For many state planners, the diversification to the services sector from manufacturing makes sound economic sense – but does it necessarily mean that workers will be much better off? Continue reading »
The Penang government’s decision to take over the ferry service is a good move especially given the poor performance of Penang Port in running the service.
Penang Port could have done better. It’s a pity that it was unable or unwilling to revamp and expand the ferry service (including introducing new routes) for reasons best known to itself. There was no reason for such a poor service, evidence of which could be seen in the long queues of motorists on the island heading to the mainland at night. There was no shortage of demand, and yet the service was largely neglected.
May 022009
It is disconcerting to see neoliberals in both Pakatan and the BN whole-heartedly welcoming Najib’s liberalisation of services. The DAP, MCA and Gerakan want liberalisation to be extended to other sectors; the MCA even mentioned national security and defence.
No one is saying there shouldn’t be competition in certain sectors. But we are proceeding with liberalisation when some of the regulatory mechanisms are not in place. For instance, health care regulatory mechanisms to cover areas such as laboratory services that were promised a long time ago are not in place.
What has happened to one of the biggest issues of them all – health care financing? The Coalition against Health Care Privatisation had demanded universal health care accessibility and greater allocations for the public health care system. If at all an insurance scheme was implemented, the coalition wanted it to be a universal national health insurance scheme.
