IT would be a mistake to think that Datuk Ibrahim Ali is a true champion of the Malay Malaysian poor. But it would be equally silly to think that the Malay Malaysian poor do not support or sympathise with his call. After all, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s failure to increase support in Malay Malaysian rural […]
income
Getting Malaysia out of the rut
What would the fisherfolk think of the government’s plan for a high income nation? IT’S a grand announcement, but what would a fisherfolk or a padi farmer think about the government’s plan to make Malaysia a high income nation by 2020? What would a single mother doing odd-jobs think of the goal to raise per […]
Dr M’s questionable priorities
I REFER to the latest posting in (Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad‘s blog, in which he criticised non-Malay [Malaysians] for asking for more concessions from state policies. In response to these demands, the current prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) has liberalised rules pertaining to equity ownership in some service sub-sectors and promised to set up […]
Staying competitive, but for whom?
ON 16 June 2009, the government tabled an amendment to the Inland Revenue Board Act 1995 — a minor amendment that enables the board to meet once every two months, instead of once a month as in the original legislation. However, as is the practice in the Malaysian Parliament, when any amendment is opened for […]
Helping the Malay poor
ON 11 Nov 2008, the Prime Minister’s Department answered a question about income distribution that I had submitted before the start of the current parliamentary session. The reply was read by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department SK Devamany, who gave the following figures based on a 2007 Statistics Department survey of households: The […]
