I reiterate again that the recently announced RM60 billion stimulus package cannot be financed in the current situation and betting that commodity prices will recover soon is naively playing

Russian roulette with the country's economic health.

Various parties have warned about the impending crisis since 2006 but the government chose to ‘party’ with commodity gains like there was no tomorrow. When reality began to set in last year, this is what our brilliant second finance minister was reported to have said:

‘Malaysia will not be vastly affected by the financial crisis in the US because of its strong economic fundamentals.’

Wow! We are not affected by what happens to our number one trading partner. Indeed, some elements of the stimulus make for good comedy:

Government to assist in the auto scrapping scheme for Proton and Perodua – a discount of RM5,000 will be given to car owners who trade in their cars which are at least 10 years old to buy new Proton and Perodua cars

A RM5,000 rebate when you trade in your old junk to buy a national car that only survives because of the unfair competition in inflating the cost of foreign-made cars to keep them out of reach of most Malaysians.

Now, get this. To qualify for the rebate, the ‘junk’ that you own without debt must be certified roadworthy by the JPJ for a taken fee and possibly additional customary greasing of the palm, after which your perfectly roadworthy ‘junk’ is unceremoniously disposed of.

You will then be a proud owner of a spanking new national car in about seven years after you have settled the loan amount. Bravo, we will become the first country in history to have large numbers of perfectly roadworthy cars in the junkyard while real junks that have seen better days prowl the highways.

RM150 million for the renovation, maintenance and repair of welfare homes, fire and rescue stations, firemen’s living quarters and public toilets in mosques, surau and tourist spots.

This should have been covered in the main budget and not a stimulus package or are they expecting sudden cases of arson to arise? Help me out here for I am stumped.

To raise windfall profit levy on oil palm to RM2,500 per tonne for Peninsular Malaysia and to RM3,000 per tonne for Sabah and Sarawak.

What windfall? Palm oil prices have been plummeting together with other commodities. We should have done this when commodity prices were soaring. A case of closing the barn door after the horses have bolted, don't you think ?

All government procurement will be made through open tenders or restricted tenders except for specific cases.

A feeble attempt at transparency. I would not be surprised if the clause ‘specific’ is abused without restriction.

Khazanah Nasional's investment fund will be increased by RM10 billion and will be invested over a two-year period, giving priority to domestic investment that has high multiplier effects and creates more jobs.

For a whopping one-sixth of the entire stimulus package, we are giving blanket discretion to an establishment with a dubious past to decide what exactly are investments with ‘high multiplier effects that can create more jobs’.

Let me bluntly say that we have no idea whatsoever on the details. And if we actually knew, then we should get moving in a hurry.

House-buyers given tax relief on interest paid on housing loans up to RM10,000 a year for three years’

Now this got many excited over nothing when it was revealed that it does not apply to existing housing loans but only new ones. That is applicable only for sales and purchase agreements signed between March 10, 2009 and 2011.

Most new house-buyers want a 95% loan, but banks will not provide it seeing that property prices are projected to go down. Industry players give this measure the thumbs up to let their political masters save face but most property agents I have talked to just say ‘ bleh ’.

A waiver of the hefty stamp duties may make more sense to stimulate buying interest.

Foreign Investment Committee to adopt a more liberal approach to bring positive changes and nurture a more investor-friendly environment to attract more investments including foreign direct investment.

Another vague ‘we have no idea but are working on it’ statement. What about cutting down on red tape and doing away with the 30% bumi ownership requirement?

As recently as November last year, the government defended the need for this quota citing,

‘It is in line with the national development aspiration, which is to rectify the economic and social imbalance and pay attention to the development of a bumiputra industrial and business community’.

This is a factor that puts off many foreign investors who come from countries where meritocracy is practiced, who have no patience to listen to the government as obedient Malaysian citizens do. So they just take their money elsewhere.

The irony is that if the stimulus fails, the BN government is likely to blame the global economic meltdown that they originally said will only have a limited effect on us. On the other hand should commodity prices suddenly surge, they are likely to take undue credit for economic stewardship.

This time, however, they will not be able to play the game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ because so long as global demand does not recover, pumping resources into companies with a diminishing market to sell their products is akin to feeding crackers to a dead parrot.

Eighty-five percent of our manufactured products are exported so there is no way we can consume all that we produce locally. The bigger irony is that Najib shares the first initial with Nero who fiddled while Rome burnt.