COMMENT The falling ringgit is already a burden to most foreign workers who have left their homes and travelled thousands of kilometres just to work here in Malaysia.

And now with the government is mulling the setting up of a mechanism to reduce remittances by foreign workers to their home countries in a bid to stem the outflow of the ringgit, the foreign workers will find it more difficult to repatriate their hard-earned money back to their countries.

While it may be true that we are a blessed country with all the natural resources, but because of the incompetent leadership that we have at the top level, we are now a 1Curse to the nations that have yielded their sons and daughters to work here.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should be personally responsible for the poor performance of the country’s economy and take the blame for the free fall of the Malaysian ringgit as it continues to dip in value against the greenback, especially since the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) “blackhole” was first exposed.

Najib should resign; otherwise, he should be forced to resign through parliamentary means. In most other countries, this would have been the outcome if the sitting prime minister fails to deliver or is found to be involved in a scandal.

The government’s efforts to tighten laws on remittances for foreign workers will only work to the contrary. It is not the solution to the current woes suffered by the country.

Let us be honest. Do you think that it is possible to stop the outflow of the ringgit by making it more difficult for foreign workers to repatriate their money back to their homeland?

My answer is simple and a flat “No!” Instead, in my opinion, this will only encourage and boost the illegal black market money transfer business.

The government, especially the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency and the police, should look into corrupt politicians and their cronies if we are serious about wanting to stem out illegal outflow of the ringgit.

First thing first

We all know that money laundering is a serious problem in Malaysia. Money is taken out of the country in huge stacks of cash. It is also transferred through money changers who are connected to an international syndicate.

A good example that comes to mind is former Selangor Menteri Besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib, who hand-carried RM2.3 million into Australia. By claiming that he could not understand English, this former English teacher was acquitted by the Australian court.

Mat Taib was also not being prosecuted in Malaysia, despite Bank Negara ruling that anyone carrying cash in excess of RM10,000 should have reported this to the authorities.

That was more than 10 years ago. Now, we are told that a total of US$650 million has been transferred to a bank account in Singapore that does not belong to Umno or 1MDB!

Who is responsible for the transfer and who is the owner of the bank account in Singapore? And why has the fictitious “Arab donor’s money” left Malaysia and is now parked in Singapore?

Perhaps, Najib can clarify this further when he faces former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik in court. There is so much that has been hidden from Malaysians to be brought into broad daylight.

Najib has a lot of explanation to do and hopefully, he will be bold enough, like a Bugis warrior, to give all the answers in Parliament soon. There is no point making the lives of other fellow human beings even tougher when he and the entire coalition he leads have caused our country’s economy to be in the doldrums.

If over a trillion ringgit has reportedly left the country since 1957, who else could be responsible for this?

The nation, for example, is reminded of millions of ringgit that have gone to Singapore for the purchase of luxurious condominiums used as ‘pasturelands in the sky’ for cows that were supposed to be bred in Malaysia.

Has the government done anything to recover back the funds that flowed into the Singaporean property market apart from prosecuting the whistleblowers?

Even Rosmah Mansor’s own son Riza Aziz ( on the left in photo ) and big Malaysian spender Low Taek Jho ( on the right ) are known to own luxurious properties in the United States. If the money did not originate from Malaysia, where else could these two young men have earned their fortunes?

Over in East Malaysia, a former chief minister, Taib Mahmud, and his family have allegedly accumulated millions of dollars in overseas assets. There have been numerous damning reports in the media about Taib, but why has the MACC not arrived at any conclusion after years of investigation?

More woes for us

If the laws have to be tightened on outflow of money by foreigner workers, why, in the first place, does Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have to bring in another 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers in the next three years?

Instead of the foreign workers, why are our local Malay youth living in the villages not being recruited to fill up the vacancies? What is the government doing about giving employment to locals from the villages in the factories, petrol pump stations, in restaurants and as security guards?

With both legal and illegal workers currently residing in Malaysia, most Malaysians are already now feeling that they are in a foreign land, especially we in the Klang Valley.

Foreign workers work their hearts out just for the money that they need to send home to their homelands. For goodness sake, please spare them. As it is now, most of them are already being harassed by corrupt policemen.

One Nepali man currently working in an Indian restaurant in Langkawi, for example, told me that he is now enjoying the peace and tranquility of working on the island. When he was working in Kuala Lumpur, nearly every week, he would meet some policemen, either during roadblocks or on their normal patrol.

“They would ask for ‘kopi money’,” he quipped. “In Langkawi, if you have a traffic offence, you get the tickets and go to the nearest police station to pay your summons. It is much better!”

I have had several personal encounters with corrupt policemen who were harassing both foreign workers and students.

Solve the root problem

If we are serious about plugging the outflow of funds, the government should immediately deal with the root problem.

Corruption is a big cancer affecting our society. It is the huge sums of money that corrupt politicians, government officers and the cronies have accumulated that are finally channelled overseas.

These are the major leakages that should be addressed, not that of the foreign workers who are trying to repatriate their hard-earned money to support their families back home.

With the 1MDB being harped upon by nearly every Malaysian, causing the support shown towards the ruling coalition to drop according to the most recent Merdeka Center report, it is time for the MACC to step up its ante against the corrupt regime.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.