Misconception that the Role of Opposition is Not Needed

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THE MISCONCEPTION that the role of opposition is not needed in the nation's political landscape is a disease that has pervasively spread across the country particularly amongst those who are blinded by the euphoria of change. Both Pakatan Harapan supporters and Barisan Nasional supporters have the right to question Government actions, whether those actions are done formally or casually, as long as those actions have significant implications to the country.

The citizens have made their choice during the recent General Election and with that, they put their trust in the ruling Government to administer the country in the best possible manner. However, a healthy political landscape should continuously have an effective opposition that can provide the check and balance. Therefore, to call people bad names like 'idiot' or 'moron' simply because they raised concerns over matters of national interest involving the Government, is by all means, unfair and undemocratic.

Recently, the following statement was made in the social media:

"The former Treasury deputy secretary-general Ramon Navaratnam said the national debt, on the other hand, should be reported as defined by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and credit rating agencies, rather than an amalgamation of all debts. The debt issue should be reviewed carefully. It is believed that it is now wrongly defined and overplayed as ‘very bad’ with the total coming up to RM1 trillion. If current debts were compared to the GDP, according to the World Bank and IMF, it would hover at about 53%. That is fair and reasonable. But we should be cautious about it and not allow it to increase too quickly by spending money on projects that are not viable. So this 53% (debt-to-GDP ratio) is quite safe and acceptable. The “hype” of presenting the debt as dangerous could frighten small and unsophisticated investors who did not have the benefit of a good analysis of the debt issues. It might be good politics but bad economics to mix politics in economics.”

As expected, there were responses that are claded with blindness as a result of overwhelming euphoria that people developed after having the victory of changing the ruling Government during the recent 14th General Election. Some of those blind comments are:

Statement 1

To laymen debt is debt and they are worried to shoulder the payment. They want to know and the current Government is telling.

Response 1

Really? They are asking? Who is asking? The citizen was just fine with Bank Negara's assurance that the debt ratio is acceptable. Now that this self created formula of measurement has been announced, suddenly everybody jumps like a frog. This causes unnecessary panic. As a result, billions of foreign investments in both bonds and equity instrument have fled the country. That is really not sensible. Telling it in a manner that is inconsistent with the rest of the world or widely accepted benchmark can be damaging especially when foreign investors are elastic to such information.

Statement 2

Sometimes, I feel that the market prefers to be told lies on how good we are, rather than the truth. We have to look at substance over form.

Response 2

Are you impying that the formula used by Bank Negara Malaysia all this while and also by the other reserve banks of other countries, not to mention economists, is a formula that is lying to citizens? Come on, be pragmatic before accusing others of lying. If that is the case then all the other countries and their reserve banks are also wrong? We better move to Jupiter then. The point by Ramon is simple: the measurement formula to gauge the country's economic status is applied by all economists when making investment decisions. You suddenly announce using your own interpretation that destroys investors' confidence in the country and as a consequence, they fled. That is not good.

Statement 3

Whatever it is, "DO NOT MAKE CITIZENS' LIVES DIFFICULT". Most of the "middle-low-no" income earners for the past few years were living on tight budget monthly. Hopefully there will be more excess income under the new Government administration.

Response 3

What are you on about? We are not talking about citizens' disposable income. Do not simply answer based on emotions. Don't go on fuelling your euphoria of General Election with matters not relevant to the discussion.

Statement 4

RM1 trillion or RM688 billion, what difference does it make to us, poor Malaysians? It is still debt which needs to be paid for generations to come. Stop complaining and start working for a better nation for this country doesn’t belong to you and/or your crony. Also spend a bit more time analysing how the previous leaders can amass billions (tip of the iceberg) and how can we stop that from happening again. This is more beneficial to everyone. That status is fair but it is not important. My complains every other day (prior to the change of Government) is important because we finally kicked the corrupt Government out. Shouldn’t this be celebrated unless you are part of the corrupt regime? All I’m saying is we are good educated people, spend our energy to help this beloved country back to its feet. Not fault-finding on immaterial matters. No person, Government or country is perfect. But the fact that some said “it is just allegation against the previous Government” despite billions worth of cash and jewellery found just showed some people refuse to embrace the truth. Also this is very important for all of this is not just a matter of difference in political opinion, it is a matter of haq (truth) and bathil (false) which ultimately determines our last resting place in hereafter.

Response 4

That social media status is a fair one as it is highlighting an unfair economic perception to the country. In fact, that comment is from a respected person in the field of economic analysis. On the accusations on the previous leaders, we should not comment anything as we do not have the evidence. We should put our trust in the authorities and if some people are found guilty, let them face the consequences. Questioning matters of national economic interests is a more beneficial matter than talking about allegations that are still under investigation. To be honest, we should not dare to say that that allegation is true. If the police and authorities have obtained the evidence and the courts conclude it as true, then we should accept. So don't lecture on what people should believe as true or false. We must not react to half baked information and, again, as mentioned earlier, trust that the police will do their job. Celebrate? Celebrate when we ourselves do not know whether there is enough evidence and we want to celebrate based on a pending verdict? Perhaps that will be unwise. But to celebrate that the country is more open, that is alright, particularly for the chance to drive impartial journalism amongst media.

To put the above debate into perspective, one must know that billions of foreign investments have left the country and continue to do so. This is not an immaterial matter especially when it is on the back of a confused interpretation of a measurement definition like the national debt case. A financially learned person who has had fair share of analytics on Malaysia's economics and drafting policies like Ramon must be taken seriously. So, a responsible citizen must disagree when someone says that that matter is small. Fault-finding is a negative way of looking at it. We should call it 'constructive critism'. Do not be fooled by the misconception that just because we have changed the Government, the role of a political opposition needs to disappear.

As a closure, the below is the analysis of how much foreign investments have fled Malaysia (Apologies as it is not in English but I suspect you can understand):

* kopihangtuah

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