewelery, from a luxury condominium in the center of Kuala Lumpur linked to Najib.
Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; editing by Praveen Menon and Simon Cameron-Moore
Malaysia’s ballooning debt a cause for alarm, warns Johari
The national debt has passed the RM1.5 trillion mark, while the federal government’s budget deficit has been increasing every year.
Nora Mahpar - 18 Feb 2023, 7:45am
The country can no longer rely on oil revenue to keep the economy afloat, says former second finance minister Johari Ghani.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s rising level of national debt should not be taken lightly, as the country can no longer rely on oil revenue to keep the economy afloat, says former second finance minister Johari Ghani.
He said Malaysia was lucky in that the government was able to rely on the contributions from Petronas during the pandemic lockdown years.
“That is why we were okay. But these resources don’t last forever. So this is why we need to plan (the economy) urgently,” Johari who is also Titiwangsa MP said in an interview with FMT.
Oil and gas exports by Petronas contributed to Malaysia’s foreign earnings, and dividends, taxes and royalty paid by Petronas provided about 25% of federal government revenue.
Johari said the national debt should not be taken lightly even though Malaysia was blessed with natural resources. Rising levels of government debt were a symptom of an ailing economy, as experienced by Sri Lanka.
He said Sri Lanka had been unable to pay its debts or import essential items, resulting in food and fuel shortages, after Covid-19 had ravaged the island nation’s tourism-reliant economy.
Last year, Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debts of US51 billion (about RM226 billion) and was unable to make interest payments of US$75 million, with only US$25 million in usable foreign reserves at the time.
“When a country doesn’t manage its debts, I won’t be surprised, not just Malaysia, but many other countries will face the same problem (as Sri Lanka),” he said.
“We don’t even have (huge) reserves any more. Oil-producing countries have huge reserves, we don’t.”
He said if Malaysia’s RM1.5 trillion debt and continually widening federal budget deficit were not remedied, the economy would inevitably collapse and cause immense suffering to future generations.
GDP growth must be felt on the ground
On Tuesday, during a debate in the Dewan Rakyat, Johari said Malaysia’s GDP growth of 8.7% in 2022 was a result of the low-base effect of 2021. He said that economic growth had not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Malaysia’s GDP growth in 2021 was only 3.1% while Singapore and the Philippines enjoyed economic growth of 7.6% and 5.7% respectively.
“So while other countries recovered from the pandemic relatively quickly, Malaysia did not,” he said. Averaged out, Malaysia’s economy only grew 1.9% per year in the past three years.
Johari said this was why last year’s economic growth was not reflective of the realities on the ground.
He said one of his biggest concerns was underemployment, a result of not enough high-skilled jobs being available in the private sector compared to the number of fresh graduates being churned out every year.
“For the past five years, some 300,000 people on average have graduated from university, but there are only around 93,000 high-skilled private sector job openings each year.”
Many of these graduates ended up working jobs unrelated to their qualifications or in the informal sector, working in such jobs as delivery riders or in food stalls.
“The number of underemployed rose from 1.3 million in 2018 to 1.8 million in 2022. There are another two million in the informal sector,” he said, adding that it is a huge loss to the economy.
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