PAS and DAP today told the BN-led federal government not to make much ado about yesterday's five-fold FDI claim by International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed.

NONE "First of all there is a difference between actual investments and approved investments. I want to know what figures are the government using in their claim," said DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua ( left ).

Pua contends that approved amounts mean nothing unless it is actually delivered in the form of real investments.

He said that he must be given access to actual figures on the investment items in order to accurately comment on the government claim.

However the Petaling Jaya Utara said that he is still awaiting actual figures from Mustapha's ministry on the FDI details.

Mustapa had yesterday accused the opposition, especially Pua who was absent at the time, of remaining silent when such positive results of BN rule was announced.

However, on the whole Pua argues that Malaysia's sudden surge in FDI cannot be made too much of since last year was a recession year and this year is a year of global growth.

He believed that the surge from the artificial lows during recession to the highs pumped by global growth cannot be a true yardstick of real growth.

"You cannot look at year to year comparison alone. You have to look at it in five, ten and fifteen years as a whole," said Pua.

a kugan detention death funeral ummc to puchong 280109 kuala selangor mp dr dzulkefly ahmad Agreeing with his DAP colleague, PAS Kuala Selangor parliamentarian Dzulkefly Ahmad ( left ) said that there maybe ten projects planned but not all may be delivered because of various reasons.

As such, one cannot depend on data of approved investments alone without looking at what actually materialised.

FDI not sole indicator

More so he pointed out, FDI is not the only ingredient in a successful economy, pointing out other factors which Malaysia currently lacks, most worryingly in terms of human capital.

"Over 70 percent of firms in the manufacturing and services sectors surveyed in 2002 and 2007 indicated that one of the top three most important causes of job vacancies is that applicants do not have the required basic or technical skills."

"Malaysia has remained in the 48th position out of the 145 countries on the World Bank's Knowledge Economy Index 2009 and has been stuck in that position for more than a decade, indicating that we have been lagging behind in areas of innovation and education," said Dzulkefly.

Such human capital and education shortcomings are compounded by a political environment that is non-conducive to healthy economic growth.

He argued that reforms of critical democratic institutions are equally in order to effect an eco-sytem that are both conducive and legally reassuring to investors.

"Bluntly put and this might sound strange to you, only through political reform will you have a chance of fully realising economic changes," said the PAS leader.

Both MPs called upon the PM and Ministers, not to be too overjoyed by the so called 536 percent increase in FDI.

"Don't blow your trumpet too soon about FDI but remain focused on reform!" urged Dzulkefly.

Pua concluded that even a five-fold increase means nothing if our neighbours who were worse off than us did better in the same period.