A tale of 3 prime ministers: No wonder, Malaysia may bankrupt!

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was a visionary leader who forcefully and forcibly guided Malaysia's development by using a form of 'corporate nationalism' to achieve the status of an industrialized nation, within reach of the cosy club of OECD developed nations by 2020.

Now 85, Mahathir made great achievements, setting many benchmarks and milestones. But there also just as many spectacular boo-boos. Overall, by the time he retired the situation was still bearable although the social engineering he implemented through his version of the New Economic Policy was about to implode with the Malays almost fully segregated from the other races.

Mahathir's success story, if it can be called that, stops in 2003 when he abruptly handed the reins to his deputy Abdullah Badawi. It was then that the derailment began.

Badawi sidled in and sidled out, did nothing concrete

Badawi was not able to fit into the shoes left by Mahathir and he also ignored all the warning signals. Badawi was lost in his own world without having any real grasp of what was going on in the country whether economically, financially, socially or politically. He pushed everything to the “fourth floor goons” led by his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin who became known as the youngest de-facto prime minister the country ever had.

Badawi was just the mouth piece and when left on his own, he would even fumble and stammer in answering simple questions posed to him by the reporters. A classic example of his reply on a RM150 million allegedly owed by Sabah Chief Minister Osu Sukam to one of the casinos in the UK. Despite the possibility that the amount may be unrealistically large, Badawi rushed to condemning Osu without checking the facts, saying that if the newspapers said so, then it must be so.

Despite being a veteran leader, Badawi is neither a real politician nor one who can lead the nation through dark times. His critics, many of whom hated him because of Khairy, said Badawi was not even a good administrator - he was just a caretaker and a lousy one too!

Mahathir was already furious when Badawi scrapped the crooked bridge project linking Johor and Singapore, resulting in the BN government having to pay roughly RM115 million in compensation to the concessionaire. It was this episode that was the final straw. Mahathir concluded that Abdullah was not only unfit for the post but made it his mission to kick Badawi out.

Najib blew in and is waiting to be blown out, also did nothing concrete

In the meantime the economy was getting stagnant, yet the cost of everything rose and the government simply could not make ends meet. When Najib Razak took over from Badawi in 2009, he had no choice but to continue to borrow. The government had borrowed before but now, it is truly out of desperation. Thus, our national debt is now more than RM407 billion (2010 figure).

The problem with Najib is that he has too much on his hands. He has his personal scandals, wastages and extravagances, issues involving his brothers and to cap it all, his wife was meddling in the running of the country.

Rosmah's extravagance and showy ways rubbed everyone the wrong way and lately his own son by his first wife, Mohd Nazifuddin, is also in the news pertaining to a timber company.

So far, everything that Najib has proposed and tried to execute has not worked as planned. Maybe that is because there is not enough money but he should settle down, roll up his sleeves and drag Malaysia out from its doldrums. But Najib copped out. He chose to run away on expensive overseas trips that created further burden on the country's already hollow coffers.

His administration has been further aggravated by the scandals of Khir Toyo, Sodomy II, BERSIH 2.0, MACC deaths, police brutality and incompetence, the further deterioration of UMNO, the nearing doomsday for Gerakan, MIC and MCA. The astounding RM407billion in national debt and the Auditor General's report on reckless government spending in 2010 only opened yet another Pandora's Box for BN and a by-now weary Malaysia.

In short Najib has not been able to focus on the management, development, economy and financial health of the country. News is already out of a massive RM6 billion loan granted by the EPF to a FELDA, which keeps insisting it is making money and cash-rich. Why borrow so much money then, especially when there is no commensurate investment to show?

Even the national oil company Petronas has to issue bonds for development capital. It looks like it is set for another disastrous derailment, with Umno and BN unable to break out of their vicious cycle of continuous borrowing and overspending.

It looks more and more plausible that Umno-BN will eventually have to beg to make ends meet. It has already borrowed and “stolen” from Petronas. Next to be looted will be the EPF. Indeed, Corporate Malaysia is going bankrupt!

Malaysia Chronicle