Who would have thought that the former health minister, Chua Soi Lek, would make a comeback after his sex scandal exposed early this year? He was written off from the political scene simply because none of the politicians who involved in sex scandal could come back in a big way. But now it appears this guy has not only come back after a mere 10-month since his cuckoo was revealed to public, he also came back as the deputy President of MCA, the second biggest party in the BN coalition government. As strange as it may look, the return of the sex actor spells more uncertainty to the party.
The newly elected President of MCA, Ong Tee Kiat, has been on cyber-war with the newly elected deputy President, Chua Soi Lek, via their personal blogs ever since the race for the power (and money?) begins. And now both have been put on the bed as newly wed husband-and-wife, it would be interesting to watch how they could sleep and live happily together. The result of the election also shows that the “just awaken” MCA delegates do not mind having a sex actor as their deputy President as long as he dares to speak up, lest they wish the party to become totally irrelevant. It’s always better to have such candidate than to have someone whose task is to submit to the bully UMNO, not to mention the continuity of “Ong-Dynasty”. You don’t need a heart-surgeon to conclude that the Ong-Brothers expired right after the Mar 2008 general election.
The fact is not only has the political landscape changed overnight after the Mar 2008 general election but indirectly the economic landscape has changed as well. Everyone, both foreign and local investors, are awaiting for reforms to happen. With U.S. economic in chaos, the foreign fund managers are not rushing their money into Malaysia. Hey! You can’t fool these investors as the “track record” since 2004 under Badawi’s administration was not that super-duper that they’ve to fight tooth and nail to pour their money in. But with the PM Badawi set to retire for good in another five-months, the shadow of “Mahathirism” comes back to haunt the investors. They still remember how former premier Mahathir “locked” or “trapped” their money from being repatriated overseas. But I guess nobody can blame the dictator as he himself was caught in panic over the 1997-1998 Economic Crisis which within 18-months had erased the KLCI of 1,300 in Feb 1997 to 262 in early Sep 1998.
Until now, it’s hard to say whether his capital control was successful as compared to the IMF-pills swallowed by countries such as South Korea and Indonesia. However one thing is for sure – over the period of 10-year since 1998 crisis, Malaysia could not match the prosperity enjoyed pre-1998. Sure, it appears that the country is not “affected” by the current global economic crisis as per various statements by the government ministers. The joke was that the local stock market did not fall as badly as 1997-1998 Crisis because almost all the foreign investors have exited and is enjoying pop-corn and Coke while watching how the country would perform. Furthermore compared to pre-1997 Crisis, the presence of foreign hot-money post-1997 was laughable. Theoretically the stock market should jump as a sign of approval of the three musketeers – Mahathir-Najib-Muhyddin, right after Badawi thrown in his towel. But it didn’t happen, so go figure.
Whether the de-facto PM Najib (with Mahathir’s influence and tips?) could prove that he’s a better leader (economically) and not another slogan master does not only depends on what he has to announce today (if there’s one) but rather if those actions are practical and achievable. Investors have tasted the Malaysian style flip-fried-with-flop and it would be stupid to order the same dish again. After being tricked by Badawi somehow I’ve a feeling that Mahathir believes it’s better to copy Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew Minister Mentor model since Najib is relatively smarter than Badawi. Won’t it be fun to see if the return of the Sex Actor and the Mahathirism could bring major changes to the country – good or bad?
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Flip-flop Badawi to the Exit Corridor – from Hero to Zero
- A week full of Tensions, Rumors, Sex and Lies
- Malaysia 12th Election – Dynasties & internal Cleansing?
- Chua Soi Lek’s Sex DVDs, Cuckoo ends his Career
- What a day to start the New Year – Sex DVDs anyone?
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October 20th, 2008 by financetwitter
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I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed
reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.thetreadmillguide.com