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2. But already we are having far too many holidays. To the 52 Sundays, have been added, 52 Saturdays. We now have holidays for the holy days of all religions, however small the followers. We now automatically replace any holiday which falls on Sunday or Saturday with another day of holiday. When we work a lesser number of days our productivity must decrease. So it will not be easy to increase productivity with the increase in minimum wages which will trigger pay increases throughout, so as to maintain the parity between the different grades of the employees. Working during holidays will also cost more. So will contribution to EPF and rates of pensions.
3. Between higher pay and shorter working hours, plus all the other costs, the cost of production of goods and services must increase considerably.
5. The West today is in great financial trouble with at least one country going bankrupt. The reason is simple. The West has been overpaying their people. High wages and salaries, huge bonuses and numerous costly benefits such as unemployment pay gave the developed West an appearance of prosperity. But their profligate ways is not sustainable.
6. Faced with competition from eastern countries, they lost their markets. For a time they benefitted from the financial markets. But the financial market is about gambling. And as happens with all gamblers, they must lose eventually. And that plunged them into this intractable financial crisis.
7. This is what happens when wages and compensations for work are not accompanied by increases in productivity. I fear Malaysia may be heading this way if we pay more for less work, as we are doing now.
Salam TUN,
In 1948 Mr Richard M Weaver authored a book entitled Ideas Have Consequences.
He wrote,They pace the course of human history-both good ideas and bad.And while intentions may be honorable,the passing of time has proven that,in the long term,you can’t get good results from bad ideas.
The Minimum Wage is a classic example of a good intention and a bad idea.
The govt by a stroke of a pen can increase the earning power of all marginal workers, sacrifying productivity.
Employment is an exploitive relationship between employer and employee and are coerced to pay wages according to skills.
It is a notion that employer will never voluntarily raise its employee’s wages.
This idea also runs foul of the basic economic principles of a free society.
It eliminate low-skilled workers from competing in the job market
Most peoples acquire job skills by working at ‘subnorminal wages’ which amount to the same thing as paying to learn.
In a free society,people must have the right to offer their services in the marketplace for whatever price they prefer.
When purchasing a product,we will window shop for the cheapest.
Entry-level jobs,eg usher,pump attendants,caddies,dishwashers,apprentices and fast food helper will be cut back or eliminated as the minimum wage has rendered them unaffordable.
The irony of this minimum wage,it harms most the very segment of our society that it is intended to help-the unskill poor and the inexperience young.
Citizens aged between 16 to 24, first time entering the job market will not fall under the poverty line as they are still with their family.
Economist Henry Hazlitt wrote,
You cannot make a man worth a given amount by making it illegal for anyone to offer him less.You merely deprive him of the right to earn the amount that his abilities and situation would permit to earn,while you deprieve the community even of the moderate services that he is capable of rendering.In brief,for a low wage you substitude unemployment.You do harm all around,with no comparable compensation.
Wages can rise thru new found wealth and the more the society produces per capita.Then it can be distributed through the marketplace in terms of higher wages,benefits and lower prices.
Govt receive its revenue from the private economy,yet we think that when it wave the magic wane we can be better off.
YAB,
1. Why minimum pay is being played before general election time?
2. Another public holiday being declared does not mean that we cannot earn high income.
3. Why?
4. We can always work as part timers and may claim “Over-Time” of 1.5x in weekdays, 2.0x in weekends and 3,0x in declared public holidays of our gaji and in factory, banking and office jobs.
5. As for servicing industry, no O/T allowed as the industry players prefer to offer better salary via commission and service charge of 10% as operating expenses which cannot be taxed.
6. I think the yes men Ministers in MITI and Human Resources right now are more interested to secure their minister position eventhough “mereka tidak berkemampuan” just because they represent political parties and states.
Good day, YAB.
Minimum Pay
18. To many, a huge chunk of monthly income goes to housing and car loan repayments. These loans are excessively high. Normally, a borrower will end up paying double the price of the house and one third more than the price of the car.
19. Many struggle to make ends meet. To this problem, some parties propose a minimum pay. It is unclear, though, how a minimum pay acts as a solution. The focus should actually be a minimum household income.
Tun
By a quirk of fate, I am now the living and walking conscience of some lst world countries with the solid evidence that comparatively there is nothing wrong with the Judicial Independence of our beloved country Malaysia.
Kalau tak perlu mana ada orang nak mintak naik gaji. Ramai yang terpaksa minta gaji naik sebab barang keperluan dah naik. Dulu sayur kat Sarawak ni seikat harga dia seringgit. Sekarang dah naik dua ringgit. Kenaikan ni berlaku masa gaji tak naik lagi. Abis tu nak salahkan siapa? Nak guna kuasa pengguna? Kuasa apa kalau semua orang jual harga yang sama? Kita tiada pilihan Tun… bukan kita suka2 minta naik gaji.
Salam Tun
a.Hari ni cuma nak komen sedikit berkenaan pembatalan SBPA. Ramai (?) yang merungut bhw pengurusan tertinggi dapat naik gaji terlalu tinggi? (bukan saya dari kump JUSA), tapi pd pendapat saya ini adalah natijah dari praktis yang terdahulu i.e. apabila ada kenaikan gaji, kita selaraskan mengikut peratus tinggi (diberikan) utk gred dibawah dan sebaliknya berlaku bg gred di atas. Lama kelamaan ini mewujudkan satu bentuk distorted salary scales yang akhirnya tidak memberikan satu persekitaran yang munasabah / kompeten berbanding negara lain. Sekarang bila SBPA diselaraskan agar ia “mendekati” pihak swasta / negara luar (trying to approach that, though not at the same level per se) bagi JUSA, semua kata ‘tak adil’; jadi daripada dulu yg kenaikan “tak adil” (% tinggi di bawah, rendah di atas) tu adil ke?. CUEPACS tak nampak itu selama ni?
b.Now we are back to square one, yang atas dapat 9% katanya dan bawah dapat up to 13%? This practise eventually will make the salary scales distorted across the spectrum. To be fair and uniform, all have got to be the given the same adjustment %, but this eludes the great majority of our population ka?
Isnt that how a consistent adjustment should be?
So, people have to realise if we want to “normalise” the situation, there are things that we did (before) that cannot be repeated again, else we will get stuck to our “old inconsistent way”
Salam Tun,
Saya melihat gaji minima yang akan ditetapkan akan mengakibatkan berpindahnya pelaburan daripada luar negara. Walaupun dengan pelbagai koridor yang ada kita akan melihat sektor pembuatan/perkilangan akan membuat pelaburan seperti di Vietnam dan kemudian Myanmar (sekiranya Aung San Suu Kyi memenangi Pilihanraya di Myanmar.
Berapa banyak lagi yang perlu untuk menjadikan gaji setiap mereka yang bekerja sebagai minima?
Akhirnya akan mengeluh tidak cukup. Pada tahun 1993.
Kos sara hidup haruslah seimbang dengan pendapatan yang ada seperti di awal 90 an. Kalau kita masih ingat harga petrol yang melonjak sehingga Rm 2.70 seliter telah menyebabkan kenaikan harga barang yang tinggi dan tidak berubah sehingga kini walaupun harga petrol telah pun menurun.
Imbas kembali pada awal 90an kenaikan harga petrol hanyalah pada tahap Rm 0.01 sehingga Rm 0.10. Pihak yang berwajib haruslah membuat penilaian yang sewajarnya demi kesejahteraan rakyat.
YABhg Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Salam Hormat
One was listening to an interview on CCTV’s special programme (11:20am local time -Astro509). Lin Yong the Deputy Secretary Of Trade was explaining the absurd position of the USA wanting a piece of law enabling China exports to the USA be leveled trade levy. However, one can only have this write up to share:
Shining a Light on U.S.-China Clean Energy Cooperation
New Approaches Needed to Ensure China’s Global Technology Ambitions Do Not Erode U.S. Clean Energy Competitiveness
The U.S. Department of Commerce next month is expected to issue a critical ruling on one of the biggest trade cases to hit the U.S.-China energy relationship in recent years. Seven U.S. solar companies claim that the Chinese government unfairly subsidizes Chinese solar panel manufacturers to enable those companies to sell their products at below-market prices and drive U.S. competitors out of the market. The seven companies support subsidy and dumping petitions filed by SolarWorld Industries America Inc. against Chinese solar imports in October that ask the Commerce Department to levy triple-digit tariffs on solar cells and modules imported from China.
This case highlights a major challenge facing U.S.-China clean energy relationships more broadly: how to handle the Chinese government’s deployment of massive resources toward developing renewable energy technologies, many of which are designed for export. Indeed, this is an issue that bedevils U.S.-China trade relations not just in clean energy, but also in other industrial and services sectors, which means that how this complaint by U.S. solar manufacturers plays out may well have much broader implications.
One of the biggest challenges facing renewable energy in the United States is that traditional fossil fuels are cheaper here than they are in almost any other developed country. This is primarily due to the large supply of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas in our nation, as well as a long history of federal government subsidies for developing those energy sources. The United States has also failed to put a carbon price on fossil fuels, so U.S. fossil-fuel prices do not include the environmental and public-health damage from greenhouse-gas pollution. Relatively low fossil-fuel prices make it particularly hard for renewable energy to compete against conventional energy in the U.S. market.
Nonetheless, over the past decade U.S. companies have gotten much better at manufacturing, deploying, and operating renewable energy technologies, and as a result prices are coming down rapidly. As prices decrease renewable energy gains market share and speeds our transition toward a more sustainable energy economy.
The problem is China is particularly good at making things cheaply. At the lower end of the value chain, that is primarily due to the country’s low labor costs and massive supply chains. Also advantageous are China’s lax labor, safety, health, and environmental standards. At the higher end, that is often because the Chinese government provides generous subsidies and other forms of support for high-technology research, development, and commercialization. Low-cost Chinese manufacturing plays a large role in driving prices down for a wide range of products, including renewable energy technologies. Chinese manufacturing also plays a large role in pricing some U.S. manufacturers out of business, with many of those manufacturers claiming that the “China price” is driven by Chinese government intervention rather than natural market forces. If the Chinese government is intervening in a way that breaks trade rules then that type of rule breaking should be remedied in some way.
Determining whether China is playing by the rules requires taking a close look at their renewable energy policies—not only at the national level but also at the provincial and local levels. Those policies are often difficult to parse because China’s economic system is not like that of the United States. It is a nonmarket economy with a top-down, command-and-control energy planning process that is often nontransparent with even more opaque interactions between the central government in Beijing and the provincial and local governments when these policies are implemented. All this makes it very difficult to figure out whether the country is abiding by international trade rules.
The United States has much to gain from cooperating with China on clean energy. As the world’s fastest- and largest-growing energy market, China is an ideal testing ground for scaling up and commercializing clean energy technologies. Combining our two energy markets increases economies of scale to bring down costs for consumers in both countries.
But the China we are dealing with today is not the same China we were dealing with 10 years ago. We are accustomed to China focusing on low-end manufacturing and using their cost advantages to make U.S.-designed consumer electronics and other low-end products cheaper and faster. Now China is moving up the value chain to higher-end technology. They are aiming to compete with us in highly engineered, capital-intensive industries such as solar photovoltaic, or PV, systems, where the United States has long enjoyed a comparative advantage.
In short, instead of serving as the low-cost workshop for U.S. companies, China is aiming to capture the parts of the product and services value chain that we are used to dominating.
The United States should not shrink from that challenge. Our firms are generating the best high-end technologies in the world, and we have a skilled workforce that is hard to beat. A rising China is not a reason for us to close off our clean energy markets and forfeit the benefits we can get from bilateral trade and other forms of collaboration. This relationship is only a win-win, however, if we compete with the Chinese on a level playing field, which is proving to be the biggest challenge.
Ensuring that the Chinese play by the rules will require more policy coordination on these types of bilateral trade disputes here in the United States. The Obama administration’s new trade enforcement initiative is a critical step in that direction. But it is only a first step. This issue brief will give an overview of the current solar PV trade dispute to highlight the larger challenges we face.
China’s energy economy is a massive command-and-control juggernaut, and our energy companies are often forced to choose between letting a variety of trade problems slide versus squaring off against that system on their own. Ensuring the U.S. government recognizes and addresses that imbalance at the federal level vis-à-vis China will be critical for keeping the U.S.-China clean energy partnership moving in a positive direction.
The United States will also have to do a better job coordinating trade enforcement at the international level because multilateral pressure is increasingly needed to make the Chinese government adhere to global norms and rules. Since China’s trade policies are also harming clean energy exporters in many other countries—particularly in Europe— the United States should have plenty of partners to work with.
The global solar PV market and China’s manufacturing rise
The current trade case focuses on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules, which convert sunlight into electrical energy. The demand for these PV solar cells and modules is driven by the demand for solar panel installations. Solar technology has expanded rapidly in recent years due to the increasing interest in low-emissions technology and the declining costs of solar cells. Since it is a newer technology, however, it is still generally more expensive to deploy than natural gas or coal, at least in the short term. Most countries already have extensive infrastructure to support coal, but solar infrastructure is still underdeveloped so solar prices have to include infrastructure development and capital costs. Due to those additional costs, the price differential for solar panels over the past decade has been driven primarily by government subsidies to boost deployment of solar energy
In Europe many of those subsidies are in the form of a “feed-in tariff,” which requires utilities to purchase solar energy at prices that are higher than what the utility is paying for conventional fossil energy. Germany launched the first major nationwide solar feed-in tariff in 2004, and other European countries followed suit. In contrast the United States has tended to pass renewable electricity standards, which set an overall goal for utilities in a certain state or city to produce a certain amount of electricity using renewable sources. Twenty-nine U.S. states now have these policies…
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/02/pdf/china_trade.pdf ;
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/02/china_us_energy.html
One was following up on the ‘national debate’ for Mimimum Wages in Malaysia and the CCTV interview brought up the thought of the People’s Republic of China in this crucial issue – PRC is experimenting with the Red China hybrid of Communism and Capitalism which is looking good at the moment and China wants their Yuan to be fully convertible internationally.
Sekian.
One area of revenue would be the subsidised items. It’s hard to implement full monitoring, but as a start one item that can be monitored is petrol.
By now every petrol station should be equipped with a MyKad reader. Every citizen with a MyKad can then purchase petrol at the subsidised rate. The rest have to pay petrol at market price.
With the MyKad reader hopefully other subsidised goods can also be monitored. Controlling the prices of goods is critical to Malaysia, therefore knowing who consume what must also be critical.
Azlan
KL
Artificial Buying Power
8. Loans are the most accessible form of artificial buying power. Literally, no hard cash is required upfront to strengthen a particular demand. Banks use the savings of their clients to lend money. This saves a lot of headaches to the government.
9. In car market, for example, not many people can actually afford a car. Most people are dependant on car loans. Due to the availability of loans, car market gains strength. Industry players make profits. Proton was able to build its factory in Tanjung Malim (costing about RM1.7 billion) without any financing.
10. The same applies to housing market, save those which were mismanaged.
11. However, excessive distribution of loans is hazardous. On top of the actual price, consumers pay interest. The total price is inflated. This amount is spread over a considerably long period in which a portion of monthly salary is deducted. To a borrower, this portion could no longer be utilised to purchase new products. His actual buying power is now reduced for years (the duration of the loan) although a fair amount of income may still appear on his pay slip.
12. With debts in hand, the moderate and lower income people, who are the majority, would be left with limited buying power. Unless there is a widespread pay increase or there are loans which have loose requirements, the market will foresee diminishing demand for new products. This is not good for the economy.
13. The general market could not survive on the rich minority alone. Therefore, a widespread pay increase or the offering of easy loans must be carried out.
14. In Malaysia, this is happening in front of our very eyes. We are seeing people with long term debts, we are seeing widespread pay increases and we are seeing the availability of easy loans. Those with debts can borrow more. If not careful, they would plunge themselves into series of debts.
15. Being confident of the ability of consumers to pay (through loans), industry players raise their prices. Again, adding interest charged by the banks, the prices become much higher.
16. These are bubbles. And the market will be saturated with bubbles. There will be time when a large number of borrowers fail to settle their installments. The time when the market collapse.
17. But some economists are denying the existence of bubbles in our market.
Tun
I write again with some trepidation on the current subject of ‘ Minimum Pay ‘ because of the detractors who tried to politicise this very important decision of the Government, probably the most important during the tenure of the present Government, and the many fellow Malaysians who take this proposal at its full face value with a big emotional overlay.
Both parties were not backed by hard-nose statistics to support their stands. Figures for the minimum wages were just pluck out of thin air and bandied around without due consideration to the subsequent political-socio-economic backlash to come or whether these could withstand the scrutiny of unbiased experts. And this is recurrent. Once decided on and given the blessing, a ‘ Minumum Wage Policy ‘ cannot be taken back or cancelled.
Through your vast experience arising from your successful stewardship of the Government for 22 years, dealing with all the angels and the devils ( we cannot have one without the other ), Tun, and my minimal experience, beginning with negotiating from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. with the EPF Workers Union led by the distinguished late Mr P.P. Narayanan and then onwards through many successful union negotiations in different sectors of the economy, I found that our workers are friendly, intelligent, reasonable and willing to compromise. They are good people. This has been the bulwark of the Malaysian economy all these years. This was one of the many important factors which made Malaysia ticked all these years – the employees.
The true statistics of the Malaysian economy should be used as the base from which the merits and demerits of the ‘ Minumum Wage Policy ‘ should be weighed carefully in public so that the latter are not misled by politics or emotions.
Who does not want more money ? And to lose one’s job thereafter should not be another story as the responsibility of ensuring every citizen has a job lies strictly with the Government ! And this was so during your successful 22 years of Administration with the support of your closest aides and also the successive Governments which preceded it. From 2003 onwards, nothing happened and we are still waiting.
Comparatively, the wages so given to the employees in the general economy are exactly like the blood cells flowing through the blood system in the human body. Too much of it, it is not good for health
( economic health ). Too little means the body is not receiving enough nourishment. Both are bad. The nervous system is the reporting system ( statistics ) to balance the whole well-being of a person’s existence.
To put simply, the formulation of the ‘ Minimum Wage Policy ‘ should first be put together against the wealth of real economic statistics by the experts. The true picture. This takes time and not to be pluck out of the air like Houdini – Houdini economics. Second, the final decision rests with the top of the Government of the day. This is a very serious matter and entails the Life and Death of a Nation – to live or to die.
You were right to bring up this life and death topic ‘ Minimum Pay ‘ at the present time.
Finally, because some ambitious personalities want positions of power and whatever this means, you, Tun have been unfairly called all sorts of names. To tell the truth, you were definitely not like Hitler but more like Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer rolled into one. Fortunately, with time, your deeds are seen to be more noble than others.
Why ? Because of one-upmanship, your rivals for the title of a great leader of Malaysia vis-a-vis Asia rest with their acts of doing you down, even special books were written to underline this or with help from outsiders. And they have not succeeded yet because of these unnatural acts !
I can truthfully say all this without fear or favour !
Dear Tun,
May you always be in good health.
1. We would like to be a high income nation. By 2020, we aspire to achieve a per capita income of at least RM48,000 or USD15,000.
2. For this reason, much emphasis has been laid on economic growth and the voices of economists are much welcome.
3. But what is a high income nation really? Countries of the West have high income yet they are still struggling with bank loans. Clearly, Greece which has a per capita income of USD26,600 in 2010 is seeking bailouts.
4. In economics, there is a fundamental concept of supply and demand. Policies are made based on this concept.
5. The New Economic Policy was a supply-side policy. It made more people participate in businesses; ensuring competition and better supplies. But this economic mechanism has become unpopular.
6. Now, more demand-side mechanisms are being introduced. Skim Rumah Pertamaku, Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia and undeserved pay-raise are examples. They are made to stabilize, if not to strengthen relevant demands.
7. Industry players, knowing the strengthened demand side, would happily raise their prices. Houses, goods and foods (which are set at higher prices) are still going to be purchased in the presence of artificial buying power.
Dearest YAB Tun,
I totally agree with Tun’s analysis. Higher salary implies higher productivity. If the productivity level is still the same or less (too many holidays), then we will have a BIG PROBLEM when the “minimum pay” regulation is imposed. We must spend within our means.
Kena berfikir seperti orang bisnes – kena buat “cost/benefit analysis”. Kalau tidak, akan bankrap..
To Mr. Mubarakchan, keep on writing. You are indeed a very wise man. People (with commonsense) can learn a lot from you.
Thanks Tun.
*** May Allah SWT bless Tun and family ***
Kalau PM dah anak orang kaya. Tak kenal susah.. Asal nak bapak boleh bagi duit.. Macam tu cara dia membesar, macam tu lah cara dia memerintah..
Problem? Aku kasik duit..
High income nation adalah idea pemimpin tak pernah rasa susah.
Sepatutnya target la low priced food nation..
Hmph..!
I think the setting of a minimum wage is with the hope that productivity also increases and would hopefully provide more incentive for workers. This is of course with the intention of eradicating poverty and also helping the rakyat. I think there are many issues and the balance of a minimum wage is tough to set. We are seeing the side-effects of a mismanaged minimum wage policy in the UK espc. Ppl here do slack off easily and always demand for more using mere excuses like it is our basic human rights. I know Hong Kong for one was on a brink of discussing the min wage once and cant seem to find a viable solution. I dont think there is a silver bullet in this case. You talk about civil servants being so-called underpaid leaves to cases of corruption as well. I have Indian friends who would pay their cops off for a mere 10 ringgit and they would happily take it.
Assalamualiakum w.b.t. Tun,
1. Salary increments or minimum wages are meant to increase the living standards and reduce national income gaps.
2. Minimum salary is helpful in increasing the living standards which is aspired by every citizens. But, minimum salary can only be executed when we are able to increase the system efficacy. At least when a normal 5-person works can be done by three persons or so, and then we should talk about minimum salary. If we are already there, it would be good news for the vision 2020.
3. Sadly, through my observation, there are three times in a year where we can surely expect retail price increase (i.e., before Chinese New Year, before Hari Raya, and after the announcement of government servants’ salary increase) where the extra money will be spent on. The 10% or 25% increase benefitted little to the government servants as most of them will be sucked away by some inconsiderate producers, factories, middle-men, and retailers (i.e., the winners in this case). The inflations certainly make life more difficult to those who are not working with the government and not associated with the inflators.
4. Either as salary increase or minimum wage, the citizens’ living standard will improve only a little if there is no strong policy in controlling the mentioned avoidable inflation where inflation kept trending the same way as the salary increase.
5. Putting money on the street in catalysing domestic businesses might sounds viable enough to be the reason of the minimum pay/salary increase policies. The question is, where the money came from? and as you said Tun, is it sustainable? Otherwise, we will just shifting the problem from one end (citizens’ living standards) to another end (government/business burdens).
6. As to any related NGOs, please do not start asking for unemployment pay, as it will only lead to lazy dwellers. There are many other ways we can help the healthy unemployed.
7. We are living in a multi-cultural and multi-religion society which we are proud of. This multi-ness leads to observations of multi-festivals. One good thing about our holidays is that they are meaningful with celebrations of cultures and religions. Not in some countries where public holidays are mere holidays named with some less-eventful events such as bank holiday.
8. The many festivities are certainly not good if we take into account for holidays for each of them. Thankfully, dissimilar to westerners, Malaysians in private sectors are not (yet) that keen to observe all of the public holidays. Complementing it, Malaysians are heavy consumers where holidays are the time when monies are generously spent, thus encouraging domestic money/business flows. Businesses especially tourism-related flourish during these holidays.
9. I do think it is OK to have several big holidays, but it is extremely important to monitor the number of holidays we observe, and certainly we are using ours to the max (and maybe already exceeding our max). Once we go beyond the maximum number of holidays we can cope with, we will be following the spiralling down trend of those in western world where no products are produced and gains from trades are not sufficient to counterbalance the paid holidays and wages.
Keep healthy Tun.
fbm
Salam Tun and All,
Despite all the excitement on the minimum wage, I don’t think it would going to resolve the issue of ‘high cost of living’. You and Mubarakchan has explained this in great detail. You both are wise men, Malaysia need more of you guys.
With the financial institution becoming more and more unstable these days and oil prices becoming more volatile, the price of consumer products became major national issue everywhere in the world. The increase in energy price will translate into increase in price of goods. We still inherit the affect of our currency at 3++ where our imports and foreign loan interest rate are much more expensive than it used to. The demand are also growing more rapid than the supply (seem like we have more people than the resources). Minimum wages will add to the factor. Immadiately, we will find that heaven is not a place on earth.
It seems that the world today are in the hands of the people who control this 2 great things, money and oil (energy). A simple tweak on ‘demand and supply’ of oil per barrel or sell and buy of forex would shake the entire world where this usually translated into economic turmoil.
This is where we need to solve the riddle not by using the same book we used to read. Like Mubarakchan said, the entire pyramid will go down because no one is thinking outside the box.
In my take, there must be something we could do with supply. KR1M has manage to increase supply but not enough to affect the current market especially raw item. There can also be something we could do about the energy and currency exchange itself. If the ‘big gambler’ out there playing their game again big time (commodities, equity, forex, etc), I promise you there will be riots again.
There could be a real creative out of the box answer for this. If I have the answer, I would be applying the Finance Minister post already.
P/s: In my view gold dinar is one of the best idea Dr M have came out with. But of course, we are being controlled. There is no way the West would agree on this.
SALAM KASIH DAN SAYANG
AYAHANDA RAKYAT TUN
Izinkan,
Beloved Ayahanda Tun,
Whilst we are concerned for having far too many holidays and the fear Malaysia may be heading towards an intractable financial crisis, we should also be concerned the contributions of our servicemen especially the police force which do not enjoy the luxury of the numerous public holidays.
On the contrary, they had to work overtime to control traffic and minimise road accidents and to ensure the housing estates , office premises, factory areas, etc are free from thefts…
Sometimes, we wondered whether their minimum pay and benefits do justice to their life threatening jobs.
Some form of gratuity should be put in place for these brave and fearless men when they retire or for their bereaved family if they incurred fatal injuries in line of duty.
Perhaps, a gratuity in the form of a place they can call HOME (Say a Medium or Medium Low House) fully funded by the government wud be in order.
THE HONOURABLE PRIME MINISTER CALL TO THE RAKYAT…’YOU HELP ME, I HELP YOU’ AND NOW THE GRATEFUL RAKYAT WUD CALL UPON THE YAB… ‘ YOU HELP THE POLICEMEN, WE WILL HELP YOU… SURELY!
ALFATIHAH, AMIN
Ps. Don’t just look at the SPLASHES but also look where the RIPPLES hit. Sila baca yang tersurat dan ‘lihat’ pada yang tersirat.. the ‘M’ factor!
Upah benar bagi rakyat semakin mengecil..harga barang naik secara senyap dan tidak disedari.Adakah Tun sedar apa yang berlaku hari ini. Ramai rakyat yang mengeluh mengenai sara hidup yg semakin meningkat saban hari..topik ni hangat dibualkan oleh rakyat jelata.saya berpendapat golongan atasan tidak menyedari dan merasai apa yang ditanggung oleh rakyat….mereka yang tidak puas hati ini secara senyap akan protes kepada kerajaan.kami bukan lah penyokong pembangkang, tetapi kami berpendapat kerajaan masih tidak menunjukkan perubahan sepanjang mereka memerintah.
kemana perginya duit-duit rakyat.kita mempunyi petronas yang membekalkan banyak hasil kepada kerajaan.Adakah kerajaan sekarang tidak idea untuk mencari sumber-sumber pendapatan lain. Ramai pegawai kakitangan awam yang terlibat dalam gejala rasuah..semua orang tahu hal ini berlaku. Duit hanya berlegar kepada pegawai-pegawai yang tamak ini..malahan di peringkat sekolah,tender kantin sekolah pun terdapat unsur rasuah. kontrak jalan pun ada rasuah..hasilya jalan banyak yang berlubang. Adakah ini dikatakan produktiviti oleh Tun? Ini belum diambil kira projek-projek yang besar seperti buat sekolah dan lain-lain.produktivitinya tidak sama dengan nilai projek yang diberi oleh kerajaan,kalau dikumpulkan duit-duit yang tiris dan bocor ini kerajaan boleh bayar semua penjawat awam dengan gaji yang lebih tinggi…kalau pemilik syarikat swasta tidak tamak mengaut keuntungan, mereka juga boleh bayar pekerja-pekerja mereka dengan gaji yang lebih tinggi.rakyat makin menyedari ini dan sudah muak mendengar kata-kata pemimpin yang kononya banyak membela mereka..dengarlah rintihan orang di bawah ini.kami masih duduk di atas pagar……
Salam Tun,
Interesting. Tun Daim is back talking about polls.
Salam,
Semua orang nak hidup senang. Gaji tinggi tetapi kos penyaraan hidup rendah.
Kerajaan harus pertingkatkan produktiviti, mengelakkan pembaziran dan lain2 untuk mengimbangi kenaikan gaji tinggi dan kos penyenggaraan hidup rendah. Jumlah cuti di Malaysia melampaui batas kemanusiaan.Itu belum kira cuti curi tulang.
Ahli ekonomi kebanyakkanya berpendapat harga barang akan sentiasa meningkat sebab cost of production sentiasa meningkat?
Betul tetapi yang pihak pengurusan yang bergaji tinggi tak tau kat cara terbaik mengurangkan kos? Asyik tau melabur saja ke?
Ada banyak cara. Sebagai satu contoh,kerajaan kena susun semula struktur penggunaan tenaga manusia. Contoh lagi Jabatan kerajaan, 3 kerani kadang2 buat kerja yang boleh dilakukan oleh seorang kerani. Itu pun lembab! Yang dua lagi kerani lebihan mungkin dipindahkan kepada sektor lebih memerlukan misalnya perladangan sebagai contoh.. Lulusan Universiti dan dan lain2 berlambak2 tidak dapat mempertingkat produktiviti negara! Kenapa!!
Negeri Belanda tak ramai penduduk, tetapi adakah banyak pekerja import dari Indonesia, BanglaDesh , India dalam sekor pertanian? Tak dak kot tapi depa laksana konsep smart farming , guna teknoloji terkini untuk kecekapan pertanian .
Negara yang belanja sakan tapi hasil kurang tak boleh dijadikan contoh.Banyak negara lain boleh dijadikan contoh, bagaimana pengurusan cekap dapt mempertingkatkan pendapatan negara.
Salam,
I do agree that most western countries get much higher pay for similar jobs or services than in Malaysia. However, the quality of their services are very satisfying compared to what we have in Malaysia especially in the government sector. As far as I can see, higher salaries for government staffs make them happier but do not motivate them to provide better services. We should learn from the western countries in terms of good working attitudes such as punctual, responsive, reliable, accountable and responsible.
Tapi Tun kalau produktiviti kita lemah disebabkan cuti kenapa hasil kutipan cukai oleh LHDN kita meningkat?.Barangkali idea DS Najib “memanjakan rakyat” melalui BR1M dan sbgnya ada kebaikan dan kelemahan.
Bagi saya kalau kerajaan mahu menjadikan Malaysia negara yg maju perlu dimajukan seluruh negeri termasuk negeri2 Melayu timur.Ada di negeri2 tersebut saudara kita yg perlu mendapat haknya.Sekarang 2012, 8 tahun kemudian 2020.Ingat kita org Melayu,ada perasaan terhutang budi.Mahu tak mahu UMNO dan PAS perlu bekerjasama majukan negeri pantai timur tersebut utk menjadikan Malaysia sebuah negara yg berpendapatan tinggi.
Encik Sudin,
Please dont be jealous of others. As long as you remain in the kampung, Msia should be fine. Oh yea I am a spoiled brat in fact. But the great thing is I dont actually take things from the govn. You can label the richest in the world spoiled or such but at the end of the day, they depend on no one else but themselves. It is then ppl like you who need handouts which come directly from them. Name you price and I will try and find someone to shut you up.
Salam
YAB Tun Dr Mahathir Yg DiRahmati Allah Swt.
1. Kerajaan BN sentiasa bertanggungjawab dari dulu, kini dan selamanya ……………. semua rakyat tahu.
2. Dengan tanggungjawab itulah, maka BN sentiasa berusaha memakmurkan negara sehingga rakyat jadi sejahtera.
3. Walaupun usaha/dasar BN yang murni itu sentiasa diburukkan oleh pembangkang, rakyat amat sedar bahawa pembangkang adalah ANJING YANG MENYALAK BUKIT.
Assalam Tun,
Saya setuju apa yg d perkatakan oleh Tun cuma yg nak saya utarakan di sini mcm mana pengarah badan berkanun bergaji rm25k sebulan,elaun kenderaan 5k,elaun pemandu 2k dan bermcm2 elaun lg sedangkan gaji org bawahan cuma dpt kenaikan rm 80-rm100 setahun.Apa yg terjadi di Malaysia sekarang kenaikan pihak atasan adalah tidak selari dgn org bawahan.sepatutnya kenaikan mengikut sistem piramid menegak tetapi sekarang dh jd piramid terbalik.Kalau Tun ingin jadikan kenyataan maka Tun perlu syorkan kepada semua GLC dan badan berkanun supaya gaji org atasan perlu di turunkan tetapi saya percaya gaji org bawahan tidak akan ada semakan lagi kerana pada mereka tidak ada kepentingan pihak atasan.
Dear Amin Tan,
Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir has made a press statement dated Nov 2011 that certain ppl in BN have bought votes and it is common knowledge that it occurs within the party. Now, this is a senior member of UMNO. Also, according to him, he mentioned that opposition party is broke and do not have the financial means to go on a major shopping spree compared to BN. So please, that is the real definition of vote buying. I am not talking about help packages or one off payments right before the election. Nevertheless, if the ppl need it, regardless of timing or political purposes, a legit stimulus package is great and commendable. However, what BN doing here is buying votes outright under the table. I will try and post some links of MP Teresa Kok who approached a BN tent giving away rm50 to poor ppl in exchange for votes. Now, this chaps could be unrelated to BN members. But the fact is that the govn has chosen to allow it to happen is ridiculous.
Tun
The Minimum Pay Policy should be a non-starter for the following reasons ( it is not as simple as ‘one for you and one for me’, you know the song ) :
1. Minumum Pay will keep away foreign investors for the very industries we require which employ lots of workers.
2. Apart from the fall of profits for the private owners, Government revenues in terms of taxes will fall substantially.
3. Even the West expects an economic recovery 10 years hence from 2008. Interest rates are at an all-time low.
4. Can the Government and the Private Sector afford to give away this free money at the present time in a time of international financial turmoil which is purported to last 10 years from 2008 ?
5. At the moment, all seem fine and dandy in the general economy. We will certainly get the answers to the right or wrong decisions after the next General Election.
Have we forgotten nothing much happened from 2003 onwards and we are still waiting ?
6. The costs of all materials and utilities seem to be nudging upwards.
Some analysts have expressed their confusion at the present international financial scenario.
7. Malaysia’s real statistics are of utmost importance in keeping a hard-nose approach on whether she can or cannot afford the luxury of a minimum wage policy which must be linked to enhanced production. Otherwise, it is just like giving money away – money for jam.
8. It is dangerous to politicise money, the most difficult commodity to handle in the whole wide-world ! Hence, in all countries of the world, the Finance Minister is usually a technocrat and not a politician.
IN WHATSOEVER WE DO
THERE IS PROS AND CONS
DO,S AND DONT,S
MY VISION IS TO STAY MODERATE
THE ISLAMIC WAY
WE DON,T HAVE TO MINIMISE OUR QUALITY
TO LESSEN OUR PRICE TAG TO COMPETE
AS THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT BENEFITS THE END USER
AS IN DURABLITY
AS MOST ASIANS ARE DOING
AND WE DON,T HAVE TO INCREASE MUCH QUALITY
TO DURABILITY AS IN THE WEST
THAT MEET THE END USER OF AFFORDABILTY
WE BE MODARATE
AS IN QUALITY AND QUANTITY
TO MEET THE PRICE TO SUBSTANTIATE OUR INCOME
NOT MASS PRODUCTION AND GET GREEDY SO AS TO BALANCE OUR MOTHER NATURE
LET IN FLOW
LET NATURE TAKES ITS CAUSE
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE DOES NOT LAST
INDEED IT HAS HARMFUL EFFECTS
WHICH WILL REALISE ON A LATER STAGE
LIKE THE INTELLIGENCE OF
THE RECYCLE WATER IN SINGAPORE
THEY FEEL THEY HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY OF NEW WATER
THESE TECHNOLOGY IS A RESEARCH ON THEIR CITIZENS
THESE TECHNOLOGY WILL BE SOLD TO MIDDLE EAST
FACTS IS
THEY HAVE CHOICES OF OUR NATURAL CLEAN WATER
BUT REFUSE TO PAY MORE
THUS CREATE A TECHNOLOGY TO NEW WATER
BUT UNAWARE OF EFFECTS ON A LATER STAGE
A DISEASE WILL BE BORN
WE DO IT NATURALLY
WE DON,T DO IT IN FEAR
YABhg Dr. Mahathir Mohamad,
Good Partners & Minimum Pay
(central asia is a big market)
Delighted by this piece of Proton news:
“The idea is initially of course to probably assemble Proton cars there and eventually develop a Turkish car through the collaboration,”
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsindex.php?id=649476
Although, this forex news http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsindex.php?id=649651 does make one wondering how the payment will be with a free trade agreement with Turkey?
But a stable Turkey needs a stable Syrian – is that right, Dr. Mahathir?
Do you think the Spanish car will be sold when Fiat still makes money despite the Italian Financial Crisis – and the modern nations do have minimum wages policy?
Sekian
Salam Tun,
It is very clear from the very beginning, that that the strategy towards a “high income nation” is simply wrong and is leading us all to disaster.
I sometimes wonder where are all the economists, social activists, accountants, mathematicians, even physicists, and why no one even so much as raised an eyebrow when the government announced this ? Are we that crazy to march towards high income when our focus ought to be to make more in a lesser time so that we can keep prices under control ?
It tells me there are more dishonest people than that meets the eye, most people keep quiet because they too want a higher salary. But self employed people and business people are not so easily deceived. They may not be honest do goody, but they are honest to themselves, and they know just to increase salary without substantial improvement on income or productivity is simply a waste of their time. They money is better spent on trying out new investments or ideas or simply gambled away.
But yes, it does make the government look very wise and popular. And sweet.
Tun
The paramount decision on ‘ Minimum Pay ‘ rests with the top leader of the Government to make the right judgement for success or disaster.
From your vast experience and my humble study of the characteristics of potential prime ministers and the real prime ministers of our beloved country, I have come to the conclusion that such an aspiring person, he or she, needs the following 3 innate qualities. As we Malaysians say,
‘ You got or not got, lah !’ :-
1. Commonsense
2. Ability to think out of the box – creativity, innovation, vision.
3. Compassion
In some countries with the much vaunted virtue, meritocracy, when in crisis, the smartest fellow at the very tip of the pyramid flipped, the meritocratic fellows in the pyramid below flopped and froze. Why ? They all read the same books and spoke the same language. It was funny !
Dr. Mahathir,
Salaams
One thinks that the Euro and the Dollar is of no real value without the enforcement of riba free economy and soon the Renminbi and the Yen is a good study of the Nihon economy.
However, what is your definition for ‘minimum pay’ in Malaysia in the various sectors of the economy so that one may learn to be just and fair in distribution of wages?
Is there such a thing as excessive pay in capitalism?
How would the guidelines in a Shariaah Compliant Economy be like on minimum wages for halal labor and halal-toyibban work?
One thinks that the Euro and the Dollar is of no real value without the enforcement of riba free economy, still; and that the concept of minimum wages and creditworthiness is entwined.
Sekian
capitalist will create internal tension…
contoh…
menteri boleh ambil blank cheque 250mil without any expertise…
penternak2 berpengalaman nak amik 25k pun jenuh nak mintak pegawai pertanian/perikanan turun tengok site…
yg kurang berkemampuan nak dapat rm250.00 kena daftar e-kasih…
pelaksanaan DEB wajar diperbetulkan tun…
Dearest Tun
1-A new world order is really on the drawing board.Very soon there will be only one world government with one world currency.
2-Obviously,there is no way this could be achieved by voluntary means.To get the whole world to submit to this ‘they’ will orchestrate the final world war.This official third world war would be more explosive and destructive than ever before.It would be another ‘war to end all wars’.
3-The powers that be will push the struggling and collapsing West to a last ditch initiative to remain the rulers of the world by attempting to destroy their potential challengers China and Russia.The West will also need the war to deviate their people from their prevailing free falling economic reality.
4-To do this they must attack Iran.China and Russia will definitely come in to side Iran because of their own current and future energy needs as well as for their own political expediency.
5-This will be a wide spread West vs East confrontation.It would be intense because of the religious motivations behind mainly the Jews and the Christians of the West and the Muslims of the East.
6-The respective politicians had indoctrinated their people that this war has got divine blessings.The Jews would be preparing for the arrival of their long awaited messiah who will come to reestablish Jewish kingdom.The Christians are anticipating the return of Jesus and the shiites Muslims of Iran,the return of their twelfth imam,the promised al Mehdi who God would send at the end of times to liberate the Muslims.Their common denominator is Jerusalem the city from which these three coming leaders must rule.
7-Before the 1st and 2nd WW happened the people then also thought that those wars was unrealistic and would not happen.without WW3 the final objective of the first two Ww will not be achieved.
8-Mininmum wage? We should consider ourselves lucky if are still around then..
Thanks Tun.
Assalamualaikum Tun.
Bila saya beli mesin saya fikir untuk meningkatkan produktiviti.Tapi walaupun punyai teknologi sekiranya masa kerja singkat ia akan meningkatkan tekanan pada pekerja kerana perlu menyiapkan kerja dengan cepat padahal jangka masa kerja adalah pendek.
Tun kelihatan semakin aktif.Ada baca jugak orang kata pengaruh Tun dalam satu satu perkara melebihi Dato’ Najib.
Dengar ada kecoh pasal hudud.Saya tak pernah melalui line of thinking seperti jihad atau hudud.Tapi pada suatu masa kelapangan apabila selak selak bacaan maksud Al Quran,saya mendapati bahwa perbuatan yang disuruh supaya berperang apabila perlu dan berjihad adalah kerana line of thinking ; Allah s.w.t berkuasa apa jua melaksanakan hukuman,tetapi manusia sebagai hamba Allah s.w.t perlu menunjukkan kepatuhan dan kehambaan padaNya.
let us all not forget :
Wealth is not in having vast riches, it is in contentment
harga rumah pun tak penah dalam sejarah perkataan ” susutnilai ” menurun.
kinda agree with you on that…”when wages and compensations for work are not accompanied by increases in productivity..” &
“….Between higher pay and shorter working hours, plus all the other costs, the cost of production of goods and services must increase considerably…”
but i’ll believe thing has change nowdays ..in every sector of jobs & business…technology has make a lot of progress in helping us human or labour at work..and thus decrease the working hour and cost..etc
maybe nowdays term “productivity” cannot be judge by long working hour or days anymore…
Advanced technology…make our work lesser…
most production jobs nowdays has been taken away by robot & auto-machine etc..
Malaysia is not alone in heading this way, i think most of country either 3rd world or develop country are heading this way…
wether there is productivity or not..company will still ” increase the price of good anyway..even if the product is not that good “.
so no choice i guess except to increase the salary for people to suit the that increasing good.
even the word ” Increasing means nothing nowdays ..except to suit the current par only…
e.g in room rental industry ppl pay around 250 last year but this year the house owner will surely increase considering the renter might got salary increments…”
hukum alam memang macamtu Tun..kut sejak kita semua push capitalism extreme sangat kut..sampai takdak check & balance .
tapi sya rasa apa teori pun hukum dia mesti menaik..jangankan Graph indeks bursa sahaja kena naik nk bagi pelabur confident…, dalam physic pun mcmtu jgk..teori Newton pun kata kalo benda jisim yg berat jatuh bawah dia akan melantun naik ..
*mujoq time berak taik kita tak melantun balik…hehe.. tang tu Newton serender.. taik jatuh tak naik dah… hehe
dashyat manapun teori Keyneas..Adam smith….smua p tangtu jgk ending dia ..dia akan makin naik or makin mahal.
cuma kut Alfred marshall la ada sikit tembak kena kut..dia kata ” the price and output of a good are determined by both supply and demand..”
kut tang nie kut kita sangkut la nie…?
*ps/ – saja merapu.
Terima Kasih Tun…Malay Dilema part 2 dah start tulih dah ka ?
harap tebal skit dari yg 1st , pasai yg kedua nie ibarat “Wasiat untuk org Melayu & bumiputra …& rakyat malaysia .
cheer!
Harga rumah
Dear Tun,
I think politics is the culprit in the failure or weakening of the economy of the West as well as in Malaysia. The supreme leadership of a country is in the political leadership of that country. Political parties from the opposing sides are trying their best to ‘buy’ the votes by promising and actually implementing it extremely costly hand outs to voters. For example, the current state government of selangor gives free water to every household in the state after winning the 2008 General Election. The Barisan Natonal government gives rm500 to every household with income less than rm3000 per month nationwide. The BN can justify it as an economic stimulation package in order to counter the coming onslaught of Western recession spreading to our shore. I would even recommend another round of similar legalised hand out as an economic stimulus injection to boost the economy, on the eve of the impending general election. If such a widespread strategy is deployed, then there is lesser need for illegal money politic by individual candidates from the government. In other words, it has two prone benefits. Firstly, it is meant to prevent recession and unemployment in the country. Secondly, it would ensure landslide election victory for the ruling party and the feel good atmosphere of the people generally.
amin tan
Salam Tun,
1. This is not the first time you have posted such an article Tun.
2. I totally agree with you on this matter. If you count the number of Holidays in a year you’ll be shocked. A week each for Raya and CNY, birthday(s) of Sultans/Agong, Deepavali, Thaipusam and other miscellaneous celebrations; most we can do without.
3. The people of the West live lavishly albeit through lifelong debts. Their entire economy is unsustainable and their money or currency has become of little or no value.
4. Sadly, many Asian countries, Malaysia included, are following this same corrupt model.
5. Referring back to our nation, there’s another vital point you missed out Tun. Friday is another day where most Muslims abuse to reduce their working hours.
6. Although the prayer itself does not take that long, Muslims use ‘holy rituals’ as a scapegoat for prolonged lunch hours or loafing around.
7. Not only that, as I’m a Muslim myself, it pains me to say that the work ethic of Muslim in today’s society is sub-par and downright appalling. Any time I visit malls or restaurants, the service provided by these people is truly mediocre.
8. Allow me to recall a brief story:
My family and I had been to a hardware store called ‘HOUZ Depot (pronounced Dee-poh)’. It was already closing time and one of the workers made the usual announcement. The Malay girl’s announcement was perfectly fine except for one thing, she referred to the store as ‘ HOME (not Houz) Depot (pronouncing it as Dee-POT). The employee herself seems to have no idea as to where she seems to be working.
9. The case above among many others is truly vexing and really demonstrates the condition of Malays (indirectly Muslims) in our nation.
10. Something drastic must really be done, for it is not becoming for a nation with big aspirations to have such a workforce. Countless number of holidays, lousy work ethics, poor communication skills among all Malaysians are among many dilemmas that Malaysians are facing. Don’t get me started about Government offices.
11. Recently, I sent a letter to Perdana Foundation requesting an interview with you, Tun. When I call to follow up, nobody answers the phone call. I’ve even contacted other department with the same result. I even contacted someone for gaining membership and the lady said she’ll come back to me. Till now, I have received no reply whatsoever.
12.What are we doing to solve all these problems?
Thank you.
Tetapi Tun, bagaimana pula CEO satu bank gaji RM700,000 beserta perks berpuloh ribu lagi kalau di bandingkan dengan kerani di banknya .
Salam Tun,
This is eye opening for the government. You should tell this to the current government (NAJIB) to be more aware of that. We need to be productive in order to achieve sustainable economy for everybody. We do not want inflation to hit our economy when people pay too much for less quality product.
Thank you Tun
Tun
It is timely that you raise the question of ‘ Minimum Pay ‘ during a period before an expected General Election.
This issue has been discussed, debated and argued from time immemorial. It is a very complex issue with a deep deep meaning to the words ‘ Minimum Pay ‘. Comparatively, this phrase is like an iceberg – apparently harmless looking on the surface but underneath, there lies the huge overlay of trouble for the unfortunate, be it for ships or otherwise, the general economy. For this, you had the Vision in Vision 2020 to improve the standard of living for the Malaysians ! It was not too long ago when you postulated it.
As always, we should go back to the basics of the wherewithal of the history of our Nation. It was developed as a tropical business enterprise by the British who were only interested in commercial gains. From the very beginning, attempts were made to produce gutta-percha, coffee etc. But these were unsuccessful due to the heavy rainfall and the prevalent pests until vast forests were replaced by the Hevea Braziliensis or rubber tree.
From their experience in dealing with the Negro slaves and the East Indian indentured workers in plantations in British Guiana, the West Indies and parts of South America, the rubber plantation industry founded by the British, never looked back from the beginning of the 20th Century with the introduction of workers for the Malay States from India. This industry thrived throughout the 20th Century because it subscribed to the peculiar practices as were developed or imposed by the British plantation owners.
In a typical rubber plantation in pre- and post-colonial times, all workers were at work before sunrise on a dry morning and finished their tapping before 10.30 a.m. All are paid according to the weight of wet latex harvested. On a rainy morning no work is done. No worker is paid. Only major festivals are observed because no one could predict what the weather tomorrow is going to be. Sometimes, rain may fall for many days without a break in the mornings.
The production of rubber from a plantation is very much at the mercy of the weather and its profitably is entirely dependant on the cost of production and the vagaries of the cyclical market place of rising and falling prices.
The gestation of a rubber tree to maturity used to be as long as 7 years and now with the oil palms, the time is cut by half. But the production of the palm oil fruits are also like that of rubber latex, dependant on the weather
For an investor, it takes many years of waiting to get back his investment which is open to the vicissitudes of the weather, the cyclical price movement of the market place, etc.
However, in modern plantation practice, the workers are well-compensated for in good times. Hence, we have union agreements so on and so forth.
An so it is also for a factory investor who may get back his investment much faster than the planters but then his risk is to his exposure to the world’s market at large. He has to garner export orders from 6 to 12 months in advance to prepare and plan his sourcing and financing of his materials and the production thereof. To any investor, the faster the return for his investment, the more attractive the country is going to be.
This means production and production costs are imperative to his success. There should be no slack but absolute efficiency in a factory.
With the end of the Cold War more than 20 years ago, the advent of free trade and globalization plus the world of the Web, traders around the world do super-fast business daily. Comparisons of the best attractions which any single country may offer to a potential investor, is easily obtained. In other words, a serious investor will know what to do and where to look to put his precious money into.
Hence, Malaysia actually competes against the whole wide world for business when we are in serious business. No one is going to sympathise with us. The Devil takes the hindmost.
Against this back-drop of world-wide competition. Malaysia has to look at herself to fathom how much she has progressed enough to give away free money in the form of the multitude of holidays to the idle worker at the expense of the private investor. She must have the real statistics to work on to trim out the fat and become leaner to compete against the world which has no mercy for us. This is where the right judgement and decision is so important for a leader to make.
Tun, you are right to put your finger on productivity which may be enhanced in value or volume or both together. Then, we are going places up the value-added gravy train. Otherwise, who knows what will happen to our fragile economy with a mandatory minimum wage for all ? And we are not even discussing the Government employees !
I roughly worked out that a married lady working in an institution could stretch her leave to as long as 6 months. We do not need a rocket scientist to work this one out !
There is no doubt about it. A minimum wage policy will have a snowball effect on our cost of living and production and if more subsidies are removed ?
How ?
don’t know why Tun did not discuss about the issues of LEMBU …
may be selectively for some reasons … haha
Salam Tun.
I like it everytime when you start ‘humiliating’ that Pak Dol no quality PM5. It helps me to giggle involuntarily, just like the elated feeling when running through the comments by that spoiled brat ‘the joker’ juks, he he.
Recently, for once I fully concurred to MB Khalid when he criticised the appointment of budak KJ as head of PUNB!
What is PM Najib’s thinking?
That budak KJ has become so famous for ‘cleaning’ all govt coffers that the rakyat didn’t mind giving away 5 states to the opposition during PRU12!!
PM Najib doesn’t seem to worry/bother the rakyat’s unequivocal hatred of budak KJ.
PUNB, the trademark umbrella to Malay entrepreneurship created by PNB, and Najib is giving it away to budak KJ!
He might as well appoint juks the joker as head of MARA!!!