JANUARY 22 — The prime minister announced three major strategies to tackle the impact from falling international oil prices and depreciating ringgit. Among the strategies are those that are within people’s expectation and those that are not.
It remains public focus how the government is going to implement the austerity measures. Many thought the government would put the mega projects on hold to cut expenses, but the PM announced that all major infrastructure projects, including the LRT, MRT, KL-Singapore high speed rail and Pan-Borneo Highway would go on as planned. However, the government would cut back on administrative expenditures, including suspending the national service program, reducing event and meeting expenses, suspending non-urgent purchases and reducing allocations to statutory institutions, among others. This will help the government save some RM5.5 billion.
From what I have observed, the public are basically supportive of the government’s determination to cut back administrative expenses, and they also agree that major infrastructure projects should not be halted just that. Nevertheless, the public are divisive over Najib’s claim that the national economy is not in a crisis like in 1997/98 and 2009.
Some say that it is overly optimistic to claim that the national economy is not yet in a crisis because if our economic strategy planning team indeed had some sense of crisis, it would not have drafted this year’s budget based on the crude price of US$100 per barrel.
To be fair, fluctuations in international oil prices are bound to affect the future performance of our economy. It remains to be seen whether the oil prices have already fallen to the bottom of the valley and will stage a rebound soon. But one thing is for sure: neither the government nor the public should go without the slightest sense of crisis, or the country and her people will sink deeper into despair if a turnaround in oil prices does not emerge.
I need to emphasise here that the sense of crisis should not be seen as equal to pessimism. Pessimism will only bring disappointment and create panic but the sense of crisis will inspire people to work harder. It is of utmost importance that we remain confident and sober while actively looking for solutions to revive the national economy in the midst of such a sense of crisis.
The sense of crisis will not erode a people’s fighting spirit but will only propel them to create one after another economic miracle, as proven in post-war Germany, Japan and South Korea.
One common feature among these three peoples is that the people not only boast strong nationalism, they also have very intense sense of crisis.
It is because of this that these three countries have been able to deliver themselves from wartime afflictions to promptly emerge as economic powerhouses in the midst of stiff global competition.
A critical fact that has often been overlooked by economists and political leaders is that economic development relies not only on national resources and strategies but also the people’s determination and resolution.
It is absolutely necessary for the government to come up with adjustment measures in the midst of economic uncertainty, but the outcome of such measures to a very large extent depends on the input and support of the general public. If the people are pessimistic and devoid of fighting spirit, nothing much can be achieved with government input alone. On the contrary, if the people are excessively optimistic and lack of a sense of crisis, the eventuality could be grave.
The public still need some time to digest the newly introduced strategies and measures, and it is therefore within anticipation that people might not agree on all issues for the time being. However, we must never surrender our faith and sense of crisis. — MySinchew.com
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
