Saya sedang membaca Teks Ucapan Menteri Kewangan. Belum separuh jalan, sudah terserlah untuk siapa belanjawan kali ini. Perhatikan cabaran-cabaran yang diberi "point" sahaja tanpa sebarang penjelasan! Di sinilah terserlah beberapa rahsia yang kita akan cuba kupas satu-persatu kemudian nanti. Buat sementara waktu kita dengar apa pakar-pakar ekonomi kata dulu...

"Although our economic performance has been remarkable and the strong growth momentum is expected to be sustained, there still exist risks and uncertainties in the economic and business environment both from within and without that can threaten our sustained growth. Among the major challenges are to:

1. increase inflows of FDI;
   
   

2. improve the nation's competitiveness;
   

3. sustain the surplus in the balance of payments and contain inflationary pressures;
   
   

4. improve the efficiency of the services sector;
   

5. diversify exports and export markets; and
   

6. ensure that wage increases are commensurate with productivity improvements
   

Apa yang dikatakan oleh Daim ini adalah Fakta yang akan menggoyangkan ekonomi Malaysia. Malangnya beliau masih enggan mengakui ekonomi Malaysia telah dirosakkan oleh kroni-kroni beliau sendiri dan Faktor Anwar.

Tidak dapat dinafikan lagi FDI kenegara kita sudah merosot. Malah imej negara juga turut merosot sejak Anwar dihukum bersalah dengan dakwaan sod*mi. Imej tersebut musnah lagi bila Mahathir berpeluk dengan Castro kerana rakyat Amerika masih belum lupa kes seorang budak Cuba yang dibela oleh warga US!.

Kini Malaysia cukup bimbang jika gambar Mahathir memeluk Castro menjadi satu igauan ngeri selepas ia menghiasi akhbar-akhbar US.

Berikut berita yang dipetik dari FAC, mengenai kes siapa yang mengupah khidmat kumpulan lobi US, Janus-Merritt Strategies (JMS).

Other US "government people" FAC News spoke to had their own opinions.


"Why would Anwar's supporters need to employ professionals to run Mahathir down? Mahathir is doing this very well on his own without any help from the experts."



He went on to say, "Just look at the recent UN Millennium Conference that Mahathir boycotted. Everyone knows Mahathir boycotted the conference to 'punish' Kofi Annan for meeting Wan Azizah in Warsaw earlier this year. But Mahathir was in the US then. And he met Castro though he would not attend the Conference".



"Do you know the US newspapers carried the photo of Mahathir and Castro hugging and kissing each other on its front pages?" laughed the US 'government man'. "There were no captions or stories - just the photo of Mahathir and Castro in each other's arms. This was enough for the US people. There was no need to say anything more. And everyone knows Mahathir did this on US soil just to send a message to the US. Does anyone need to do anything anymore to run Mahathir down? He is doing it to himself very well without anyone's help". (-FAC)


[Sumber: http://www.freeanwar.com/facnews271000.htm]

BELUKANG MSC

Semua orang tahu setiap perniagaan untuk tembus ke MSC mesti melalui orang kuat kroni Daim itu. Dan orang kuat ini - nak buat temujanji pun susah.

Ada yang kena menunggu satu bulan - itupun belum tentu boleh bertemu. Selain itu setiap tender pembekalan ke MSC mesti melalui satu badan yang menjadi penasihat ataupun konsultan. Mereka ini mempunyai kuasa untuk menolak atau menerima sebarang cadangan tawaran harga.

Menurut seorang rakan saya, walaupun beliau berkebolehan (siap dengan semua sijil dan pengiktirafan professional), tawaran beliau ditolak dengan senang. Sebabnya mudah sahaja - semua projek sudah disapu orang sebelum tawaran lagi!

K-EKONOMI

Sejak MSC ditubuhkan serta berbilion wang digunakan, kita tidak punya satu pun produk yang dapat diekspot "made in Malaysian in MSC". Inilah realiti - malah tidak ada satu pun projek Electronic Government yang siap! Sebabnya mudah sahaja - yang buat itu semuanya bengap kerana mereka cuma "pakar" mendapat tender sahaja! Kepakaran lain mereka tidak ada - jadi terpaksa menggunakan orang luar. Siapa lagi jika tidak mereka yang sama asal-usul dari mamak tua Kerala.

Orang India mungkin pandai membuat program. Tetapi sebenarnya ramai tidak tahu mereka ini cuma pandai membuat program yang berbelit-belit sahaja. Sebab itu sukar mencari satu development team yang berjaya jika ia diketua oleh orang India. Sebaliknya Mat Salleh sendiri dan orang Islam banyak yang mengetuai development Team ini. Lihat lah Microsoft - anda akan lihat beberapa Ketua Development Team mereka adalah orang Islam! Orang India yang berjaya itu kebanyakkannya adalah orang Islam!

EXIT TAX LEVI

Nizam Idris, regional economist with Singapore-based IDEAglobal.com, said the incentives offered in the 2001 budget was "nothing to cheer about."

Although a 10 percent exit levy on profit repatriated after a year was abolished, he said this was replaced by a maximum 200 ringgit (53 dollars) stamp duty on share transactions by foreign investors from January.

"The exit levy abolishment won't have a large impact and made less significant by the imposition of the stamp duty. The move is rather dissappointing," he said. (AFP)

EKSPOT ELEKTRONIK

Malaysia sebenarnya terlalu bergantung kepada dua sumber yang menyelamatkan ekonominya, iaitu ekspot elektronik dan petroleum. Apa yang berlaku agak menggusarkan:

"Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd. and Unisem Bhd. are Malaysia's biggest electronics makers, making up a combined 1.3 percent of the stock exchange's capitalization. MPI shares lost 13 percent this month, while Unisem fell 0.7 percent after earlier falling as much as 16 percent. (-Bloomberg)

"In Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, electronics companies make up at least a fifth of their benchmark indexes' market value. In U.S. dollar terms, the Kospi index fell 16 percent this month, while Taiwan's TWSE lost 8.4 percent and the Straits Times Index declined 3 percent." (-Bloomberg)

Kita seharusnya dapat melihat trend yang menimpa kepada sektor perkilangan elektonik. Barangan yang dipasarkan cepat lupus. Kita lihat sahaja kedai apa yang menjadi tumpuan di pasar malam sekarang ini - VCD cetak rompak. Sekaligus kedai menyewa video banyak yang sudah ditutup kerana kerugian.

SUBSIDI PETROLEUM

Kita hairan bagaimana kerajaan menaikkan harga minyak dengan alasan subsidi merugikan kerajaan. Walaupun Daim mengatakan kita turut mengimpot minyak - jumlah itu terlalu kecil:

"According to 1999 trade figures, the country imported only 3.2 million tons of crude oil, while exporting 17.7 million tons. Petroliam Nasional Bhd., the state-owned oil company, reported an 85 percent surge in fiscal 2000 profit, thanks to higher oil prices.

That's given the government elbow room to cut taxes and put more money into consumers' pockets -- something Asian neighbors who import all their oil needs such as Korea and the Philippines can't afford." (-Bloomberg)

Kesannya MAS kini sudah menaikkan tambang kapalterbang untuk kebeberapa destinasi. Harga barang pun sudah mula naik tetapi akhbar utama membisu kerana ini.

MINORITY SHAREHOLDERS

For example, Renong Bhd., Malaysia's biggest industrial group and most indebted company, only just returned to profit in the year-ended June after two years of losses. The group had 20 billion ringgit of debt as of August. (-Bloomberg)

Minority shareholders are sometimes left at the mercy of behind-the-scenes haggling between company executives and the government. Edaran Otomobil Nasional Bhd.'s future as the distributor of the country's top-selling Proton cars, made by Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd., was threatened after EON agreed to buy Proton's rival Usahasama Proton-DRB Sdn. Its shares lost near two thirds of its value this year. (-Bloomberg)

MORGAN STANLEY

Changes to the way Morgan Stanley Capital International measures stocks could also hurt Malaysia. As the index compiler adopts new calculations based on free float, or shares available to trade, weightings of regional markets are likely to shift and Malaysia may end up with a smaller weighting. (-Bloomberg)

Sekali lagi Malaysia dilanda kebimbangan - sebab itulah belanjawan kali ini cuba memujuk pelabur luar kembali, agar kurang sedikit kebimbangan itu. Kita akan ulas bahagian lain belanjawan di lain hari, Insya Allah. Walau apa pun inilah Belanjawan Bimbang, dan bukannya Belanjawan V!