Over the last six to nine months, we've been told that foreign direct investment (FDI) has been on a decline; thousands of fresh graduates are unemployed; exports are down; prices of petrol and diesel have gone up and a host of other bad news about the country's economy.

One would think that as the elected political leaders of the country, the prime minister and his team would jump into action to fire up the national economy. Instead, we find them preoccupied with this religious issue or that religious issue.

If this is not bad enough, the administration's inaction over the Malaysian ringgit peg against the US dollar seems to point out that this administration does not have what it takes to make bold and sound decisions about the national economy.

Now we are told that the country may use the gold in our reserves as security to purchase RM3.8 billion worth of arms. But wouldn't the country benefit much more if they were used in the issuing of long-term government bonds?

What we can see thus far is an administration that is sitting pretty and clueless about the direction of the national economy. Talking a lot about religion may make the prime minister a nice guy but it will not provide jobs or attract any FDI.