Azmin slams UMNO-BARISAN made-to-order slashes poverty, wins elections

Economists have, for over a month, had an internet debate on growth and social spending. It started with the Financial Times citing Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen as saying it would be "stupid" to focus on double-digit GDP growth without spending more on social sectors. The newspaper also cited Jagdish Bhagwati, a potential Nobel Laureate, as stressing second-generation economic reforms to accelerate growth to finance more targeted social spending. 

I think Martin Wolf of the Financial Times got to the heart of this debate. "Obviously higher incomes are a necessary condition for better state-funded welfare, better jobs and so forth. This is simply not debatable. Indeed, only in India do serious intellectuals dream of debating these issues." How true! 

Rather than enter this debate, let me simply expose the scandalous mendacity of left analysts and politicians on this issue. Sen did not actually accuse the government of failing to expand social spending. But a cavalcade of left analysts and politicians has endlessly repeated the myth that the government is a neoliberal fiend that focuses on fast growth while ignoring social spending. Which planet do they live on? Social spending has actually been booming. 

PKR deputy president Azmin Ali expressed concern at rising household debt in Malaysia, accusing Prime Minister Najib Razak's government of failing to find ways to help the people reduce their indebtness.

The Member of Parliament for Gombak slammed the ruling Umno-BN coalition for entangling Malaysians in a web of debt after foisting on them cheap car and property loans aimed at nurturing the unpopular national car project and crony firms, but without commensurate pay rises.

This has made it very tough for Malaysians to escape the poverty trap especially as inflation began to bite worldwide on sky-rocketing oil prices, he said.

"The figures when put together point to a bleak scenario at the macro-economic level and the public's ability to enjoy a better quality of life, especially when income level has not risen over the years," Azmin told a press conference on Tuesday.

"A 74 percent household debts-to-GDP ratio is worrying when the government is also registering record high, surpassing the 50 per cent mark public debt-to-GDP ratio for the first time in our history."

Like all businesses, politics requires massive cash investments in winning elections. Likewise, politicians want high dividends from their investment. But democracy means they may never be re-elected or get another cabinet post. Any opportunity to make big money may be their last. So, they make hay while the sun shines, piling up enough cash to last a possible lifetime out of power.

Every political party in UMNO-BARISAN is an investor with considerable expertize in ways to improve profits and shareholder value. But the UMNO has always been the biggest business house of all. It knows that to stay profitable in a democracy, a ruling party must provide visible hand-outs for the masses, even while raking in black money itself. This principle has been the lodestar of 53 years of

BARISAN  rule. Second generation economic reforms have taken a back seat. 

 the United Auto Workers Region 9A 18th Annual Civil Rights Award Recognition dinner in Hartford, Connecticut. The evening was a stirring tribute to the work of those who through their work in labor rights have been advancing civil rights. For most Americans the story of how labor organizations like the UAW were key partners in the Civil Rights movement of the mid 20th century is an unknown piece of trivia. From the UAW's support of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 which would bring the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to national attention, to UAW's support of the freedom riders and voters registration of African Americans in the 1960's, to fighting for women worker's rights, to supporting the struggle of Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers, the United Auto Workers has served as an essential ally in supporting movements for greater equality and social justice. Similarly there is little recollection of the Civil Rights' legacy of fighting for economic rights, workers rights, and the right to work. The famed March on Washington in 1963 was titled the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs and was originally envisioned by the great labor leader A Phillip Randolph. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee supporting a labor strike. Dr. King's last nation campaign was aimed at demanding greater investment into and more opportunity for working class Americans. The struggle for racial equality has at its core many of the same issues at the foundation of the labor movement, the right to a living wage and the need for greater economic opportunity and equality. In the context of the "Great Recession"and a decades long regression in economic opportunity for most Americans this connection of labor and civil rights is as important as ever. What has made the Great Recession such a challenge is the Great Recession comes after decades of a "great regression" in many areas of economic equality. For the last 30 years the American economy has been one where wealth and income is increasingly concentrated in the hands of an elite, creating a top heavy economy versus a middle class economy that was at the center of America's most prosperous years. Dr. King stated in his 1963 speech, "Social Justice and the New Emerging Era", "I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few." Increasingly, the economic reality of a declining middle class, a solidifying of racial economic inequality, and a growing concentration of wealth is being called the new normal. It was an honor to be part of an event that recognized those who were maladjusted to the reality of the new normal and are fighting for the dream shared by Dr. King, the civil rights movement, and organized labor, a dream of greater economic equality and opportunity. The honorees of the United Auto Work Civil Rights dinner were Domestic Workers United, Ron Patenaude, and General Holifield. Domestic Workers Unites is a labor group who in the midst of this poor economy has organized the most disenfranchised segments of society primarily women, people of color, and immigrants who provide the domestic work which makes the lifestyle of those with higher income possible. Ron Patenaude, President of Local 322 in Holyoke Massachusetts, was honored for his diverse work in ensuring civil rights for all regardless of sexual orientation, fighting to restore cuts to Medicaid, and Criminal Offender Record Information reform. Last but not least the NAACP's own national board member and UAW Vice President General Holifield was awarded for embodying in action the unity between civil and labor rights. The examples of those honored at the UAW Civil Rights dinner highlight the great work that intersects civil and labor rights that is still being done. Malcolm X used to state that the subject of history is best qualified to reward our research. As we begin Black history month let us examine the history of civil and labor rights and examine how these movements can best reward our contemporary challenges of promoting great economic equality and opportunity for all.