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While Najib eyes Perak, the economy sinks…

Anil Netto

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5 Feb 2009

Folks, we are in trouble.

Our Prime Minister is on his way out – even though more and more people now want him to stay on (for the time being!) given the choice of his successor.

The prime minister-to-be, his deputy, who is also Finance Minister, is now busy trying to topple the Perak state government. He is meeting the Perak Sultan tomorrow to try and persuade him to allow the BN to form the government.

So who is managing the economy now? Is it running on auto-pilot?

When I look at the economic figures, they look alarming. Total number of workers employed down, industrial production down, foreign reserves down, electrical and electronics exports fell 16 per cent (gulp!) …. and that’s just for November. Things have surely got worse by now. The scary part is we still have not reached the bottom of the pit (althougth The Edge, 2-8 Feb 2009, states boldly – and inexplicably – on its cover that “this year is expected to be better (for the KLCI)…”).

So with that in mind, I wrote this piece for Asia Times:

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96% say BN will suffer in next GE: ntv7 poll

Anil Netto

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4 Feb 2009

95

Many Malaysians do not seem to be amused by what the BN is doing in Perak.

An SMS poll on ntv7 over its prime time 8.00pm news in English asked whether the Perak crisis would affect the BN’s performance negatively in the next general election.

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High drama in Perak

Anil Netto

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4 Feb 2009

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<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=782f242c47" >High drama in Perak</a>

79% want new polls as Perak govt on verge of collapse

Anil Netto

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4 Feb 2009

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The clamour for fresh state polls in Perak is building up as two Perak state assembly reps from PKR have quit the party while Hee has also reportedly quit the DAP. If all three were to defect to the BN – as seems likely – then the Pakatan Rakyat coalition government will not have the numbers to rule.

Now 79 per cent of 439 respondents to the poll on this blog (as at 4.00pm) are calling for fresh state elections in Perak. That’s up from 69 per cent at 12.45pm today.

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Link top management’s salaries, perks to productivity

Anil Netto

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4 Feb 2009

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Remember how in the past, whenever Malaysian workers called for a minimum wage so that they could make ends meet and live with dignity, they were often lectured by CEOs about the need to improve productivity to justify their wage hikes. These CEOs were thinking of other people’s – their workers’ – productivity, not their own.

After what has happened with share prices plummeting and lacklustre corporate figures, I don’t think many CEOs will be using that line anymore. In fact, big question marks now hang over the productivity and performance of not a few CEOs.

Think about this:

“From 2002 to 2008, the five biggest Wall Street securities firms [Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley] paid an estimated $190 billion in bonuses. Those companies churned out $76 billion in combined profits during the same period. Last year, the companies had a combined net loss of $25.3 billion, yet paid bonuses of roughly $26 billion.”

Lucchetti, Aaron and Matthew Karnitschnig. 2009. “On Street, New Reality on Pay Sets In: Financial Firms Race to Reset Compensation Policies as U.S. Government Aims to Set Some Limits.” Wall Street Journal (31 January): p. B 1.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123336341862935387.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

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Dissolve state assembly, say 72 per cent of you

Anil Netto

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4 Feb 2009

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So far, as at 1.52pm today, 72 per cent of the 258 respondents to the online poll on this blog think the best solution to the Perak situation is to dissolve the state assembly and pave the way for fresh state-wide elections.

Another 20 per cent of you think by-elections would resolve the situation.

That’s over 90 per cent calling for new polls in one form or another.

This could sort out the mess once and for all.

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No by-elections, says EC – so what happens now?

Anil Netto

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3 Feb 2009

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The political turmoil in Perak has taken on a new twist with Election Commission chairperson Abdul Aziz reportedly saying that no by-elections would be held because of doubts over the resignation letters of the two state assembly members.

Aziz pointed out that the assembly members had sent in new letters to deny the validity of the resignation letters submitted by the Perak Speaker.

Where does this leave Perak? Will we see a battle in the courts?

See Aliran president P Ramakrishnan’s statement here in which he says the Election Commission’s decision is ultra vires.

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Israeli envoy caught warning of mobilisation against Iran

Anil Netto

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3 Feb 2009

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Was the recent Israeli offensive against Gaza a “pre-introduction” to Iran?

In an unguarded speech, during which he was not aware he was being filmed by the media, Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem, issued a strident warning against Iran.

“(He said) the country’s recent military offensives were a ‘pre-introduction’ to the challenge Israel expects from a nuclear-equipped Iran within a year,” Australia’s Seven News reporter Sarah Cummings was quoted in The Australian as saying.

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So this is Mahathir… according to Tawfik

M'sian politics

Anil Netto

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3 Feb 2009

18

Remember how Mahathir often liked to say that the major decisions of his administration were often made after consulting his Cabinet ministers and obtaining their consensus?

Mohamed Tawfik, the son of the late deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, has a different take on this.

Tawfik was dropped as an Umno MP in 1990. When asked how that happened, he explains in the cover story of The Edge, Options pullout (for the week of 26 January 2009):

Mahathir called me into his office before the election. I was with my journalist friends when he called, so they started joking that I was going to be made a deputy minister.

Sorry to disappoint them… I went to see Mahathir and the first thing he said was, ‘You know, not every son can be like the father.’…

I thought to myself, bloody insult!

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