Obviously advised by his aides that his gung-ho expectation was way overboard, Najib scrambled to control damage via a press conference several hours later when he denied having said 9%. He said: “I did not say nine per cent, I said around six per cent as nine is not realistic.”
By Kim Quek
I bet not a few among the participants at the 21st Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia Implementation Council meeting were held aghast when Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Najib Razak’s announced that Malaysia was aiming for a 9% annual GDP growth until 2020.
In an opening speech at the meeting held in the morning of Nov 9, Najib said:
“We aim to be a developed nation by the year 2020 and we are looking to more than double our per capita gross national income from US$7,000 (RM24,500) to at least US$17,000 by then in order to qualify as a high-income nation according to World Bank classifications.
“This would also mean that Malaysia has to grow its GDP by over nine 9% annually until the year 2020.” (Malaysian Insider, Nov 9.)
Playing with the totally unrealistic growth figure of 9% at a time when Malaysia and the world are still going through one of the worst recessions in memory with no definite light at the end of tunnel yet did sound surreal indeed. More so, when Malaysia’s growth record in recent years have been anything but robust.
Obviously advised by his aides that his gung-ho expectation was way overboard, Najib scrambled to control damage via a press conference several hours later when he denied having said 9%. He said: “I did not say nine per cent, I said around six per cent as nine is not realistic.”
But of course, Najib’s denial came too late, as several news media including Bernama and Star had already quoted him at nine per cent. Though these media dutifully replaced the figure of nine per cent by six per cent in their updated versions in the afternoon, some betrayed their clumsy amendment by retaining the incongruous per capita GDP growth from the current US$7,000 to US$17,000 in 2020.
If indeed Najib had quoted six per cent, then compounding US$7,000 at the increase of 6% per annum can only bring us to US$13,000 by 2020. Only when we compound it by 9% can we reach the figure of 17,000. Figures tell no lies. It was clearly a deliberate statement, not a typing or reading error.
So the big puzzle: How could a finance minister, who is supposed to be the economic czar of a country, make such an unforgivable blunder?
Granted that a man of Najib’s position is expected to have his speech writers to lighten his works, but he should remain the master as policy formulator and decision maker, not a robot reading out speeches he could not fully comprehend.
Chairing over such an important meeting which deliberates the agenda of MSC Malaysia, which in Najib’s words, serves as “a foundation to build a world-class technology sector to kick start a vibrant Malaysian ICT industry”, I would expect Najib to be in full possession of a macro view of the nation’s economy, the direction it is going, and the specific role the budding ICT industry is playing in relation thereto. And central to all these is of course a realistic assessment of current and potential strength of our economy.
As finance minister, Najib is sitting at the apex commanding a vast bureaucracy of economic and financial experts and planners, and he should therefore be the best judge of our economic realities. In fact, he should be the first one to spot any gross irregularity in major economic figures. If he is a competent finance minister, he should be the final arbiter as to what growth figure to adapt for policy making purpose. Even allowing the fact that he is new to the job, he should at least be able to discern when a wildly unrealistic target is presented to him. Not to be able to sense that 9% growth is way out of the reasonable realm is a horrible admission of ineptitude.
Under the circumstances, it is not unreasonable to surmise that this could be a case of an economic novice writing out a speech which was read out by an equally ignorant financial boss.
That may not be a far-fetched assumption, given that Najib’s premiership so far seem to have been one gigantic public relation exercise void of substance to create the impression of change when in fact nothing has been changed. Not in our hopelessly decadent institutions nor in our utter lack of rule of law.
written by archie, November 10, 2009 21:06:41
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written by NSTPravda, November 10, 2009 17:11:30
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written by Taikohtai, November 10, 2009 15:37:48
Who the hell does Najis think he is? My ex-boss Teh Hong Piow??
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written by Ahjamal, November 10, 2009 14:44:47
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written by pakwen, November 10, 2009 14:37:00
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written by Bigjoe99, November 10, 2009 13:37:14
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written by arazak, November 10, 2009 13:28:15
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written by sydput, November 10, 2009 13:09:33
How come PM's deprtment also got which over rides all other ministries?
6 or 9 percent, talk is easy. But can the govenrment get the country and its citizens to deliver?
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written by Ghifarix, November 10, 2009 12:58:39
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written by Aduh, November 10, 2009 12:41:32
- najib did not know what he was talking about.
- he is a liar as always has been, and
- his advisors, knowing fully well of najib's ignorance. took advantage to sabotage him.
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written by KotaDamansara73, November 10, 2009 12:33:08
The stupid UMNO leaders who are so fixated with figures without understnading any of them, just like Mahathir, has no idea how to bring wealth to the people. You build 10 Putrajaya will also achieve 6% growth rate. You build 100 putrajaya will also produce 20% growth rate.
The stupid UMNO leaders can produce any growth rate you want. Is that, who is going to gain most of the country wealth. Only the top UMNO leaders will gain most of the wealth. Then what is the point of achieving 6% growth rate.
By 2020, most of the advance nation would already have achieve GNP of USD 40,000. Maybe by then, our currency rate will be RM4.50 to USD1.00. We can achieve that figure, but our wealth relatively to other country is lower. And we are poorer. STUPID UMNO LEADER.
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written by asguard, November 10, 2009 11:22:22
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written by SocratesI, November 10, 2009 10:51:57
This is like asking a thief & plunderer if he knew how to do business ! How can someone who just take what he wants and steals food from the Rakyat of Malaysia, who has no cost of capital, and such abundant resources that cost nothing, know what it is like to do legitimate, legal honourable business ??
Najis Rosak doesn't know Keynesian economics from Friedman's model, or what is Total Factor Productivity espoused by Paul Krugman ... what he knows about economics would rattle very loudly inside a nutshell !
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written by batsman, November 10, 2009 10:45:38
The people of Malaysia are being seduced by Najib.
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written by toni, November 10, 2009 10:41:13
At least you have exposed his helplessness , once again. By golly he's only a playboy due to his pinky lips and big wallet and maybe his height.
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written by Pato, November 10, 2009 10:30:13
The train might have left the station (?) and to say 9% annually is a bit too much and too fast in current environment.
Lets hope i'm wrong.
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written by Apeiron, November 10, 2009 10:22:14
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written by Badrol, November 10, 2009 10:12:31
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written by Ken Liew, November 10, 2009 09:59:54
IF any investor really want to invest in Malaysia, the 1st blockage are the NEP. like HELL i'm gonna spend 30% before i really start benefiting. NEP is a OLD POLICY that helps the minority of the minority malays.
By making 100 super rich Malays, wont help Malaysia become richer...... and the 100 Malaysia that benefit from the NEP, are those related to the moron who walk the corek-doors.
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But when Abdullah came to be the No.1, he should have dissociated himself from that Ministry and let a technically sound financial person helm that portfolio. Or at least a person with some real world training and experience. Plonking himself onto that job just because Mahathir held that post too, Abdullah did the nation no service at all. He should have known his own shortcomings.
And then, worst, he used that Finance Minister-ship as a bargaining chip in his battle to stay relevant to his UMNO buggers, and for a 'graceful' exit. Actually nothing graceful about that, especially when you have Brutus Muhiyiddin pushed the metaphorical knife into his back. So, he handed that portfolio to Najib, who should have been magnanimous enough to recommend another person to that post instead of grabbing that as his power struggle trophy. Or at the very least should have eased himself out of it, once he became the PM.
But we all know that the won't .... not anytime soon. The milking is not fully done yet.
What we really need are technocrats to run those important portfolios. Others, like Culture, Youth & Sports, you can put some ignoramus (like Rais), and it won't hurt us so bad. But the Finance Ministry is one which takes more than the dingaling between the legs to handle. You need some economic/financial smarts & savvy.