Chow Kon Yeow: 曹观友

Signs of stress behind Malaysia’s rosy growth
Wed Jul 5, 2006 4:04am ET

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s economy is growing at around 5 percent a year and exports are strong, but trouble is brewing for the government as consumers are squeezed and firms grumble about infrastructure spending cuts.

“I hear about how well the economy is doing but I don’t feel it,” said Choo Chin Teck, a 43-year-old lawyer who also runs a printing firm.

“Turnover in my printing business has fallen 20 percent from last year and legal work for property transactions has slowed down. I have to watch my spending these days.”

Choo’s experience seems widespread. As a result, confidence is flagging and cracks are appearing in the economy, breeding discontent with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s two-year-old government.

“It’s obvious that the economy is slowing down,” said Mohamed Ariff, executive director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), an independent think tank.

“Consumer sentiment has been on the decline for some time and private investments are also down.”

Costlier petrol and electricity and rising credit costs are hurting consumers at a time when the economy is struggling to adjust to a cut in public spending on big infrastructure projects, an engine of growth under Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister for 22 years until late 2003.

One sign of softening consumer spending: total vehicle sales in car-mad Malaysia fell in May for the fourth straight month. (more…)

The cardinal rule in the Malaysian Parliament is no Opposition motion can be supported.
Sharir resigned as BBC chairman because he supported Kit Siang’s motion to refer the MP for Jasin to the Privileges Committee over the “close one eye” Custom scandal. Remember the two MCA Assemblymen who were suspended for not voting against a DAP motion on the Penang Outer Ring Road at the Penang State Legislative Assembly.

Karpal has this in mind when he raised objection to a new sub-clause on the Disciplinary Board of the Bar Council in his speech yesterday afternoon.

Karpal cited a case of conflict of interest and a violation of the rule of natural justice if the new sub-clause is approved.

The sub-clause says: No act or proceedings of the Disciplinary Board shall be invalidated solely on the ground that the President of the Malaysian Bar or his representative has taken part in any deliberation or decision of the Disciplinary Board relating to any complaint where the Bar Council is the complainant.”

It means the Bar Council would ends up as a judge and the jury.

This morning, a notice of amendment was tabled by Nazri. He agreed with Karpal’s argument and seeks the leave of the House to waive the Standing Order’s requirement for a day’s notice to strike out the said sub-clause from the Bill.

Nazri added that since Karpal did not submit an amendment, the government would do it.

In a witty reply, Karpal said, “I purposely did not want to move an amendment, knowing fully well that any Opposition’s motion would be rejected by the BN backbenchers.”

“Anyway, I got what I wanted and thank you Minister, for accepting what I have proposed.”

Karpal was beaming as his proposal was accepted by the government.

Met during the lunch break, MP for Ipoh Barat Kulasegaran said,” It is a great victory for the DAP as the government has finally took into account our objections and have the problematic clause deleted.”

Nazri tried to be diplomatic about the whole episode. He said this showed that the government is open to good suggestions and the Opposition need not worry that the BN would object everything from the Opposition.

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of better things to come.