Public in general is getting sick and tired with the excessive politicking and the stalled economy which is directionless. The writing is on the wall that PM-in-waiting Najib Razak will take over the premiership from outgoing Abdullah Badawi in another month so the former does not have to overly panic but instead rejoice together with his wife Rosmah for the coming “Big Day”. Najib should start demonstrating that he knows Economy 101 and is miles better than the sleepy Abdullah. The fact that his political moves, including Perak’s recapture, so far are perceived to be dirty is enough to trigger alerts amongst his advisors to re-strategize the game-plan. People are sick with his tainted image especially with the Mongolian Altantuya baggage. Najib needs re-branding else the novice coalition of PKR-DAP-PAS will find it too easy to capture the Putrajaya.

Really, Najib can actually scores some points if he concentrate on the country’s economy in preparation for the recession onslaught scheduled to hit the shores not many moons away. It’s scary that Dow Jones is now trading below 8,000 psychology level and it could get worse. Najib who was adamant that the country will not enter recession finally admitted that 2009 GDP forecast needs reviewing. There’re times to boost your ego and there’re time to eat humble pie. He may need to cut the fuel price and electricity tariff further to gain people’s support during current trying period. Voters especially the Chinese could easily be swing over to BN during the coming two (or three depending on Elizabeth Wong’s decision) by-elections if Najib can convince the voters that he’s the leader with sound economy understanding.

Stop insulting people’s intelligence when you hiked electricity by 24% in July 2008 but decided to reduce it by merely 3.7% starting Mar 2009. It’s your problem that you happily agreed to purchase excessive power from IPPs (independent power producers) at high price. It’s laughable to read that Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s (KLSE: TENAGA, stock-code 5347) president and chief executive officer Che Khalib Mohamad Noh was chosen as the Malaysia’s CEO of the Year 2008 Award. Not that I’ve any grudges against this person but to continue register losses and to take the easy way out by increasing electricity tariff to improve bottom-line is a pretty simple job, no? Going by the rate on how the company’s total debt increases from RM22.7 billion (Aug 2008) to RM24 billion (Nov 2008) it seems your children will continue to pay for the debts. Sure, go on and blame it on foreign currency conversion losses etc. Couldn’t they find a better CEO for the award?

The 3% cut in EPF contribution for employees with the hope that RM4 billion to RM5 billion could be released to the man on the street doesn’t seem to work because people opted to save the extra dollars instead. It would be nice to declare 2008 and maybe 2009 as tax-free year. Corruptions or leakages are part and parcel of BN’s life but if only during this tough time the federal government could stop the craze-race for the pies and ensure efficient and equal distribution of the taxpayer money in the form of stimulus packages, people would definitely appreciate it. People understand that in order to prevent the power-crazy and greedy BN politicians from running amok, they have to be fed with taxpayer money but now are not the time. The first RM7 billion stimulus plans was already stuck somewhere along the red-tape or bureaucracy pipes and sucked by greedy cronies so if the second stimulus package were to face the same “challenges” then it would be disastrous.

Every Tom, Dick and his dog knows or at least have the perception that the latest Elizabeth Wong’s nude photos issue was politically motivated and all the fingers are pointed at Khir Toyo and Najib’s incoming administration. Even if it was done by enemy within Pakatan Rakyat coalition itself, people tend to believe it’s the hidden hands from BN. And this damaging image of BN that is cheap and willing to go so low to discredit the opposition is something that Najib’s new administration has to tackle. The joke is if Elizabeth Wong was to resign to take responsible for this privacy intrusion than the simple strategy to get Najib to resign is to take his photos when he answers nature’s call *grin*.

Other Articles That May Interest You …

• Go get Kedah and Selangor. Then focus on economy, deal?
• Dirty Politics and Economy – Choose Wisely, Najib
• Perak, PR, BN and Gamuda – It’s all about Business, Stupid
• Why Recession is important and we still need it?
• The Junk US Dollar Skyrockets but whose fault is it?
• In time of Cheap Lobster, Peoples Money are Robbed
• Windfall Tax – Punishment or Desperation for Money?
• Maths Genius Sufiah enjoys Sex career, no Regrets

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February 17th, 2009 by financetwitter

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