Wishes Do Come True?

Musa: Brief Umno on why it has to give up NEP
Ghani and Shahrir back move to drop quotas

It's like a wish come true...but of course it hasn't happened yet, and I have to be snapped back into reality. Yeesh...UMNO dropping the NEP and relaxation of FIC rules on bumiputra equity a reality? Right... Definitely not when the general election is around the corner!

And why only for projects in the Iskandar Development Region? This should be extended to include the whole country. As well as fair and impartial tendering process for all government projects. That's a start to bring back confidence among foreign investors in our country.

Even as we speak, Telenor's (read Norwegian, hence foreign) 61% equity in Digi Telecommunications (read Malaysian) is still under threat; I am sure a lot of arm-twisting is going on behind-the-scenes to ensure this happens, and that includes the non-award of both 3G and Wimax licenses to Digi. It is so sad that this is happening in the investing community. To them, why give 30% equity to bumiputras (others would call them UMNO-putras) who probably will not do anything to advance their cause, but instead suck the lifeblood (read: money) out of the company - a real parasitic relationship if I ever saw one!

That's not all: foreign companies are relocating elsewhere where restrictions are not so suffocating, local companies are looking overseas to list (on the stock market), and dare I say it, if possible to move operations elsewhere. Perhaps the wiser ones are moving away from this country before worse occurs - seeing that 36 years of NEP have not changed much, and forbid even stifling the competitiveness further, while watching our erstwhile neighbours striding ahead in many different areas.

It is sad this country with it's rich natural resources, sheltered location, skilled manpower and political (?) stability has been much wasted. And if the people in charge don't listen, maybe it's time for a change.

Err...and that would be a dream really coming true!