UMNO Youth deliver on the election promises or take a hike

 Will 20cent hike unseat the PM? Unsavory tales of governance from UMNO

“My recommendations are sincere and well in line with the statement made by his own Cabinet colleagues such as Khairy Jamaluddin, who admitted his ministry is trying to reduce costs and increase savings,” said Rafizi.

“One of the easiest ways to save public funds is to revoke special privileges on gasoline expenses now enjoyed by ministers, deputy ministers and their senior officials. This will teach them to be more careful in planning trips and programs.

Make no mistake, a second Asian Financial Crisis is on its way. This storm will not blow over soon. It originated in the US, when the Fed proposed to taper and end quantitative easing.

The frightening thing is that this will happen in stages over the next 12-18 months, and each turn of the liquidity screw can cause a fresh financial storm. Nothing that Najib says can avert the storm.

The government should cut its expenditure following the fuel price hike yesterday to show that it is serious in reducing its fiscal deficit, said Umno Youth.Najib have mismanaged economy for the last few years      

The Prime Minister can only convince the public of his sincerity and necessity of raising RON 95 petrol prices by 20 cents to save annual subsidy costs of RM 3.3 billion by also implementing open competitive tenders and fighting corruption which would save RM 51 billion annually.Without accompanying measures that demonstrates the Federal government’s commitment against corruption, the public would easily see through such fake sincerity and counterfeit necessity to cut costs.Why should the people, especially lower-income groups, bear the pain of paying RM3.3 billion annually in increased petrol prices if no action is taken against those political bandits who steal the nation of RM 51 billion annually?

Instead of responding to such simple logic, the Federal government would try to divert attention away from the inescapable conclusion by playing up racial, religious and extremist sentiments.

Such racial and extremist tactics are used successfully by BN to avoid dealing with the 4 real problems of Malaysia namely, crime, corruption, rise in indebtedness of governments and individual households as well as the declining educational standards, productivity and skills of Malaysian labour force. In Hong Kong, many investors and analysts identify these four main issues have made Malaysia less attractive or even less competitive

Reducing crime is not that difficult if the BN Federal government is willing to let the police fight crime instead of monitoring opposition leaders. Presently only 10% of the police force are involved in crime investigation work. If that proportion is increased to 50% of the total police force, I am certain police omnipresence will be able to defeat criminals in Malaysia

Umno Youth has urged the government to formulate concrete measures to safeguard the people’s welfare and mitigate the effects of the recent increase of fuel prices.

Its chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the latest petrol subsidy cuts, which were announced on Monday, would directly affect the livelihoods of low to middle-income Malaysians.

“We are concerned about the people following the reduction of fuel subsidies recently.

“We therefore urge the government to ensure that the welfare of the people is protected under the 2014 Budget,” he told reporters after chairing an Umno Youth executive council meeting here yesterday.

Khairy said the government, under the upcoming 2014 Buget, should carry on with the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia cash handout programme, as well as introduce tax cuts to alleviate the people’s financial burden.

“We also hope that the government will monitor the price of goods. We urge the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to take strict and swift action against any companies found to have increased the price of goods and services unreasonably.”

Elaborating, Khairy said the monopolies of certain goods currently held by several companies should be checked and halted.

“These monopolies have caused the price of goods to remain high. If the control of such commodities are broken and liberalised, the prices of goods will fall, thus improving the people’s livelihood,” he pointed out.

Khairy also urged the government to reduce the subsidies given to large corporations in an effort to cut the nation’s fiscal deficit.

“The government should conduct a study to reduce gas and fuel subsidies given to owners of factories. Subsidy cuts must also apply to big companies, and not just the people.”

On another matter, Khairy said the Umno Youth did not agree with some of the suggestions put forward in the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

“We have agreed and decided that several issues are non-negotiable. We feel that any plans to expose Malaysian-owned companies to an unfair playing field would be unfair.”

He added that the government should not compromise the bumiputeras’ economic agenda, and that any plans that would impede the development of the bumiputera entrepreneurs should be opposed.

Meanwhile, the Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid has confirmed that the electricity tariff would remain at the same rate despite the hike in fuel prices.

“Although the price of gas and other natural sources of energy continues to soar, the government would still maintain the current tariff rate,” he said after launching the seminar for Renewable Energy Specialist Trainers, here, today.

So many stories coming from UMNO people, now thatNajib has decided to project himself as the  only  PM candidate. As the smog around him lifts, it becomes more and more clear that Najib is hardly the exemplar of great governance it is made out to be. At first, it was only the fake claims of development: hugely exaggerated investment numbers courtesy Vibrant PRO, brushing-under-the-carpet of the dark spots like  numbers, and of course, usurping of the Malaysia’s prosperity and development, even though that predated his regime. But now, questions of basic governance are being raised.

Lokman Noor Adam, who is vying for the post of Umno Youth vice-chief, said he is disappointed with his party over the recent fuel price hike.Can someone explain how the 20sen diesel price increase from RM1.80 to RM2.00 resulted in the Johor bus assoc members’ costs to go up 30%?Does it make sense for PM to increase prices of fuel and with the saving RM3.3 billion a year to finance BR1M3.0, which should be more than RM500. This would happen every year as the amount of BR1M increases and so the fuel prices. Don’t be surprise if nasik lemak biasa would cost RM10 by the year 2018 when GE14 would be held. the damage has been done, pointless to cry over spilt milk. Any kind of handouts proposed will not salvage the far reaching effects of this foolish move by Umno. The move is so ludicrous that people wonders whether this is really subsidy rationalization or to cover the extravagant life style of the rich and powerful. Raising petrol price is the worst that Umno can do as it has repercussions on all other commodities – transport, food, provisions, pharmaceuticals and all activities related to these items. The most affected are wage earners, pensioners and the poor. Heartless businesses are just waiting for these opportunities to raise prices and make easy money. Why rob the poor? If Umno cannot do without the extravagance at least stick to taxes that effects one according to his purchasing power instead of pushing up the cost of living for all and sundry. A 11% increase in Ron 95 will see a 11% increase in a ball of soup mee. Well done Najib. Make the traders richer.

Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir keeps the guessing game going on rumours that he is going for the Umno vice-president post in the upcoming party polls.

The son of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is keeping mum on his decision as speculation is rife among bloggers that he is contesting one of the three vice-president posts.

From India Don’t waste petrol, pleads PM. And what about you, your ministers and babus, Sir?

The economist Prime Minister of India is quite perturbed over our dipping economy and the rising dollar. And the other day, in his uncharacteristically aggressive avatar when he took on the opposition, he also pleaded with his countrymen to save petrol and not waste it.

It was, for a change, a sagely advise and I welcome it fully, PM, Sir. For, not only will it save precious foreign exchange but would be great for the environment too. I would have been happier if you had also announced some incentives and policy guidelines on how one can use less petrol/fuel. Perhaps a line or two with advise to your policy makers to actively promote non-motorised transport, among others.

And dear PM, do you know why, despite the genuine concern with which you advised people not to waste petrol, the common man still derides you for what you said? It is because he knows you can never practice what you preach.

They see you, other politicians, especially ministers and bureaucrats, waste petrol with impunity. They also know that all those who make these pleas will themselves never be hit by any price rise even if the rate were to go up not by Rs 2 per litre but even Rs 1000 per litre, because they never have to pay for it. Their bill is, and will, always be footed by us, the common man, through the tax we pay for you to be able to maintain your luxurious, profligate, lifestyles.

Look at the number of cars that accompany all your ministers, from you to the junior most. Do a discrete enquiry about how the posse of cars at their disposal is misused by anyone in these offices, from PAs to EAs to all others, with the attendant red light beacons atop. It is as if it has been received in dowry with a lifetime, guaranteed, fuel supply.

And not just your ministers, look at the bureaucrats, and don’t need to go out of Delhi for that. Just a cursory look at what happens in Delhi alone would suffice. Each and every senior government officer misuses the ‘official’ vehicle (office cars, cars summoned from PSUs under ministries and taxis) made available to him or her. Madam’s kitty parties, dropping kids to school, grocery shopping, getting to personal parties to anything else is ‘official’. And why do they get away with it? Because I and 99 per cent of those reading this post, are paying for its misuse.

In fact, I have a good mind to file an RTI application to check how much you dole out as fuel bill for your officer in Delhi. And in that I would include what you pay the taxi companies whose services you employ. Needless to say, I would also like to know who owns the taxi companies these contracts are given to.

I read a statement by the petroleum minister that in order to curb petrol usage, he would ask the petrol bunks to be shut at night. Again, it is a well-intentioned move, but will be seen as no more than a knee-jerk response. What you need to do is provide a credible public transport system to the population.

Delhi already has a metro that is as close to world class as we can create. But how many of your ministers or Babus ever use public transport? Delhi Metro touches the major office areas of the city such as Udyog Bhavan and Central Secretariat. Even your own office and Rashtrapati Bhavan are walking distance from these stations. Why not make it mandatory for all those who do not have a threat to their lives to use the metro? Offices can run shuttle services from the stations to the office and even from the sprawling government residential complexes to the nearest metro stations. Or is it below the dignity of all your non-clerical officers to be seen in a public transport with dirty, smelly, commoners?

PM, Sir, please remember that we, the common people, will respect you if you were to follow certain principles yourself. For that, you need to convince us that you practice what you preach. If you are unable to set your own house in order first and still want to preach, you should desist from playing a sage.

In the meanwhile, have you seen an advertisement where Sachin Tendulkar drives around an SUV at a track and has a great time and then emerges, excited like a child and asks, let us go for a drive again. You could perhaps advise the nominated member of the Rajya Sabha and also a Bharat Ratna aspirant to not do adverts that make a virtue out of wasting ‘precious’ fuel.

Learning from the 1997-99 experience, all Asian countries (including India) have built up large forex reserves, reduced leverage compared with 1997, and shifted to floating exchange rates. This makes them far more resilient, so they should not collapse as in 1997-99. But they will suffer severe damage regardless.

Depreciation raises the price of all items that can be exported or imported. Estimates differ, but a 10% depreciation probably sucks out 1-1.2% of purchasing power through inflation.

At Rs 68 to the dollar, currency depreciation is around 25% since May, implying a loss of purchasing power of 2.5-3% of GDP. That is hugely recessionary. It will be reflected in much higher prices of petroleum products, fertilisers, most commodities, and knock-on transport and material costs.

Chidambaram wants people to invest, but the coming recession will induce every corporate to postpone investment. A falling rupee keeps making Indian assets cheaper in dollar terms, so foreigners thinking India has good long-run prospects will wait till the Fed’s storm ends.

The fall in purchasing power created by a falling rupee cannot be offset by a huge fiscal and monetary stimulus, as in 2008.

Storm will continue

Chidambaram has sworn to hold fiscal deficit at 4.8% of GDP. With slowing revenues and rising subsidies, only slashing Plan spending can check fiscal deficit.

Money must be kept tight to check inflation. So, the crashing rupee will generate pro-recessionary fiscal and monetary forces. This in turn means corporate earnings will crash, a good reason to dump shares.

Corporates with large unhedged dollar borrowings will suffer huge balancesheet losses, jeopardising banks that have financed them. International rating agencies will have good reasons to downgrade India, worsening the climate further.

Rohini Malkani of the finance minstry wrote in this newspaper on Tuesday that using a model based on relative inflation with trading partners, India’s equilibrium exchange rate should be the July level of Rs 58-60 to the dollar.

Many experts say the rupee has overshot and will come back. Really? Remember the same thing was said about the Indonesian rupiah when it depreciated from 2,500 to 3,000 to the dollar in 1997, but it eventually went all the way to 18,000.

Estimates based on fundamentals quickly become meaningless because a crisis changes fundamentals hugely. The crashing rupee has already changed the economy’s fundamentals. Do not think that the rupee has just temporarily overshot, and will revert soon to Rs 60 per dollar. The storm is going to continue well into 2014.