August 31st Merdeka Day to Sept 16 Malaysia Day – “bumper harvest” of bad news for Malaysia

By Lim Kit Siang,


Never before in the nation’s history has the country been buffeted by such a “bumper harvest” of bad news in the 17 days between Merdeka Day on August 31 and Malaysia Day on September 16.
This plethora of bad news for Malaysia cannot be more detrimental to Malaysia’s ability to escape from her decades-long “middle-income trap” and the terrible fate of a bankrupt nation in 2019 by undertaking a national transformation to achieve an inclusive and sustainable high-income developed nation in 2020.
Today for instance, there are two such bad news.
First is today’s Malaysian Insider story “Investors shun Malaysia for neighbours” which reports:

“Malaysia is now the “least favoured market” in Asia Pacific for investors after nearly doubling its underweight rating from last month, according to a recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch report.
“The country slipped two spots — from 10th place to dead last — in the investment bank’s latest Fund Managers Survey, even as the Najib administration prepares to unveil ambitious economic reforms meant to boost investor confidence.

“The report appears to be the latest indictment of Malaysia’s inability to compete with rival regional markets. In the past decade, the once roaring Asian Tiger has seen its dominant position as an investment destination in Southeast Asia crumble even as neighbouring countries push to the fore.
“A survey last week by the World Economic Forum (WEF) of 139 nations showed that Malaysia had slipped two places in global competitiveness rankings to 26th in the past year, while Indonesia surged 10 places to 44th…
“Elsewhere in the region, China remained the favourite market by far despite an uncertain global outlook. A net 11 per cent of investors expect China’s economy to strengthen, up from -39 per cent in July, according to Merrill Lynch.
“Indonesia, slightly underweight last month, jumped to second place on an overweight call, edging out Hong Kong in the process. New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea and India remained neutral.”

The second bad news is the release today of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11, regarded as the gold standard in international university performance comparisons, which confirmed the QS World University Rankings 2010 released a week ago that Malaysia’s premier university, University of Malaya, has fallen off the world Top 200 Universities Ranking.
University of Malaya fell from 180th to 207th ranking in the QS World University Rankings 2010 but it is not known what placing University of Malaya has fallen to in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11.
The top 10 universities ranked by Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11 are:

1. Harvard – US
   
2. California Institute of Technology – US
   
3. Massachusetts Institute of TeCochnology – US
   
4. Stanford – US
   
5. Princeton – US
   
6. Cambridge – UK
   
7. Oxford – UK
   
8. University of California Berkeley – US
   
9. Imperial College – UK
   
10. Yale – US
    

Twenty-seven Asian universities are emplaced in the latest THES ranking led by University of Hong Kong (21), Tokyo (26), Pohang University of Science and Technology (28), National University of Singapore (34) and Peking University (37).
The plethora of bad news in the past 17 days from Merdeka Day on August 31 to Malaysia Day September 16 could be discerned from the following headlines or headings:

• September 15 – Najib saddened by rise of extremism in Malaysia (Malaysiakini)
  
• September 15 – “Sabahans losing patience over 20 Points – Maijol” (Borneo Post)
  
• September 14 – ANALYSIS – Malaysia “top-down” reforms set to disappoint (Reuters)
  
• September 14 – Utusan champions Dr M’s views in campaign for Perkasa (Malaysian Insider)
  
• September 12 – Sosilawati and three others brutally murdered and burnt (Malaysiankini)
  
• September 10 – M’sia Today ‘blocked to stop release of documents’ (Malaysiakini)
  
• September 9 – Global competitiveness: M’sia goes down further (Malaysiakini)
  
• September 9 – Malaysian universities falling out of top 200 universities in QS World University Rankings 2010 latest proof that Najib’s NEM are just empty words lacking political will and leadership necessary to effect Malaysia’s economic transformation (blog.limkitsiang.com)
  
• September 4 – Why double standards against Namewee, questioned for over 10 hours, for his anti-racist outburst as compared to treatment for the two errant school principals? (blog.limkitsiang.com)
  
• September 4 – Teo says surau row nadir in her life (Malaysian Insider)
  
• September 3 – Hishamuddin should not act both as prosecutor and judge to pass judgment that Nurul Izzah had committed the offence of sedition, dictating and usurping the powers of the Police, AG’s Chambers and judiciary (blog.limkitsiang.com)
  
• September 3 – Rising racism, 53 years on -David KL Quek (Malaysiakini)
  
• September 1 – Mahathir is the major obstacle to Najib’s 1Malaysia and National Transformation Agenda (blog.limkitsiang.com)
  
• August 31 – Why Police investigating Wee Meng Chee for sedition when there is nothing seditious in his latest 3-minute rap against the Kulai secondary school principal for making racist slurs against students? (blog.limkitsiang.com)
  
• August 30 – The ultimate Malaysian debate: Malaysia or Malaysaja? – Nurul Izzah Anwar (Malaysian Insider)
  
• August 30 – Quo Vadis Malaysia 18 months after Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan? (blog.limkitsiang.com)
  

What is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak going to do with such a “bumper harvest” of bad news for Malaysia?