Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr. Mahathir,
When Pak Lah announced that the government is going to cut down further on the government spending, he himself actually propheted that a bad time is coming soon and this prophecy of 'bad time coming soon' is indeed self-fulfilling. The announcement makes people wonder whether the Malaysian Government has already borrowed too much from foreign banks and whether the Malaysian Government will be able to maintain a good cashflow plan that allows the government to service the interest and the principal loan amount promptly on their due dates and whether these loans will become Non-Performing Loans (NPL) when the country has to suffer from economic hardship due to escalating fuel costs...
In fact, most economic activities revolve around confidence, except for the funeral home and fortune telling business. If Pak Lah announces today that the government has already secured adequate funds to finance the Bakun Hydroelectric Power Plant Project, I believe Bursa Malaysia will begin to attract a huge sum of foreign direct investment within a short period of time. This is because the external environment of crude oil crisis has already made the Bakun project look economically much more viable and politically much more acceptable now compared to 10 years' ago. When the market starts to show confidence in this project, Pak Lah will be confirmed too sleepy like what you have accused him for the past few years if he continually chooses to bypass the present good opportunity and does not attempt to sell this handsome looking project to the institutional investors!
There are plenty of business opportunities which await our exploration even when the economic prospect looks bleak. To explore the opportunities usually require a leader to possess the sharp business acumen as well as the spirit of entrepreneurship. Does Pak Lah possess all these good leadership qualities like what Tun has? I think it is much better for us to leave it alone for the time being and let it be judged by history in the future!
June 15, 2008 11:27 PM
