Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has announced several measures to attempt to instill confidence in the country’s ‘blinking red’ economy. Will these help?

And to keep the fears wrapped up and the jitters at bay, he also assured that Malaysia is not in a crisis , making a comparison to the times when former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad battled the financial tsunami.

Already Felda has announced hot on the heels of Najib’s panacea that it will invest inshore and halt external ventures.

While Najib’s supporters have been singing huge praises and even giving all kinds of backing to say that Najib is right and spot on, others have their doubts.

Economists are warning that the “red lights are blinking on Malaysia’s dashboard”. Some say that it all depends on how low the oil prices will plunge.

Some demand that more belt-tightening and the slashing of wasteful projects must be given a harder push. To one extreme, we also have demands to sell off the country's official jets used to ferry our PM’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, around.

Wait a minute. What really is the cause of Malaysia being affected so seriously in the wake of dropping oil prices? Wherewithal have our resilience gone to?

Imagine all the decades of rising oil prices to over US$100 per barrel. And Malaysia’s net oil exporting advantage would have given us so much more surplus. The investments spinning off from our favorable commodities’ exports would also have kept us as a lending nation over the decades.

But instead, we are borrowing nation. Look at our national debt! We are battling a potential capital flight. We have borrowed so much that does not commensurate with the actual state of development in the country other than the many pet projects that dot our landscape.

The answer is ‘corruption’

The recent floods have revealed how much more we have failed to channel our earnings to improve people's lives.

So, where is the virus that has broken our national antibody?

The answer is “corruption”, Honorable Prime Minister. Therein lies our government's weakness, our national vulnerability and the people's failures.

The BN-led government has miserably failed to fight corruption, unlike some of our more single-minded neighbors. Despite almost six decades of reign, we have lost out on the war on corruption.

We have lost millions of hectares of virgin forests. We have paid unreasonably escalating prices for development. The many projects that were secured under the infamous ‘Official Secrets Act (OSA) modus operandi’ fashion are eating into our savings and have made us a debt-ridden nation.

Corruption reeks right up to every doorway - from the streets combed by law enforcement officials, to the wet markets, and right into the corporate and government corridors.

We have been very happy with the occasional seizures, court parades and sentencing of Little Napoleons.

But look at how we award contracts. Look at how we create monopolies. Look at how secretively we sign papers and pretend.

For as long as we do not have the will, power and commitment to stop corruption and snip its many tentacles within the government and private sectors, we are doomed. The lessons are many.

Just look at the Philippines: Pope Francis, in his tour of Asia, clearly spelt it out when visiting the Philippines - It is corruption that destroys people, nations and economies.

So, how much longer must we Malaysians keep kidding ourselves just to protect our own selfish self-interests, our salaried jobs, our favorable business contracts, and of course to earn a few hundred ringgit on the beat or to keep that political position?