Media Statement from Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Leader of the Opposition
29hb. Mei 2009
KENYATAAN MEDIA
Untuk Edaran Segera
Pejabat Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim
A-3A-09, Merchant Square
No. 1 Jalan Tropicana Selatan 1
47410 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Sikap Kerajaan Malaysia yang mengabaikan prinsip tadbir urus dan pertanggungjawaban amatlah membimbangkan. Pada ketika rakyat Malaysia terpaksa berjimat cermat dan resah samada pendapatan mereka mampu menanggung sara hidup, kerajaan kita pula terus menerus mencurahkan ribuan juta dana awam secara culas.
Pendirian sambil lewa umno di dalam menangani skandal Zon Bebas Pelabuhan Klang memperlihatkan sikap sebenar mereka yang sanggup menggadaikan kepentingan negara terutama apabila kecurangan itu membabitkan ahli parti tersebut. Kaedah kes itu ditangani mendedahkan sikap hipokrit mereka yang bertanggungjawab menyiasat skandal tersebut dan juga kes politik wang yang berlaku dalam umno. Kita melihat wujudnya pendakwaan terpilih terhadap mereka yang dianggap sebagai musuh pentadbiran Dato’ Sri Najib Razak.
Kerajaan mendabik dada kononnya sudah ribuan juta diagihkan dari kantung dua Pakej Ransangan Ekonomi tersebut. Namun tidak ada maklumat yang disediakan buat tatapan serta penelitian umum berhubung proses pemberian tender kerajaan. Ini membuatkan rakyat beranggapan pakej tersebut tidak memberi kesan kepada mereka dan menimbulkan rasa sangsi kepada kita bagaimana ekonomi akan pulih sekiranya dana yang ada hanya untuk kepentingan syarikat milik kroni pemerintah.
Ketidakcekapan dan pembaziran merupakan ciri utama birokrasi kewangan kita. Monopoli pastinya menghambat sebarang hasrat untuk memulihkan kedudukan ekonomi Malaysia dan program liberalisasi akan hanya terbantut kerana tidak ada iltizam untuk melaksanakan perubahan.
Sehingga kini tidak ada sebarang perancangan jelas untuk melaksanakan perubahan serta memulihkan ekonomi negara sepertimana yang dijanjikan. Kenyataan oleh Perdana Menteri bahawa negara kita akan pulih menjelang akhir tahun menimbulkan persoalan dan tanda tanya. Ini adalah kerana Perdana Menteri pada ketika yang lain menyatakan bahawa ekonomi negara kita bergantung kepada Amerika Syarikat dan Eropah yang sebenarnya mengakui ekonomi mereka hanya akan pulih menjelang tahun 2010.
Minggu ini Bank Negara mengesahkan apa yang perkatakan oleh rakyat Malaysia-kecuali menteri kewangan- selama lapan bulan ini. Negara ini diambang kemelesetan. Kadar pengangguran akan mendadak naik dan kilang akan lebih banyak ditutup. Berkemungkinan setengah juta orang akan kehilangan kerja. Pertumbuhan untuk tahun 2009 diunjurkan kepada negatif 5%(-5%), kedudukan eknomi terburuk sejak krisi kewangan terbaru.
Cabaran yang mendatang memerlukan pemimpin yang mampu menangani krisis ini dengan berani dan bertindak menentang rasuah dan kronisme. Sayangnya kualiti tersebut tidak ada pada pentadbiran yang baru ini.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
May 29, 2009
MEDIA STATEMENT
For Immediate Release
Pejabat Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim
A-3A-09, Merchant Square
No. 1 Jalan Tropicana Selatan 1
47410 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
The administration’s lackadaisical approach to governance and accountability is deeply disturbing. At a time when Malaysian’s are forced to cut costs and worry if their hard earned money will cover the next month’s bills, our government continues to pour billions in taxpayer money down the drain.
The government’s neither-here-nor-there approach to the PKFZ scandal is a clear sign of UMNOs unwillingness to sacrifice its own delinquent members for the sake of the national good. The handling of the PKFZ affair amplifies the hypocrisy which was manifest in the investigations into money politics within UMNO and the selective persecution of foes of the new Najib administration.
The government has bragged that billions have been disbursed from the two fiscal stimulus packages. Yet there is virtually no information available to the public about the process of awarding tenders. We are left to assume that it is business as usual and have little confidence that the economy will benefit from the misappropriation of these funds that are being channeled to the same coterie of crony companies.
Inefficiency and largesse remain the prevailing traits of our bloated bureaucracy. Government monopolies preclude any significant change in the economic landscape of the nation and promises of liberalisation ring hollow when it comes to the lack of political will to implement change.
To date there is no plan in sight to resuscitate the economy and transform it as the Prime Minister has promised. We hear from him incoherent statements predicting a recovery by the end of the year while at the same time admitting that our economy is beholden to that of the US and Europe, which by their own account will remain weak into 2010.
Bank Negara has this week confirmed what most Malaysians have known already for eight months, save the Minister of Finance. The country is headed for recession. Thousands of jobs have already been lost and in the coming months we know that more factories will be shuttered and more will be laid off – by some estimates up to a half-million people. 2009 growth figures have been slashed to -5%, the worst economic scenario Malaysia has faced since the Financial Crisis.
These challenges require visionary leadership and the courage to act decisively against corruption and cronyism. Sadly both qualities are lacking in the current administration.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
We know that the UMNO led government has no clue as to what needs to be done to avoid the vagaries of another recession.
On the other hand, it does not make anything right just knowing what is wrong. Anwar Ibrahim has to come out with a plan.
Mr Bean - May 30, 2009 at 12:18 am
Anwar and Mahathir once suppressed the $6, or was it $12 billion losses and audit report at Perawaja.
So, he can’t exactly put the full force of moral outrage and authority on this PKFZ horror.
But nevertheless, in the same way that DAP showed how the Toll HIghway charges could be reduced by buying out and taking PLUS private, perhaps PKR and DAP can work on how the losses at PKFZ can be minimised.
Make no mistake. There is no way they can recover the losses to date og about $5 billion. So, it is only a loss mitigation exercise.
My bet would be on cutting losses by redeeming the bond immediately to arrest ballooning of compounding interest costs. They should auction off the land and buidings by open tender and the Govt (taxpayer) will have to bail out PKFZ.
Heads at MCA and UMNO will have to roll, including those of Ling, Chan and that BBC man !!
donplaypuks - May 30, 2009 at 12:54 am
This is serious and we don’t want “Ling, Chan and that BBC man” heads to roll amongst us, the jobless! Imagine what havoc they will create – better to ship them out to Pulau Ketam as dogcatchers. There they can reminicse of what should have been.
Menyalak-er - May 30, 2009 at 2:06 am
“Anwar and Mahathir once suppressed the $6, or was it $12 billion losses and audit report at Perwaja.”
You gotta give it to Anwar. He did call for the release of the audit of Perwaja’s accounts if I remember correctly – or was it a fresh independent audit? Don’t know if it was a PR exercise knowing that his boss would never allow it.
There are likely to be criminal activities in many of these cases – which is why UMNO will fight tooth and nail to remain in control.
Mr Bean - May 30, 2009 at 2:34 am
“To date there is no plan in sight to resuscitate the economy and transform it as the Prime Minister has promised. We hear from him incoherent statements predicting a recovery by the end of the year while at the same time admitting that our economy is beholden to that of the US and Europe, which by their own account will remain weak into 2010″–Anwar Ibrahim.
Resuscitating the economy requires leadership that can inspire public and investor confidence and reassure citizens that government policy responses are coherent and effective. It is not pumping money into the economy using a scatter gun approach. So, first, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet must accept the reality of a recession–in fact, I believe we are in a recession–and, second, they should have plan for recovery which must be tabled in Parliament and, third, there must be an efficient machinery to execute the plan. But if the government is still in a state of denial and shows a lack of political will, we are lost.
Tan Sri Amirsham is not the right man to head the economic team since he is just an accountant with banking experience with one bank, Maybank. An eminent Malaysian economist should have been considered. The rest of the economic team has yet to be announced, but I am sure yes men (Tan Sris and Datos) and business cronies will join the team. Can we expect fresh approaches from these people? Not likely.
I am told that another stimulus package is being considered. What happened to Stimulus P-I and Stimulus P-II? There must be a detailed report to Parliament on how the monies were spent under these packages. Is this forthcoming from a Prime Minister who only knows how play kampong politics. Again, not likely. So we need economic leadership that can attract support from the people and in order to get that non partisan support, we must be given a full account of the true state of our economy. No more fudges!
Din Merican - May 30, 2009 at 7:40 am