Finally, they seem to be taking the economic crisis a bit more seriously. Or maybe they just didn’t want to make us panic and to undermine business confidence any further by telling us that dark clouds lay ahead. But the cat is out of the bag now. Here’s an analysis I did for Asia Times: Malaysia wakes up to crisis By Anil Netto PENANG – A big new economic stimulus package unveiled by Malaysia’s Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak is being viewed as belated official recognition that the country is being hard hit by the global economic and financial turbulence, with worse to come. The Malaysian economy grew by just 0.5% last quarter and many economic analysts have predicted a technical or real recession later this year. The government has revised its own forecast for 2009 down to between negative 1% and positive 1% growth in gross [Read more]

Perak PR turns one with a bite of red eggs under the Democracy Tree – Photos by Kinta Kid Birthday boy Nizar receives a basket of pomelo Kinta Kid reports from the Democracy Tree in Ipoh: A year ago today the new government of Perak was sworn in. Coincidentally it was also the birthday of “MB yang sah” Nizar Jamaluddin. Today, I received an sms at around 5.00pm about a birthday party for Nizar and it was to be held under Pokok Demokrasi at 6.00pm. Where else! The PR team turns one today and the situation today has completely changed compared to the previous 50-odd years. For his birthday, Nizar was presented with a pomelo. (The pomelo is a fruit identified with Ipoh. It is segmented inside but is juicy and refreshing and its outer appearance is packaged well with a smooth and rounded exterior.)
With Ali Rustam now out of the running, the coast appears to be clear for Muyhiddin to claim the Umno deputy presidency with his only challenger now being Mat Taib. The thing is, does it make any difference who the No. 2 is? If anything, this move will only worsen factionalism within the party.
A more meaningful set of asset declarations – this time from the elected reps of Parti Sosialis Malaysia. Simple – just one sheet of paper for each rep – but the disclosures tell you a lot more than the Selangor exco’s. Download/open the disclosures (in .pdf format) from here.
