Christmas comes early this year, does it not? Going by the rate caretaker prime minister Najib Razak is dishing out money as if he was playing monopoly board game, everyone wishes general election is an annual event. I’m willing to bet all my money that Najib could become the next President of the United States hands down with his latest revelation – BN Manifesto or rather Moneyfesto – if he uses the same manifesto to run for his presidency as the 45th President of the United States.
Ever since the BN Manifesto’s announcement, many were shaking their heads in disbelief – how could English-educated caretaker PM Najib blatantly copied opposition Pakatan Rakyat’s Manifesto revealed earlier? Actually, one should not be surprised as it was expected, since Najib was known as not only good in lying but also has great copying skills. Didn’t FinanceTwitter write how he copied former US President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 speech, copied former US President George W. Bush’s war campaign and even copied President Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, as if he was running for US presidency?
The fact is opposition Pakatan Rakyat’s Manifesto was so good and too attractive to be ignored hence the decision to copy it – using different flowerish wordings, of course. What – you actually thought Najib did all his college homework and didn’t pay to copy others hard work? So, you shouldn’t scream till foam at mouth about BN Manifesto ripping contents from PR Manifesto. If you wish to, blame it on PR for doing such a fantastic job with their manifesto. Only luxury and branded products attract counterfeit, hence the abundance of cheap Louis Vuitton (LV), Prada, Breitling, Rolex and whatnot along Petaling Street. Pakatan Rakyat should be proud that their luxury product attracts the attention of Najib’s camp. Furthermore people don’t call Najib as “Ah Cheap Gor” for nothing, right?
If you insist, here are the pirated copies of BN Moneyfesto (*yawn*). One of the biggest attractions in PR Manifesto was perhaps the lowering of car prices by reducing the excise duties (75% to 105%) and subsequently abolish it within 5-year period. That’s roughly 15% to 20% in “yearly excise duties” reduction – a brand new Honda Civic can be owned with a price-tag of below RM70,000. Najib’s manifesto meanwhile promises a gradual car price reduction by 20% – 30% only – without mentioning about the key item, excise duties. Obviously, Mahathir will not allow his pet project, Proton, to graduate but rather to breast-feed it forever, at the expense of average Joe and Jane’s hard earned money.
Not to be outdone, Najib seemed to be plucking the number from the sky when he promises 1,000,000 (that’s 1 million, dude) new affordable homes, dwarfing PR’s suggested 150,000 affordable homes in their manifesto. That was an awesome and unbelievable figures but as long as Najib doesn’t have to give details justification on how the 1 million new homes can be achieved, who cares whether it was 1 million or 100 million, right? To be fair, none from BN nor PR attempts to solve the main problem of escalating home prices – excessive speculation by buyers and developers.
PR Manifesto promises 1 million new job by sending away foreign labours. BN meanwhile plans to keep the estimated 3.1 million documented illegal and legal immigrants (read:phantom voters) in the country. Instead BN promises to create a whopping 3.3 million new jobs by attracting RM1.3 trillion of investments. To add icing to the cake, 2 million will be in high income sectors. On paper, it seems BN wins hands down but since the target of becoming high income nation is still 7 years away, it would be foolish not to over promise. And how does Najib plans to push this country into high income territory? The answer – increase the already bloated public servants’ salary every year during the annual budget presentation, never mind the country has more than RM500 billion in debt already.
Despite successfully recouping its RM6 billion building PLUS highway with a staggering RM24.3 billion in toll collections since 1988, Najib plans to keep the cash-cow while PR promises to abolish the toll collections. If that was not enough, BN Manifesto promises to build more highways – building a 2,300km Pan Borneo Highway from Sematan in Sarawak to Serudung in Sabah and extending the East Coast Highway and building a new West Coast Highway. There’s no free lunch in BN’s vocabulary so expect to continue paying tolls for many generations to come.
Knowing that rampant corruptions is one of the factors voters shying away from BN, Najib decided to insult peoples intelligence (once again) with promise to empower the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission by establishing a Service Commission to oversee the MACC’s recruitment and service issues. PR, on the other hand promised a total reform to institutions such as Judiciary, Attorney General’s chambers, Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission and the police force since all these entities are currently under the control of politicians (read: Najib administration). Without freeing up these institutions from the executive pillar, BN Manifesto is as good as telling your cat not to eat fish.
The main carrot from BN Manifesto is of course the undisputed popular BR1M cash give-away. Who in their right mind doesn’t want cash, right? Hence, Uncle Santa Najib promises an annual affair as far as BR1M is concerned. He even up the ante with promise to increase the RM500 cash gradually to RM1,200 during the next 5 years. Actually the concept of giving money to peoples was initiated by Penang Government under Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng after PR captured the state post 2008 general election. Although the quantum was small, the effect was fabulous. Some of the old and poor who received it from Guan Eng cried not because of the amount of money given, but rather because they were so touched by the gesture since they’ve never receive a single cent from BN since independence.
Thereafter, Najib administration copied the highly popular initiative in order to push the caretaker prime minister’s popularity. BR1M is just like Viagra to help those suffering from impotence, so Najib needs to continuously give BR1M dosage to maintain his popularity. Just like over-use of Viagra, too much BR1M could have its side effects too. Najib may think all Viagra recipients should vote for him since he solves their erectile dysfunction problem. However some people are already thinking how could BN manage the piggy bank. Based on IRD (Inland Revenue Board) approval for 6.14 million eligible recipients of BR1M 2.0, a mind-boggling RM7.3 billion is needed every year to pay RM1,200 for BR1M version x.0 as trumpeted by Najib.
PR Manifesto promises to lower electricity, water and fuel prices. It also plans to abolish the highly controversial AES and revoke all AES summonses. Abolishing monopolies, PTPTN and providing free education were some other initiatives. They also plan to recognise the long overdue UEC (Unified Examination Certificate). Najib didn’t address any of the above. It is safe to conclude that while Najib’s BN Manifesto was mainly targeting short-term goodies, PR Manifesto was drafted for a long-term solution. Many agreed that while PR’s ultimate objective was to teach people how to fish, BN does not plan to do so. BN can only survive if people continues to depend on it to give them fish. If you do not understand this, chances are you may be one of the BR1M recipients. Najib’s simple way of throwing money for votes is simply overkill.
But wait a minute – didn’t Najib administration scream till its face turn blue that PR Manifesto would bankrupt the country (*grin*). Now that Najib’s BN Manifesto copied most of the initiatives presented in the PR Manifesto, does that means BN agreed that PR’s suggestions are workable? Either that or BN is bankrupting the nation as well. And why on earth does genius Einstein Mahathir claimed that BN Manifesto was superior than PR’s stupid Manifesto? It’s puzzling why PR Manifesto was stupid while BN Manifesto was genius when the latter actually copied it from the former. Considering this coming from a trembling old man who would lost everything if the opposition wins the election, you have to take whatever he said with a pinch of salt.
Seriously, there’re some hidden messages with BN Manifesto if you look hard enough. It says it plans to establish a more broad-based tax system, and gradually reducing personal and corporation tax. Do you really need to be a rocket scientist to see this is the final warning that GST (Government Service Tax) is coming? It also promises to develop a national system to provide all Malaysians with access to quality healthcare. What this means is the secret project of “1Care Healthcare Tax” whereby everyone is required to pay up to 10% of his / her total monthly income, is coming soon should BN is returned to power. Don’t say we never warned you that GST and 1Care Healthcare Tax alone would wipe out your RM1,200 BR1M before you can even say “WTF”.
The mind-boggling question – if BN can deliver all those stuffs declared in the manifesto, why it didn’t do it all these years, after more than 50 years in power?
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Parliament Dissolved – Next, Psychological Warfare
- Why Is Genius PM Najib Delaying 13th General Election?
- What Are The Lessons Learned from Sabah Invasion?
- Sabah Invasion – Another Najib Govt’s Screw Up?
- PR Manifesto – More Reasons to Change Govt?
- Malaysian Loves Corruption & Can’t Live Without It
- Budget 2013 – What the Govt Doesn’t Want You to Know
- Genneva Gold – Another Collapsing Ponzi Scam?
- Resign Or Snap Election For Najib, Here’re The Reasons
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April 9th, 2013 by financetwitter
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Comments
Dishing money is only the logical choice. I would have done the same, if I were in Najib shoe, since I am not able to mention the word ‘TALAQ’ to my fat mama.
It is a do or die GE. Since MCA is already dead and MIC has a chance of survival with the help of Hindraf.
Everyone has a price, it just that the urban folks is much more difficult to deal with, compare with the kampung folks. Najib did the right thing to stay alive in the 13th GE, his luck would just run short comes to UMNO election after that, there are so many wolves watching.
Najib in the UMNO AGM’s eleventh hour, might just scream the word ‘TALAQ’ to save his skin once again. GE 13th is a small matter comparatively with UMNO’s election.
Perhaps, some steamy photos in Port Dickson might just emerge from nowhere during UMNO’s election.
Hi FT, do you think the country will go bankrupt in 2019 as said by the KPI minister if the current coalition wins GE13 and runs the country in business as usual manner,ie still putting their hands in the cookies jar?
appreciate your comment kkk … a country goes bankrupt when it can’t pay back its external debts … for the time being, malaysia is lucky to have oil&gas and palm oil to cushion our debts …
however, looking at the exponential external debts against the income from natural resources, it’s a matter of time before malaysia follows those european countries … can it happen to malaysia? it depends on how its external debt grows, so it’s possible … can you imagine malaysia’s external debt balloon to 1 trillion?
cheers …
very good analysis. maybe the following will complete part of the puzzle on “where is the money”. Appreciate your comment!
Is the EPF being looted?
On the 23rd of June 2011, the EPF (KWSP) tabled its annual report to the parliament, declaring a 5.8% dividend and explained that 27% of its investments were in Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) and 32% were in loans and bonds to Govt agencies. A simple chart below summarises the report. At RM 440.52 billion, the EPF is one of the largest funds in the world and represents the life time savings of 12 million private sector employees.
The question is why is it that over 60% of EPF funds are in loans to the Govt and Govt bodies? Is the Malaysian Government a good borrower?
Let’s look at the BN Govt’s financial record….
Below is a summary of the Govt’s annual deficits. The 2012 budget will mark the 15th year of budget deficit with no signal of financial prudence. And as you can see below, there have been supplementary budgets on top of the annual budgets every single year.
EPF annual report 2010
MGS 27%
Loans/Bonds 33%
Equities 35%
Money Market 5%
Govt debt as at Dec 2010 stands at 407 Billion ringgit. 60% of this or 240 Billion is owed to the EPF. This means the BN Govt of Malaysia has already spent 60% of all your savings in the EPF!
After running deficit budgets for 14 consecutive years, and funding those deficits by borrowing, Malaysian Govt Securities (MGS) are rated at CC(-)ve. At CC minus, what is the annual yield? Folks, it’s an unbelievable 3%and below!! Why? Because MGS are not auctioned!! There is a ready buyer for MGS and apart from the endless new PNB funds like the 1Malaysia bond, the main buyer of Malaysian debt papers is the EPF.
“Fair Value” rate for lower grade papers of single A and below is an annual yield of 5% and above. Greek Govt bonds for example are being traded at yields exceeding 21% per annum
The constitution of Malaysia caps Govt debt at 55% of GDP. As at 30th June 2011, Govt debt stands at 433 billion, which is 53% of GDP. At 55% the Govt will be officially in crisis and the constitution will need to be changed to increase borrowing and possibly even require a bail out.
Recently the EU central bank agreed to extend financial aid to the Govt of Greece on the condition they adopt massive austerity measures and that the lenders take a haircut of 50% of all outstanding loans. After all, they continually lent to a borrower who showed absolutely NO commitment to cut expenses and begin to service their debts. Just imagine if the EPF is asked to take a 50% haircut of their debts from the Malaysian Govt!
An even worse scenario was painted recently by Pakatan Rakyat when they reported that much of govt debt was unreported as it is largely hidden from public eye in the form of debt owing by Govt agencies.
As you can see above, the 433 billion owed by the Govt is represented by the red and Orange bars. On top of official figures, an additional 184 billion is owed by various Govt agencies.
Take a look here at another explanation,
So…. Is the EPF being looted? I say yes it is. Let me explain how.
A summary on the 2012 budget is below,
Of the total 233 billion, total operating expenses is at 162 billion and over 64 billion is allocated for the civil service in pensions and wages. Of the massive 233 billion, only 51 billion is going to development, of which over 80% is to construction projects, designed to specifically benefit a few lucky fellows. And talking about lucky fellows, over 10 billion in subsidies paid for by us, are being paid directly to corporate bodies!
And how pray tell will they pay for all this? By borrowing of course! Do they even bother that it is we who will be paying for the debt servicing including interests? Najib even announced that employee’s contribution to the EPF will increase to 12% of salary. Which means even more will be tied up in the EPF
Budget 2012 where it goes
Subsidies 22B
Corporate Subsidies 10B
Civil Service pay 64B
Development 51B
Operating Expenses 88B
in order to enable more borrowing! And if you earn less than RM 5,000, your contribution will increase to 13%.
These are indeed hard times for us, the people. And the Govt has done fabulously well to recognise this by granting pay increments of 7 to 13% to all Govt employees while carefully avoiding the minimum wage issue for private sector employees.
The Govt currently collects about 4 billion from the GST already in place. A one time payment of RM 500 to civil sector employees will cost the Govt over 2.6 billion.
Civil service remuneration cost 20 billion in 2004. This year it will cost 64 billion.
So the bottom line conclusion, again and again is the same. They are looting the EPF to please their vote bank of 1.3 million civil servants.
Hard times indeed… And yet DRB Hicom is buying 237 armoured personnel carriers from Turkey for RM 1.7 billion and selling it to the ministry of defence for RM 7.55 billion. The Malaysian Govt is buying 6 Littoral Combatant Vessels to enhance our Navy. These are the most advanced naval vessels in the world, able to shoot aircraft, ships and submarines… The ONLY other country that has such ships is the US navy. They have 2. We are buying 6 at a cost of 10 billion ringgit. The MRT can be built for 19 billion. But Idris Jala recently indicated that MMC Gamuda may incur more that the originally estimated cost of 54 billion to build it.
The Govt can reduce its subsidies for rice and sugar by opening up the market for other players, but no, both commodities are controlled by the same Govt crony. Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary is the owner of all the companies mentioned above. Since this person took over the exclusive supply of these commodities in 2008, prices have doubled. This is despite the Govt’s subsidy of 60 cents per kilo of rice and 20 cents per kilo of sugar.
The Govt can easily buy the LDP highway for 1.5 billion ringgit, but no, it’s probably better that they continue to collect toll from us and receive 1.5 billion in subsidy from the govt. Our IPPs buy gas at 10 ringgit cheaper than companies in Thailand and 15 ringgit cheaper than Singapore (Per CuM) but the Govt still needs to feed them billions in subsidy.
Year after year after year, the Auditor General’s annual report details all the financial mismanagement in Govt depts. But nothing is done. Take this year’s AGs report for example. The MACC went into high gear and opened 36 investigation files to investigate all the rubbish. And the cases are now closed. They found no element of corruption or deceit. Another thing the AG highlighted is the treasury’s contingency fund of 1.5 billion is now only 79 million ringgit. 1.4 billion is missing…..
The tolled highways were built at a cost of 26.4 billion and the operators have already raked in 37.7 billion and received another 2.1 billion in subsidies from the Govt. And they are planning to raise the rates again soon.
The Govt machinery of Barisan National is a system that benefits and enriches cronies with massively one sided contracts. It also ensures loyalty from a vote bank of 1.3 million civil servants who enjoy all kinds of benefits at the expense of the tax payer. The tax system is designed to exclude the majority of civil servants from actually paying any tax. And Govt debt is going through the roof. In 2004, the total Govt debt was 217. As at 30th June 2011, it stands at 433 billion. Najib’s administration is milking us dry. And
they are using our funds in the EPF to run all these excesses, to enrich themselves, and to bribe the civil service into loyalty.
We EPF investors are 12 million. Vote against corruption, vote against poverty, and vote against the looting of your EPF savings.
Does anyone notices our car insurance rates keep going up?
Also house insurance; apart from screwing us bigtime over many decades with high car prices, they sneak these higher rates pass our noses and no one squeaks.
yes, rosalynn … it has been “quietly” goes up … there will be many other things to go up in prices after election, should BN wins – that’s a promise …
cheers …
FT & silfiro31, Very good comment. Insightful, thanks.
“And why on earth does genius Einstein Mahathir claimed that BN Manifesto was superior than PR’s stupid Manifesto? It’s puzzling why PR Manifesto was stupid while BN Manifesto was genius when the latter actually copied it from the former. ”
This shriveled old Indian always has a twisted logic and loves to go against the grain. Often he thinks he is hell lot of smart but in reality we laugh at the fool he makes of himself.
Didn’t we not have bloggers of his time commenting about how he had fair in school? Just a mediocre. But, as we have seen so many times in our lives, this mediocre always likes to show that he is equal or better than his peers. This is what this old Indian is trying to do and we know him doing it – by cheating.
Perhaps he has cheated the mass too often with his twisted mind and logic. So much so that it has become his habit and he would jump to comment without thinking deeper what he would look like coming out of it; he shoots himself at the foot as a result of it.
Let him be the entertaining clown; without him croaking and supplying twisted logic, GE13 wouldn’t be so interesting. But, let’s not forget, we all know what he is trying to do and we will prove it on 5th of May.
ABU, ABU, ABU.
All these materialism, nice cars at high prices, keeping up with the Joneses mentality, only make the RICH richer. I see ppl rush to work each morning in heavy traffic, needing that paycheck so badly, are all enslaved by the system. I see young mothers up to their eyebrows in credit card debts, just to impress, that they r part of the elite crowd, but secretly, find the repayment of just 5% monthly, unbearable.And this is only part of the reality of living in Klang Valley.
That’s the question on my mind and in fact anyone who can think, why didn’t they do it? After all aren’t they the ONLY govt we have for the last 5 1/2 decades?