I am delighted by what our Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said in New York that he won’t back off from his plans of transforming the nation. It certainly shows his resolve and his determination to push through his plans under the Government Transformation Programme of reforming Malaysia.
It shows that he is determined to those politics and reforms that he had announced since becoming prime minister in April last year. He has been quoted to have said ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
Kudos to our prime minister. He is in the midst of breaking out of the box that keeps leaders from growing to their full potential and achieving success based truly on results, performance and excellence.
The world of the 2010 and beyond will belong to passionate, driven leaders - people who not only have enormous amounts of energy but who can energise those whom they lead. Prime Minister Najib has the thirst to learn, the compulsion to share and the bias for action.
I am confident he will succeed in creating an environment where Malaysians can reach their dreams. His Barisan Nasional government focuses on nothing but serving Malaysians where everyone feels the thrill of winning and sharing in its rewards.
His presence and the interaction with the fund managers at the Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong recently has been must encouraging. Asia’s rosy economic recovery has boosted investors’ confidence and created excitement by the future prospects.
Taking cognisance of the fund managers’ optimism, our prime minister voiced that Malaysia is seriously considering sovereign bond issuance purely to gauge its credit worthiness and to get the right signals from foreign fund managers.
If Malaysia returns to the international bond market, it will be the first time after eight years to set a global benchmark. Presently the Malaysian government’s only outstanding foreign debt is the 7.5% paper maturing in July 2011, a 10-year bond sold in 2001 and 2002.
Even Bank Negara has encouraged the government to carry out a global bond issue for benchmarking purposes.
If the bond issuance materialises, the prime minister reiterates that it is not so much for the money as there is enough liquidity in the domestic market system for development purposes. It will be purely on the basis of getting the right kind of signal from the market.
If the market is exuberant about it, then it is good for Malaysia. It will raise the profile of our capital market and investors are afforded a sense of security, a comfort level that their purchase of bonds will not one day go awry.
However, it will do well to remember that when we decide to mandate an international investment bank to undertake this sovereign bond issue, we have to take cognisance of the ongoing debacle of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Important to remember that those Wall Street paper and money shufflers are actually shuffling something. What they shuffle are investors’ money and business. That doesn’t mean we should just jump into the fray.
Asian markets have reacted negatively since the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought a civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Group Inc for fraud linked to the sale of complex mortgage security tied to sub-prime mortgage.
It is speculated that the investment bank might be hit by more trouble and could be pursued by regulators in Germany and Britain which have accused the bank of duping clients.
It is in this context that Malaysia should be vigilant and prudent in choosing and mandating reputable banking powerhouses to undertake our sovereign bond issuance when the appropriate time arrives. There are many to choose from. Bank of America Merril Lynch (BAML) and Credit Suisse are credible alternatives.
Businesses are merging into a global marketplace. Opportunities are plentiful. Our Prime Minister Najib is actively reaching out to China, New York and Japan while the world at large is moving our country in the right direction. It will propel Malaysia into the global environment.
