YOURSAY | Perhaps Malaysia should also ask Jho Low for economic advice

YOURSAY | ‘It would be madness and disastrous for the gov’t to heed the advice of an alleged culprit…’

Revive mega projects to contain economic fallout, Najib urges gov't

Evin K: The whole world bore witness as to how former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak singlehandedly depleted our nation’s coffers during his reign as “MO1” (Malaysian Official 1) to enrich himself, his family and his cronies.

Somehow, he still feels he is fit to give financial advice on how to revive our economic setbacks, most of which were the results of sinister backdoor ploys that he and his party co-planned and supported, resulting in the now infamous Sheraton Move.

It is evident now, that most of the BN-era mega-projects led by Najib were designed to profit a select number of individuals.

Pakatan Harapan ended all that through its victory at the 14th General Election and giving MACC full reign to finally investigate massive corruption transparently, without fear nor favour.

As a result, Malaysia has grown by leaps and bounds since May 9, 2018. So let us not repeat the mistakes of the past by allowing the same people to return to power.

The impending motion of no confidence must be made Parliament's priority and all remaining MPs of Malaysia Baru must be brave enough to push this historic motion through or risk the progressive reforms in last two years going up in smoke.

Anonymous 2439891477538802: It would be madness and disastrous for the government to heed the advice of an alleged culprit who is now suggesting more expensive graft-ridden projects to save the economy.

What he allegedly did with 1MDB almost bankrupted the nation, and he is now suggesting a "solution" that would definitely turn Malaysia into another Zimbabwe.

Lionking: Najib, are you trying to remain relevant?

This is “very good” advice, and you should be appointed as an advisor to the prime minister, the Finance Ministry, Khazanah Nasional, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and other government-linked companies. What a waste for the country in not using your god-gifted talents.

Maybe your associate Jho Low can also be given a contract to assist you. Malaysia needs both of you and we need to teach all the new recruits in Umno and PN how to manage funds for themselves and for the nation.

Teach them the tricks on how to fool the rakyat by playing the race card and telling them that God has sent you and your likes to help govern the country with ‘honesty and integrity’.

Salvage Malaysia: Well, Najib is partly right. While Harapan wanted to rebuild the coffers of the country resulting in reviewing and cancelling many projects by BN, some were stupid decisions.

This included the gas pipeline project that was cancelled. If the government had paid out 88 percent of the fees despite only 13 percent of the work completed, I would negotiate and pay whatever negotiated balance and force the contractor to finish up the project.

Did you manage to retrieve RM8.3 billion by cancelling it or someone else has pocketed it? And then there was former finance minister Lim Guan Eng’s stupid attitude of forever blaming BN and harping on Malaysia being bankrupt. What kind of finance minister will keep on saying these things to scare away investors?

Yet when it came to projects Lim wanted, such as paying off Gamuda for its highway concessions, there were excellent justifications for a bankrupt government to borrow a further RM6.3 billion to pay three concessions that won’t last beyond 10 years.

That’s how Harapan lost the government. Never put a penny-wise pound-foolish person as finance minister. Lim was not fit for the position.

Anonymous 5237890145285379: @Salvage Malaysia, maybe you should have been an advisor to Lim and supervise a project where 88 percent of the contract cost has been paid but only 13 percent of the work was completed.

If you have achieved the completion of the project, yes, I would say you have the right to criticise Lim. Do you think the Finance Ministry did not consider forcing the contractor to finish the project?

How do you force a contractor which had pocketed 88 percent of a contract but with only 13 percent of the work completed? Will the contractor have any motivation to complete the work?

Who is the very important person forcing the authorities to pay for incomplete work? It smells like rotten corruption to me.

Do you even know what you are talking about? It looks to me like you are still living in la-la land. Just like the numerous writers in the Malaysiakini comment section who always say “oh, make a report to the police” or “make a report to MACC”. Go tell that to the three Mongolian women who did that on their friends’ rape case.

Wee_R_Malaysian: That was why Harapan had to deal with a huge yearly payout of interest and now that the country is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, we can only afford to spend peanuts.

See how much the Singaporean government is paying to keep jobs alive. We need prudent spending by affording only what we can and not splurge beyond our means every year.

Newday: Najib, the rakyat never had the opportunity to reject Harapan. They were dumped via a political coup. That’s your first lie.

Harapan did not reject the mega-projects. They put a temporary stop, reviewed obviously skewed contracts and tried to save much potential excessive spending and got worthwhile projects going again - the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) comes to mind. That’s your second lie.

Neither MRT3 nor the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project was terminated. We just could not afford to proceed at the time due to massive debt issues from 1MDB - your personal favourite mega project, your lie number 3.

You stated that land value along the HSR corridor would appreciate. Who would that benefit? It is no secret that Umno warlords bought up much of the land along this corridor just before the original official project announcement.

So you concealed the real intent and told lies to your followers - the conman in you just cannot help himself.

Kita Orang Biasa: Indeed, Najib must be dreaming. The people did not reject Harapan but some Harapan MPs became traitors and formed a backdoor government. The Harapan government was denied the right to govern a full term and to prove itself.

It’s not about the people but about some traitors who disrupted the smooth running of the government.

Remember you always mentioned that it is illegal to overthrow a democratically-elected government, and your party, Umno, is now part of this backdoor government.

Anonymous_1395579271: Yes, Najib, revive 1MDB too. - Mkini