Dr M: Poor Malaysia. No honour, accountability or pride.

Eight prominent people, including Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, told the media on Wednesday that “the country was not facing a financial crisis”.

KUALA LUMPUR: If everything is fine in Malaysia, as the newspapers reported on Wednesday, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad wants to know why there’s a need to arrest people for “sabotaging” the banking and financial systems in the country. “If they have sabotaged the banking and financial systems in Malaysia, surely they would not be fine,” he pointed out in his latest blog posting. “They would be dysfunctional.”

He was commenting on eight prominent people, including Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, telling the media on Wednesday that “the country was not facing a financial crisis and it’s not going to go into financial crisis”.

But is it true that everything is hunky-dory, that everything is fine? asked Mahathir. “It can’t be!”

“The banks and the financial system may be fine, but there are other indicators to show that the economy was not fine.”

The ringgit was down at USD1 to RM4.30, he reminded the “optimists”. “That’s a big drop in value and it’s bound to affect the import business and loans in USD.”

He noted that the stock market was also down with a big loss in market capitalization. “Again this would not be good for the economy.”

The economic growth is lagging behind those of Indonesia and the Philippines, he pointed out. “This is not normal. We use to leave them far behind us.”

Everyone complains of increases in the cost of living, said Mahathir. “The toll rates are up, rice prices are up, there’s GST, cost of production and services, transport, wages for servants, unemployment of graduates etc. etc are all high, reducing the purchasing power of everyone.”

There is a loss of confidence in the government precipitated by the 1MDB scandal, he continued. “There’s an inability to service debts, even as there’s disappearance of money, and cash turns up in the private accounts of the Prime Minister and subsequently disappears, there’s an inability to explain USD100 million, the Budget 2016 monetary gifts, shrinking national resources, the questionable use of EPF monies and KWAP funds, and hardly any Foreign Direct Investments.:”

So, all cannot be well, stressed Mahathir. “Who is responsible? “

“It cannot be some nonentity!”

It must be the people who manage the economy, who manage the country, the people with power and influence and whose words and deeds can affect the economy, said Mahathir.

In many countries, he said, leaders resign when they fail, when their policies fail, when their cures fail. “They also resign when some catastrophe assails their country, recent examples being Australia and Romania.”

“Of course, they also resign when they do badly in elections.”

However, that doesn’t happen in Malaysia. They find other reasons, find scapegoats, and blame the climate or whatever. “Poor Malaysia,” said Mahathir. “No honour. No accountability. No pride. There’s only self-preservation.”