Malaysia is facing bankruptcy and PM Najib Razak was not talking nonsense when he made the threat. So, it’s either GST at 6% or he’s flying off to Bahamas for good, leaving Malaysians to settle the nation’s debt. The country has proudly accumulated more than RM550 billion in gross debt from 1990-2013 (the actual figure is higher) and to pay an interest of merely 1%, that would be a mind-boggling RM5.5 billion a year. If you don’t know how much is RM550 billion, that’s 10-digits of “0” behind “55”.
That’s why GST is the only solution that could save Najib administration. By implementing GST at 6% (the current regime can always raise this figure whenever the need arises, of course), it would generate an estimated extra RM30.75 billion annually. With this mountain of money, the present regime can “buy” or “calm” many angry people especially rural supporters over price hikes. Luckily kampong folks are nice people – give them some loose change and they would thank God for sending Najib the son of Razak (*grin*).
Since the opposition couldn’t finish off the current regime once and for all during last year’s general election (GE), chances are super slim for it to achieve the goal in the next 14th GE. Similarly, we wrote earlier that Najib should finish off Mahathir’s team before the last year 13th GE but he didn’t. Now that Najib has won the 13th GE battle with bruises all over his body, Mahathir’s team is making its move. This time, Mahathir wants Najib to officially create a senior position, similar to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, so that he can rule from behind the curtain.
Heck, Mahathir is not only aiming for Najib but also the opposition at the same time. Mahathir is a dangerous yet smart person. He’s a great tactician. He can start two wars at the same time and you won’t know what hit you. Alternative media wise, Kadir Jasin is being used to attack Najib Razak while Malaysia-Today’s RPK is entrusted to bombard opposition Pakatan Rakyat. And Mahathir is grinning from ear to ear because opponents opposition and Najib administration are attacking each other at the same time too.
If United States attacks both China and Russia at the same time but China and Russia are also fighting each other, do you really need to be Warren Buffett to bet your money on the winning side? PM Najib should come out from his hiding place and take on this war like a man. The time for him to wait-see-hide and wait-see-hide again is gone. He should realize that he’s no longer a kindergarten kid playing hide-and-seek game anymore. He’s the Malaysia’s Prime Minister, the most powerful person in the country. He has to show that he’s not a “Kangkong Prime Minister”.
Obviously, the best bet for the opposition is to maintain Najib as the prime minister, at least till the next 14th GE. It’s a lose-lose situation if Najib be brought down before the next GE. If Najib is down, a similar draconian ISA could be introduced and that would wipe out the opposition, similar to 1987 “Operasi Lalang” crackdown. What – you actually think Mahathir cares about the stupid democracy and thousands of people rallying about good governance, fair election and whatnot?
Instead of increasing multiple taxes on average Joes and Janes, perhaps Najib should explore ways to take money away from cronies’ pocket, most of whom are still nominees of Mahathir. There’re billions of dollars ready to be “taxed” from cronies such as Ananda Krishnan, Syed Mokhtar Albukhary and Yeoh Tiong Lay, just to name a few. He should hit his enemy where it hurts the most – money. Why Najib is so scared of these few cronies puzzles even my hamsters.
There’s only so much you can do taxing the poor before you hit the tipping point. What else can Najib do to fulfil his heavyweight (oops, heavy spender) wife and corrupt government? Perhaps he should consider making money from the schools (*tongue-in-cheek*). In Britain, some schools such as Emerson Valley School have start imposing fines on parents. Apparently, parents are being fined £60 if their children are a few minutes late for school. This penalty can be doubled if they fail to pay within 21 days. Of course the objective here is to crackdown on discipline.
This is getting interesting. Najib administration could adopt a similar model to collect more money. As of 2013, there’re 5,038,358 primary and secondary students in Malaysia. If only 1% of these students are late to schools, there would be 50,383 parents who need to pay penalty to the schools. Assuming each needs to pay RM60 for such offence, schools can actually make RM3,022,980 a day. Based on 2013’s total school days of 205, that’s a staggering profit of close to RM620 million (*wink*) in a year. So, is PM Najib “creative” enough to tax the students (*grin*)?
If shoppers’ spending during this Chinese New Year festival is any indicator, 2014 is going to be a really tough year. With less than two weeks before the celebration, you can hardly see any long queue at places such as Tesco, Aeon Big (formerly Carrefour), Giant or Aeon (Jusco). Domestic spending is going to be slow this year. If PM Najib does not do the right thing, he could be an easier meat than his predecessor Abdullah Badawi. Mahathir may just need to sneeze for Najib to resign.
Coincidently, this year of Horse ( 馬) has a symbolic meaning as Mahathir’s name, if translated into Chinese, starts with horse ( 馬) also. So watch out Najib – while 2014 is the year of the Wooden Horse, this innocent looking horse could be a Trojan horse within UMNO ready to cut short your vacation in Putrajaya. Nevertheless, will we get to see PM Najib wearing Chinese costume and beating drum while acting like Wong Fei Hong during this Chinese New Year?
Other Articles That May Interest You …
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- Fuel Prices Hike – Can You Blame PM Najib Alone?
- BN Moneyfesto – Do You Know The Hidden Messages?
- Budget 2013 – What the Govt Doesn’t Want You to Know
- Govt, TNB & IPP Milking Petronas & People – These Charts Tell All
- Marcos, Mubarak & Mahathir – Who’s The Richest Man?
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January 24th, 2014 by financetwitter
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Comments
Najib flying off to Bahamas for good? A wishful thinking but may not be that bad after all.
First, there would no leadership; GE14 may be called sooner. And if the “hard-cored” 47% could be “turned around”, a new government would form.
The new government would face empty coffer, RM550-billion debts. But they would also have a record of all the invalid lopsided contracts that had been implemented and the obscenely fattened cronies around notably “Lao Mah” and his children. They could wring back $$$ from these fattened cows which previous government had no balls to touch them. (All lawyers could tell you that a contract has to be fair to both parties). And the deficit could be drastically reduced or even eliminated giving a big relief to all Malaysians.
Furthermore, toll could be abolished; IPP operators would drastically cut their tariffs, car prices could be reduced by as much as 30% …. Wau!
Meantime I would like to see what “Lao Ma” would do as the tiger he is riding grows bigger and bigger with time.
Nice article.