Najib makes 3 big moves in a day. No applause?

PM Najib Razak made three moves today.
Banyaknya.

1) The biggest is of course the launching of the Special Economic Zone encompassing Terengganu and, ahem, his home state (and constituency!) in Pahang. See here.
Let's not get too negative like it's going to fail, white elephant, etc.

It hopes to pull in RM90 billion worth of investments and create 220,000 jobs by 2020.
Since it's nearly 2010 already, it means the government thinks it can bring in an average investment of RM9 billion a year and create 22,000 jobs a year, for the next 10 years.
Sounds impossible to me, but as I said, let's not get too negative
Anything to move Malaysia, my adopted country, forward is good.

Of course (mesti nak kata jugak!), my main worry remains whether the investments will come from local funds or foreign investors.
As can be seen from Iskandar - Yes, it is moving, but the prime mover seems to be government funds, not those from foreigners.

Of course, actually the RM90 bil is do-able because the government just needs to pull in a couple of big oil-gas player in (hopefully not local guy Petronas) and that's it.
I also like the fact that there is an agriculture element in this SEZ.
The Singapore government is so worried about another super-hike in food prices like last year that it is enlarging its farming sector - see my previous posting here.
So it is good to see that Terengganu-Pahang beaches and greens will have added stuff like aquaculture and sayur.
Hope the Malaysian government will provide more details soon.

As we know, the problem with Malay farmers (as compared to Malaysian Chinese farmers), sorry to say brudders, is they all very 'manja'.
If you go to Cameron Highlands, you can see aggressive expansion of flower and vege farms by Chinese farmers. I don't think they waited for government soft-loans and no-need-to-pay-back if project fails stupidities.
The Malay farmers, always backed by government funds, and the government being always scared that they will not vote for BN, always pamper them.
Can someone please use Khazanah's KPI (key performance index) on these farmers? Muahaha.

Just about six weeks ago, the Agriculture Minister took out a full page ad in Utusan to BEG these Melayu farmers and other agri loaners to PAY BACK their loans.
Apa ni? Malu lah.
Sampai menteri nak kena minta sedekah pulangkan duit rakyat?

Anyway, let's hope the SEZ plans will materialise. Fast.


2) Soooooooooo much noise was made you'd think the world was coming to an end if the government didn't listen to the opposition.
So now PM Najib has agreed to put an element of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Inquest into the death of Teo Beng Hock.
I am not sure that the opposition super-heroes will agree to this. But I hope they will.
But notice also that Najib is listening to you guys, for the sake of the country (I hope).
If after all these, the results of the Inquest and RCI are not to your liking, how? Demo satu KL? Kasi hancur imej negara?


3) Najib's wife is taking a high profile spot for herself. I don't know whether this is good or bad for the prime ministership.
Tun Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali and Jeanne Abdullah played the quiet, loyal wife beside their busy husbands.

Rosmah Mansor, who said in one interview that she is indeed the "First Lady" - the first time the wife of a Malaysian premier has said that, I thought - has now launched her website.
I am sure this was approved by her husband and maybe even part of his wanting to show that, in the words of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, they work as a "team".

Is that good or bad for Malaysia to have a strong PM's Wife?
Too early to tell. Hope for the best.
Let's not get too negative, dolt.
Let's be positive.
Siti Hasmah was well known for her charity work via Bakti, the association for the wives of ministers and deputy ministers. She was a strong advocate of badminton too with the Thomas Cup bagged during her time at the top.
The late Endon Mahmood made batik and songket glamorous again, which I appreciate very much because she revived an age-old Malay cultural heritage.
Rosmah is into early childhood education. And badminton.