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WATCH: "You could tell he was scoping out the trouble aspects of it."
But eventually the ANWAR loses patience with UMNO.
Caimans are relatively small crocodilian reptiles in the Alligatoridae family that live in Central and South America.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim urged Datuk Seri Najib Razak today to respond to his prognosis that the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) will force Malaysians deeper into poverty and widen the income gap.
The Opposition Leader pointed out that since he made the claim during a speech on December 15, the prime minister had failed to confirm or deny his bleak forecast, which he said was made based on ETP’s own projections.
In his speech, Anwar (picture) had said the ETP would force some 1.7 million Malaysians into poverty by 2020 while corporate giants and government cronies would be enjoying a larger slice of the economic pie.
The former finance minister had also poured doubt over the projections in Najib’s ETP which was introduced last year by claiming that instead of reducing the number of low-income workers and increasing the number of high-paying jobs, the initiative would only see the number of urban poor climb.
By 2020, he had said, there will be between seven and 8.3 million urban poor in Malaysia, with monthly earnings of RM1,500 and below.
“This total accounts for 51 per cent of the country’s workforce in 2020. Therefore, a failed economic programme that only increases the number of poor is bad economic planning that sidelines the people’s welfare.
“This key question should be answered by the prime minister himself,” Anwar said today.
The Permatang Pauh MP continued to question the government’s projection that workers’ wages would grow at an average rate of 3.6 per cent per annum between 2010 and 2020, without which the projected salary distribution for 2020 as claimed by ETP is a falsehood.
He noted that the Human Resources Ministry itself had said recently that wages growth in Malaysia merely recorded an average increase of 2.6 per cent per annum for the past decade.
“This was further strengthened by the National Employment Return Study of 2009, involving a sample of 24,000 employers and 1.3 million workers. The report found that 33.8 per cent of the workers were paid below RM700 per month.
“If this were to be extrapolated nationally, it surmises that only 34 per cent of our workforce earn below the national poverty line... so based on these facts, the 3.6 per cent growth is inaccurate,” he said.
Anwar also insisted that the government’s assumption that the country’s average inflation rate for the period up to 2020 of 2.8 per cent is flawed, pointing out that the average rate since the past 12 months had stagnated at around 3 per cent.
“And the aim of hitting the RM48,000 target for gross national income (GNI) per capita for 2020 cannot be achieved if inflation is more than 2.8 per cent,” he said.
Anwar pointed out that Najib had not once denied his analysis that the ratio of employee compensation to GNI would drop to 33 per cent by 2020 from 40 per cent in 2009.
“This is the key problem in this country... While the elite group, families and cronies gain riches, a majority of the people are further burdened by increased living costs and stagnating incomes,” he said.
UMNO in Malaysia
Unlike the popular perception that UMNO is 'filthy rich', the party is actually a pauper. Only its top leaders and their cronies are filthy rich. Instead of misusing power and sewing together deals to benefit the party, the UMNO elite has always engineered deals to directly benefit themselves, their families and their cronies.
Businessman Abdul Rahman Maidin revealed in the High Court in September 2010 that former premier Mahathir Mohamad had told him he could not claim reimbursement for money paid for seven million shares in Realmild Sdn Bhd because they belonged to UMNO.
Besides the various UMNO buildings all over the country and the PWTC as its physical assets, UMNO has not much money in its account - just sufficient to maintain and manage its daily organizational activities. This is unlike the KMT in Taiwan, which has a lot of money in the party’s own coffers, which was misused by its president Lee Teng-Hui.
The money needed by UMNO to finance its 'irregular' activities such as vote buying, enticement of opposition politicians and election campaigns is usually acquired through a tripartite link involving the UMNO-BN government, the UMNO-linked well-diversified conglomerates owned by UMNO trustees and the UMNO owned banks also held by trustees.
During Mahathir's time, Daim Zainudin who had little grassroots support, depended on Mahathir for all his political appointments. Daim was UMNO Treasurer, Finance Minister, and later, as the Government Economic Advisor, a post specifically created for him.
Daim was the most powerful figure in the corporate scene, as his business associates rapidly gobbled up Malaysia’s leading privatizations. Daim’s protégé, Halim Saad, for example, secured in 1990 control of the UMNO-owned multibillion ringgit privatized North-South highway project, and swapped it for majority ownership of Renong Bhd.
Sad to say, nothing has changed and the same unhealthy thing is going on with Najib. UMNO under Najib depends on tycooni Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, who owns the MMC group, Ahmad Jauhari who runs Malakoff Bhd, and CIMB which is controlled by Najib's own brother Nazir. At the same time Mahathir has his own financiers all connected to his sons, who are now 'filthy rich' and appear in the list of the world's richest men.
Former premier Abdullah Badawi has his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin to help him with some money - enough to stay afloat for some time - while another power-broker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has his own money and is spending prudently.
This leaves Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to scratch from the bottom of his own pocket while begging for help from some business associates. Besides the listed tripartite connections, there are other connections as well.
Green light to grab everything in sight
So since UMNO’s treasury is practically empty, Najib has given the green light to grab everything possible, sparking a free for all to make money or get their contributions in order to support their political survival. All the big wigs in Umno have in place 'contributions' from their respective tycoons, who back them unreservedly for a piece of the future pie.
The best example is in the case of the Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussin, whose own admission to receiving “political contributions” as alleged in an anonymous blog but denied that it amounted to corruption recently.
He further added, “Many companies give donations to fund social programmes for the people of Bachok (in Kelantan), my division. I have all the records, of who the money comes from and what it is used for,” quoted as saying by news reports.
Empty vessel
Like Malaysia, where almost all the people have to live amidst high household debt and in financial fear with the National Debt now at RM445 billion while natural resources and funds amounting to RM1 trillions are being siphoned in the black markets, UMNO is the same - an empty vessel whose funds have been grabbed by its various top leaders.
Llike Malaysia, UMNO has now just become a tool for the filthy rich and powerful to make more money. Those who are eager to inherit UMNO will ultimately be inheriting nothing at all but all the dirt and shame.
Like the KMT, UMNO will be despised and will eventually be rejected by the rakyat.
What did leadership in America look like in 2011?
We know what it should be. Leadership in America should be about holding everyone accountable to the highest standard of community and commerce. It should represent a voice that is diverse in its spirit, attitude and ownership. A voice that inspires us all to take action for the betterment of a healthier whole; where we can all stand for something that makes us feel that we have each other's back and that we are pulling for one another's advancement.
As a young man, I remember how President Reagan inspired the country. Reagan was authentic and whether you believed in his policies or not, you believed in him as a person. He made you feel proud to be an American. Reagan delivered a message as if it were a two-way conversation. Many agreed with him, many did not; but all acknowledged his capacity for leadership.
So, what did leadership look like in 2011 in the US? It appeared to be a combination of sensationalism and entitlement. Think about the following: Joe, Herman, Newt, Arnold, Tiger, Donald, and Sarah -- just to name a few. The fact that we can refer to them by their first name says it all. Today, the people are not paying attention. All the noise around us has made it difficult for people to understand the intentions of our leaders and of our own personal responsibility for leadership. We are losing our leadership identity. We need leaders who can cut through the noise and remind us of what we are about - and what our personal responsibility is.
As we head into 2012, and as more and more Gen Yer's get ready to take over the leadership of America, who are their role models and what will define their approach, style and attitude? Mark Zuckerberg and Lady Gaga? How can we help this new generation of leaders? It's time for us all to step back and ask ourselves the question: what is my leadership responsibility and how can I act in 2012 to make this country a better place to live in?
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