I am no economist and neither a politician. I do not take the pains to understand how the country's economy is and should be run by the so-called economists and politicians. But I do know that for a long time, the country has been poorly or maybe very poorly managed.

I cannot remember or name all of them but I believe many of us know about these examples. The BMF scandal in Hong Kong, the Bank Bumiputera losses (how many times?) and the Bank Negara foreign exchange losses, for example.

And the not so-long-ago losses - the Perwaja Steel losses, the Proton losses and recently the MAS losses. Add to that the unnecessary billions of RM spent on Putrajaya, the Petronas Twin Towers, the Bakun Dam, the Sepang Formula 1 track and the Petronas sponsored BMW Sauber racing team.

Wait, there's more. The Shah Alam floods, the toxic waste scandal in Johor, the stinking drinking water in Selangor, the non-stop illegal logging in places starting from Pahang to Sabah all point to the poor state of management that we are experiencing now. And now with the 30 sen fuel price hike, our quality of life is further degraded.

Our lives, resources and affairs are indeed being decided upon and run poorly by the incompetent group of people that we have elected. Bur are we suffering because of incompetency? Dishonesty? Greed? Who knows?

But I do know it is not the rakyat's fault and we do not deserve this. I do know, too, that whatever it is, it is poor governance. Or maybe, very poor governance and it is high time for the present group of people running the country to step aside and let other honest and competent people run the show.