Kudos to Dr M for raising 1MDB scandal
In another salvo, Dr M takes stab at 1MDB
Well Thats Fantastic: Only when Mahathir Mohamad is angry with PM Najib Razak, does he mention a government scam that has been going on for years.
Mahathir, you knew all this when the fund was first made public, and now when it suits you out it comes, otherwise had the PM been your faithful servant you would have continued keeping quiet.
It’s despicable that you do this now probably for personal reasons, not out of real concern for our country.
Bystander: The one who criticising state agency 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) was once upon a time also in charge of national oil company Petronas’ account.
It is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. This has been more or less the practice of all previous PMs after Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Lukesky: I do not disagree that 1MDB looks like a vanity project by Najib and gang and the debt being incurred to fund these projects are unsustainable.
God only knows how much of these funds are being siphoned off by the cronies. I suspect we will only know this if and when there is a change in the government and there is a transparent investigation, by which time it will be too late.
Kudos to Mahathir for speaking up on this. But one wonders why he is only raising this now.
Could it be neither he nor his cronies got their cut of the contracts so decided to highlight the issue or this is Mahathir way of building a case to replace yet another anointed successor who has fallen out with him?
On a similar vein, one would also question his own vanity projects during his term, including but not limited to, the ghost city of Putrajaya.
Peacemaker: The nation's surplus has been squandered and frittered away by lavish and foolish spending on non-essentials.
We have acted like brats holding a RM10 bill in a sweet shop. Immature, irresponsible, negligent and corruption-tainted spending marked the decimation of our national reserves. We are indeed on our way to the poor house.
Swipenter: We are heading towards bankruptcy because of the financial indiscipline, cronyism, wastage and leakages, massive corruption and huge illicit capital outflow that runs into hundreds of billions which dwarfs FDI (foreign direct investment).
Both former finance minister Tan Siew Sin and Lee Hau Sik were known to be tightfisted with the country’s finances. They spent prudently and within means. When the Umno Baru president take over this portfolio, they spend like there is no tomorrow.
Mahathir started the trend by spend his way out of recession or to prosperity with mega projects. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi tried in vain to rein in our debt and cancelled some mega projects, earning him the ire of Mahathir.
But Najib has the distinction of being the most spendthrift PM ever. He even borrow to spend on non-productive and noninvestment items, for example BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia).
We are up to our eyeballs in debt and no wonder we are seen by some economists to be financially the riskiest country in this part of the world.
Imanust Nais Yalam: Maybe this is wishful thinking but I do hope Dr M can right some of the wrongs that he had created before he rides into the sunset. As for Najib, I have no such hope whatsoever.
Ipohcrite: Before GE13, Mahathir was saying the country's debt was very manageable and criticism by the opposition against the persistent nation's budget deficits and high-debt levels were unfounded.
He even said that former DPM Anwar Ibrahim didn't understand economics and finance. I guess he was just lying through his teeth then for a BN win.
Negarawan: It is not 1MDB that is the problem. It is Umno government's mismanagement and corrupt handling of the economy and the nation's wealth and resources.
Putting mega deals into the hands of shady characters like flamboyant tycoon Jho Low raises a lot of questions about the integrity of the people behind 1MDB, and the viability of 1MDB itself.
Who are the people benefitting from 1MDB funds to the extent they can live luxuriously overnight? The opposition parties have continuously highlighted these serious issues over the years.
So, why is Mahathir only taking the cue now? He started the whole problem in the first place.
Louis: Whatever criticism you might have against Mahathir, he has the point right now. If spending is not checked, it spells doom for our economy.
SSG: For every working mother and father who have been diligently and loyally paying their yearly taxes for the last two or three decades, you must have at least two more children to replace them when they pass away.
For those parents who were smart enough and had the means, they sent their children abroad to study in countries where they long realised that there was a level-playing field to develop their talents in the countries where they did their higher education.
Those citizens (by operation of the law, mind you) are never ever going to return to replace their parents in paying taxes to the country.
Please do note that this refers to the period following the third PM (after 1981). If natural resources alone can make a country rich, then Brazil would be the richest country in the world.
What make a country rich is its human resources, but they are all gone because of the brain drain. Do what you want, but it is a bit late.
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