Najib-Mahathir feud masks Malaysia’s bad budgetary priorities
William Pesek says behind the dispute between current and former prime ministers, poor economic choices threaten to leave Malaysia trailing in a rapidly evolving region
That’s not the spin from Najib going into next year’s election. The buzz from Team Najib is of revival, epochal reform and Malaysia zooming towards the ranks of top-20 economies. Just look at the numbers, Najib claims. Malaysia may grow at 5.7 per cent next year.
But the problem today, just as 20 years ago, is the quality of gross domestic product gains, not the quantity. The upswing in demand is driven by a populist, election-year budget, which Najib rightfully calls the “mother” of all stimulus plans. It’s also the father of continued complacency – a US$1.5 billion treat for farmers, rubber traders, fishermen and other vested interests that does not raise competitiveness.
Former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad takes aim at Najib Razak and says current government ‘must go’
Cronyism was surely a problem in Mahathir’s day. The patronage system he perfected during his 1981-2003 tenure fell like a house of cards in 1997 and 1998. Rather than rebuild transparently, level playing fields and hone competitiveness, the ruling United Malays National Organisation circled the wagons.