So I’m talking to a young friend of mine working on a class project, for which he’s been reading various reports and wondering why the new Selangor Exco is so anti-commerce. He pointed out the following in particular:
State assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong has said, “Local councils should be the first filter to ensure that there is a sustainable environment, which is why local elected representatives should be on the board… The positions would be filled by non-governmental organisation members, community leaders and some political representatives.” (The Star)
Her partners in the DAP seem to be bent on nationalizing everything:
“Among the initiatives, they [DAP’s Edward Lee Poh Lin (Bukit Gasing state assemblyperson), Elizabeth Wong (Bukit Lanjan state assemblyperson), PKR’s S Sivarasa (Subang MP) and Hee Loy Sian (PJ Selatan MP)], will undertake is to ask the Federal Territory MPs to raise the matter with DBKL to halt the work and to re-purchase the land from the developer before gazetting it as a green lung… “The question of the compensation will be done in detail but it should not be done at the profit of the developer,” said Lee. (Malaysiakini)
The State Exco has put various projects on hold. MPAJ was reported as a state acquisition of one of these two properties for RM290 million (The Sun)
First, it’s interesting to observe that the business sector appears to have been sidelined: the assemblypersons don’t seem interested in what local businesses have to say. Second, I work with about 30 colleagues; if the company can't make a profit, well, that would be 30 families without a breadwinner in short order. Is it the intention for the State government to hire the people who will lose jobs as companies go out of business?
Indian industrial leader Tarun Das’ reaction to the momentous fall of the Berlin Wall was cited by TL Friedman in his book “The World is Flat” through an insightful description of the state of India from independence to 1989:
“Nehru had come to power [after the end of British colonial rule] and had a huge country to manage, and no experience of running a country: The US was busy with Europe and Japan and the Marshall Plan. So Nehru looked north, across the Himalayas, and sent his team of economists to Moscow. They came back and said that this country [the Soviet Union] was amazing. They allocate resources, they give licenses, there is a planning commission that decides everything, and the country moves. So we took that model and forgot we have a private sector… That private sector got put under this wall of regulation. By 1991, the private sector was there, but under wraps, and there was mistrust about business. They made profits! The entire infrastructure from 1974 to 1991 was government owned… [The burden of state ownership] almost bankrupted the country… We were always at 3 percent growth, the so-called Hindu rate of growth – slow, cautious, and conservative. To make [better returns], you had to go to America.”
I wouldn’t of course compare BN’s recent election losses to either the fall of the Berlin Wall or Indian independence; or the PR coalition to Nehru’s administration, but there are some interesting parallels. It has been shown again and again that government controls will not lead to the utopia that many social democrats envision. Just look at the state of our steel sector which is rife with profiteering and the size of our government bureaucracy which absorbs a crushing 51% of our GNP.
Can you imagine how many schools RM290million will build? How many impoverished families could be fed if we could reduce some of the resources used to fund our umpteen ministries? Can it be argued that spending monies to buy back pieces of private land is justifiable? At this pace, any time I’m upset about what my neighbour is doing on his land, I’ll petition the government to acquire his property! After all, why should only the residents next to vacant lots be entitled to public funds to expand their backyards?
I’m all for reviewing fishy projects involving persons connected with the old authorities. But it seems like some of our new reps are going on a witch-hunt: Are we going to throw out the baby with the bathwater?
Anyways, I told my friend that it is still early days. After all, there are lots of other hypocrites in the assembly: maybe they'll cancel each other out.
