Bermain bola

At last, after 20 long years, Malaysia has come out to play ball. PM Najib Razak has agreed to move on the issue of its land at Tanjong Pagar, and the stretch of land that its railway track occupies. Singapore has been generous, allowing an unequal 60% share of whatever is eventually developed on these land to Malaysia, taking the balance 40%. It isn't clear who will develop these land - Singapore or Malaysia developers, how any contract will be awarded, etc. If it were left to Singapore, I wouldn't be worried about transparency, but if it were left to Malaysia...

The other good news is that SMRT will be extending its Mass Rapid Transit network into Johor, making it so much more convenient to cross the Causeway into Malaysia and vice versa. This can only be good for both neighbours. It beats a crooked bridge that some crooked mind cooked up some years ago, and still insists on having it.

The real regret is that this didn't happen earlier, not for a lack of effort on Singapore's side, but intransigence and ego of the power that was in much of those 20 years. But there is a silver lining to it. Because of the constant threat of cutting the water supply to Singapore, it decided to invest into water technology and maximizing on the use of all bodies of water on and around the island. Singapore is well on its way to water self-sufficiency, and is even donating its water processing facility in Johor to Malaysia.

In spite of Singapore's puny size, it can be generous when it needs to be. Only some narrow-minded people cannot and will not see it, even to this day.

To Slay a Giant

I say hurray for PM Najib Razak - for being brave enough to kill a sacred cow like the New Economic Policy (NEP) which, while achieving some of its original aims, has probably introduced more problems over its 22 year history. What is the content of the New Economic Model? Well, I don't think it has been fleshed out, and as they all say, the devil is in the details. Some are even suggesting that it may be old wine in new bottles, that the NEM is nothing but a new and sophisticated wrapper for the NEP.

The problem is NEP has become so entrenched into the politics of the ruling class - the UMNOs and the Malay supremacists and what have you's. It will take a person of tremendous political clout, significant underlying Malay support, and persuasive powers to slay this giant money generator for the bumiputras and raise one that is more equitable in its place. It is said that the NEM will place more emphasis on needs and merits. That is the way it should have been. Hopefully, that is the way it is going to be, if we believe in Najib Razak. You do not have to look far for an example, Just look south of the Peninsula, in a tiny little island called Singapore, to be convinced that this is the right thing to do. But of course it requires a person also with a strong political will to realize the proposed changes. Does PM Najib Razak have it - the political staying power to roll back what his father put into place back in 1971?

Only time will tell.

Taking the guess out of gas

Did Abdullah Badawi really have no choice but to increase the price of petrol? I think nobody will dispute it, not when India, Taiwan, Vietnam, and a whole host of countries recognise that subsidizing fuel prices is no longer tenable, given the skyrocketing price of this commodity. I suppose the only people who are laughing all the way to the bank are the oil producers and the speculators.

But increasingly the prices by about 41% for petrol and 67% for diesel with less than a week's notice? That's mighty strong medicine and obviously very difficult to swallow. In fact, there were long queues at gasoline stations the night before the price increase kicked in (5 June 2008). Motorists were just acting out of economic self-interest by lapping up that last litre of cheap petrol. I wonder if not more had brought along their jerry-cans to get even more savings.

It hadn't dawned on me that Singaporeans have been living off the largesse of the Malaysians, or their foolishness, these many years. You don't realise it until prices of vegetables, eggs, poultry, and even travel and tours into the Malay Peninsula, in Singapore start to rise. That's the inevitable trend and Singaporeans are bracing for another round of imported inflation. Think about it. For as long as the Malaysian government has been subsidizing the prices of petrol, they have been subsidizing the livelihood, and yes, even the pleasures, of the Singaporeans, both the rich and the poor. So its not just the Singapore motorists who fill up their tanks in Johor that has benefitted only.

So Singaporeans are now understandably very disappointed by the removal of the fuel subsidies. I think they will stand together with ordinary Malaysians in lobbying the M'sian government to reverse the drastic increases of gasoline, notwithstanding its obvious wisdom. But people don't like rude shocks and see their money reduced in value so fast.

This latest policy change will likely cost PM AB his premiership. The knives were already out prior to this latest uproar. It now remains for them to be plunged into the gut for the fatal blow. Will PM AB survived? Who will take over? Can he do a better job? The Malaysians are now not too optimistic about the incumbents. Will the Opposition do any better, or will they turn out to be just as disappointing?