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The Bankrupt Icons Of The RM10 currency note

On the obverse side of the RM10 note are three icons of "Malaysia Boleh": MAS, the LRT, and MISC. When the currency note was introduced a few years ago, it represented the "Malaysia Boleh" vision of an industrialised nation by 2020. Today, like so many other icons of this vision, all three are bankrupt; the government rescued the first two and Petronas the third. The printer's name is missing from the RM10 note, indeed of any denomination.

Malaysia's currency notes were printed through the years by three security printers, Thomas de la Rue, Bradbury Wilkinson and, briefly, a Belgium printer whose name my poor eyesight could not make out. But the new Malaysian currency notes carry no printer's name. Why? Not just the RM10 note, but also the higher and lower denominations. Indeed, the government retired the RM1 note and introduced the RM1 coin because, so we were told then, the ringgit note had a short life and the coins longer lasting. Yet, we have brought back the RM1 note, looking much inferior amidst rumours that it is printed locally. Why?

This is not all. Malaysian currency once had an issuing date. That was removed to keep in line with international practice. Then it was redesigned to show pride in Malaysia's march to an industrialised future. Why is the printer's name removed now? That is not international practice. Is it a prelude to locally printed notes? Who prints the RM1 note? Compare it with the RM5 notes and higher denominations, it seems of poorer paper? It may not be, and my touch may be deaden. But the government should explain why this note is brought back. Has the government discovered that the RM1 coin is hazardous to health, or did it appoint a courtier, crony or sibling of the establishing so that he or she could earn some pocket money?

For all we know, there might be nothing to it. But I look at it with trepidation. The government goes for gimmicks and innovations which ensures a good commission to whoever recommends it, and to the officials who approve it. But once installed, it is discarded a few years down the line because the gravy train had stopped and there is no money allocated to maintain and keep it going. Traffic cameras were bought at much expense and installed at traffic lights to photograph motorists who beat traffic lights. But the multimillion ringgit investment is wasted, the cost of the films too high to keep it active, and is now abandoned. The government burdened motorists by insisting that motorcars must have the third brake light. Once installed, it is ignored; but some interested parties made quite a lot of money over it.

The government announced privatisation with much fanfare, handing over choice government assets not by open bidding but handed over to cronies, courtiers and siblings of the establishment. Every single one is in trouble. Look at the North-South Highway, now saddled with RM30 billion in debt and the cost of using it continually rising. The government which proudly proclaimed that it should not be in the business of business now eats crow and buys it back from its favoured sons so that they would not be bankrupt.

The government's rescue of not MAS but its controlling shareholder, Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli, like the 1999 general election results, threatens the survival of the government. It brings the nation to the level of the bankrupted assets. Malaysia is in deep financial straits, but the government masks it by announcing major projects costing billions of ringgit with neither the intention to see it through nor to even begin to construct it. Public works projects are held back because the PWD, for lack of funds, cannot even begin work.

The government cannot justify the bailout of its cronies, courtiers and siblings of the establishment. Some could have been but how would you justify the bailing out of a crony like the Super Bumiputra aka international business man of unquestioned reputed, one Tan Sri Dato' Seri Vincent Tan? Danaharta, to those interested, now controls the Berjaya Group, with 30 per cent of the company's shares, while the Great Man holds just over seven per cent. Why?

The finance minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, should come clean and state unequivocally the state of Malaysia's financial and fiscal position at the next session of Parliament, due mid-March. He would not, of course. The government does not believe in keeping its people informed, preferring to drug them with intentions of good faith. But this is not his only problem.

Many privatised, and almost all bailed-out, projects are indirectly linked to him. But UMNO members also want to know what happened to the assets UMNO had in a company it owned called Hatibudi, which had the privatisation of the highways now under the Renong-UEM combine. Since Tun Dam is treasurer of UMNO, the pressure is on him to reveal where that estimated RM1,000 million is, and how well it had done in the decade or so it was under his control. Removing of the printer's name from Malaysian currency notes shows desperation than prudent fiscal management.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my