I often wonder what we have achieved after 43 years of independence. From the standpoint of Malaysia's finances, not an awful lot, or so it seems.

Here's what I found from a couple of reports in the Singapore Business Times of May 23.

One report noted that Malaysia's gold, foreign exchange and other international reserves stood at US$26.1 billion at the end of April this year - the lowest level since December 1998. There is considerable speculation that the ringgit peg will have to go in some form of involuntary or voluntary devaluation of the ringgit.

Another report noted that Singapore's reserves, which are largely managed by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), is in excess of US$100 billion today.

Which led me to wonder. In 43 years of independence, is the accumulation of US$26 billion in reserves the best that we can do? This for a country that exports oil and natural gas, among other items. Which leads one to wonder if Petronas' overseas cash holdings are counted as part of Malaysia's reserves.

The other question, which is equally interesting, is how Singapore managed to accumulate more than US$100 billion in reserves. After all, Singapore was part of Malaysia for a time, before being booted out of the federation. And Malaysia has been independent longer than Singapore.

Are Singapore's GIC and MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) better managed than their Malaysian counterparts (Khazanah Nasional, Ministry of Finance Inc and Bank Negara)?

Where did our reserves go?