Relinquish Finance Minister post, Pakatan leaders tell Najib

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

In the wake of corporate confusion, personal scandal and a faltering economy, Pakatan Rakyat leaders are demanding that Prime Minister Najib Razak relinquishes his position as Finance Minister and allow someone who is better-versed to do the job of righting the economy full-time.

“Let’s be frank. Najib has not added value to Malaysia’s economy since he became Finance Minister in late 2008. All we have are flip-flops here and there,” PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar told Malaysia Chronicle.

“And his U-turns are not on small matters but major policies tracked by foreign investors. Such as the New Economic Model which is supposed to underpin our new growth direction but is now frozen just because Perkasa and Dr Mahathir objected. And then the sports betting license, is it on or off? If you want investors to have confidence, you must be clear - not create confusion here and there.”

Preoccupied

Indeed among the last straws to break the Pakatan’s patience has been the embarrassing brouhaha over the issuance of a sports betting license to billionaire tycoon Vincent Tan, a crony of former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

While Najib finally capitulated to the uproar raised by anti-gambling groups and Pakatan, the manner in which he tried to keep secret the fact that the Finance Ministry had indeed approved the license, but not formally issued it, sparked public jeering from market players and the man-in-the street.

So undecided on the issue was the Finance Minister that even his officers were confused, making wrong replies to parliamentarians and deepening the perception of opaqueness in corporate Malaysia.

“Obviously, Najib is too preoccupied. He is frying too many fish in one kuali. But even when he was in the defense ministry, it was in a mess and full of scandals," PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It is a telling sign that the stories have not gone away but actually worsened with time. More revelations are still coming out, and now, even the French authorities are probing his 2002 submarines acquisition for corruption.”

Declining economic future

However, what is perhaps the greatest motivation for Najib to reshuffle himself out of the finance portfolio is the worsening state of the Malaysian economy.

Earlier this week, at a Budget 2011 consultation, Najib warned Malaysians to brace for a slower economy in the second half of this year. Economists lambasted him for his slowness to react because they were already advising caution way back in November 2009 when the Dubai bonds crisis erupted.

But Najib, then banking on a statistical low-base effect to rocket 1st-quarter economic growth, chose to insist on painting a rosy future - perhaps, to bolster his credentials and imply the boost was due to a massive RM67 billion budget he pushed through in 2009.

Analysts also criticized him for lack of alertness and irresponsibility when he failed to scale back his optimism in February 2010, when the Greece sovereign debt crisis shook European markets to the bone, signaling in no uncertain terms that the global economy had clouded.

Malaysia recorded 10.1 percent GDP growth in the January-March period and Minister in the Economic Planning Unit Nor Mohamed Yakcop has warned the April-June period “may not be as good”.

“For the past three months, the Malaysian government has been singing praises about the Malaysian economy - what happened now?” DAP economics chief Tony Pua asked in Parliament on Wednesday.

“We want the prime minister and his ministers to come up with an honest assessment of the country’s economy. The government must come up with an honest assessment on where we are and how to mitigate the slowdown.”

Revert to the past, give up the finance portfolio

Underscoring the lack of co-ordination and cohesiveness in Najib’s financial team are the conflicting views of Nor Mohamed and his colleague in the PM’s Department, Idris Jala.

Perhaps, in a bid to salvage some ‘face’ for Najib following the panning he received, Nor Mohamed has rushed to assure that Malaysia was on track to achieve 6 percent economic growth this year despite a slower 2nd quarter and second half.

But looking further ahead and in sharp contrast, Idris Jala, tasked by Najib to implement politically-sensitive subsidy cuts that will trigger price hikes in a barrage of consumer goods including petrol, has warned Malaysia could go bankrupt in 9 years.

“In normal circumstances, the prime ministers in most democratic countries do not hold two such important posts, especially the Finance Ministry. In Malaysia, that only became the trend in 1998 because of Dr Mahathir’s craze for power and control in the aftermath of the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as finance minister,” Tian said.

“To hold both positions also gives the PM too much say and access over the country’s coffers. It is not a wise arrangement that transparency advocates will ever recommend. Even in Singapore, PM Lee Hsien Loong has some years ago relinquished the finance ministry to Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Malaysia should move along the same lines. It is a fair demand and for the good of the nation."