Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has lashed at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for claiming that the ringgit has performed better than the currencies of some other countries.
However, Pua said Najib should be reminded that ringgit stood at RM3.58 to the US dollar when he became prime minister on April 9, 2009.
As of today, the ringgit had slid to RM4.24 to the dollar, down 18.4 percent, he said.
"As a matter of fact, since the 2013 general election, the ringgit has tanked significantly on an annual basis.
"In 2014, the ringgit slumped 6.3 percent from RM3.28 on Jan 1 to RM3.50 to a dollar on Dec 31," Pua said.
The beginning of 2015 saw the ringgit hitting a five-year low due to a slump in oil prices.
Clutching at the straws
Although Najib promised at the time that the ringgit would bounce back, the slide continued throughout 2015 and 2016, Pua said.
"The thing is, if every other currency had declined at the same rate against the dollar, it wouldn't have felt so bad.
"What is particularly galling is that the ringgit performance is the worst among all the major regional currencies over the past few years.
"We have weakened significantly against the Hong Kong and Singapore dollar, the Thai baht, the Indonesian rupiah, the Chinese yuan and many more.
"Hence the prime minister's call for a celebration for a marginal improvement in the exchange rates this year is a serious case of clutching at straws," he said.
The lawmaker argued that essentially, Najib and his cohorts were diverting attention from poor governance, such as the 1MDB controversy.
"We cannot let Najib's focus on the ringgit's short-term improvements distract us from the bigger picture.
"In order for the ringgit to recover to RM3 to the dollar, the only way will be to rid the country of a kleptocratic administration and implement clean, transparent and competitive economic policies to bring back the confidence of local and foreign investors in Malaysia," Pua added.- Mkini
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