Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Saying Bye-Bye to 2009

Well....2009 is coming to a close, ushering in Xmas and the NY- 2010.

While there's much to celebrate, there's much more to calibrate and evaluate. 2009 has indeed been full of turmoils and uncertainties some of which have not been resolved even now and will surely spill into 2010. There's room for optimism, space for anxiety and a whole universe of imponderables that we have to face. I suppose that makes life most interesting and challenging.

The political landscape seems rocky, If the rocks don't hold there could be a huge landslide coming our way. For the love of metaphors what makes the rocks unstable? Perhaps SOLIFLUCTION is the best answer, defined by the Internet dictionary as: a gradual movement of wet soil or other material down a slope esp. where frozen subsoil acts as a barrier to the percolation of water. Frozen subsoil, fossilized values and expectations, acculturized social abberations and misplaced sanctification....they all act as barrier to healthy social progress. What are they? All of us defined them differently. A misplaced sanctification for example could be holding a powerful political leader as a "saint" or a "wali Allah", or accepting the rich and wealthy as the most honorable people in society w.a.r ( without any reservation).

On the economic landscape, there are many balloons flying high in terms of investment packages, megaprojects, development funds, loans facilities etc. They give the countryside colorful and high expectations. But balloons can BURST and each time one does, the blast of hot air will wreak havoc on the lives of many people. So watch out....DO WE HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO KEEP THE BALLOONS FLYING? Even Petronas profit seemed to drop this year by 47.7% - that's a sharp drop indeed, almost 50%. There're signs that cost of things will go up further.

Let's hope that Tourism can bring us more revenue with the all-out efforts being made to bring in the tourists. But watching the events that have taken place, there seem to be a reduction in the scale of festivities - budget shows without the stars and celebrities, reduced pomp and ceremonies etc. Much much more funds are going to the modernization of the Defence system.
This seems to be the time when returns to investment should be given top priority not just scaling down all expenses including costs of adminsitration as the Chief Secretary to Govt seems to be emphasizing. Lets not have a situation where the government says spend, spend, spend to stimulate the economy and the adminstration says cut,cut, cut to reduce expenditure. That will amount to a self-negation of efforts.

Well...22 days to new year. 14 days or so to Xmas. Rev up for the big jump and best wishes to all.

4 comments:

rambomadonna said...

FYI, I am quite afraid when our management pun dah start sending memos on perbelanjaan berhemah and instead it is actually budget cut. What happen to the Federal Reserve ... has there been no cash inflow into our government coffers? It give a faint message that our economy is not doing well and people start not to spend. So no cash inflow into the market for the business to grow.

Sebenarnya I was looking forward to our PM so call corporate governance in the public service. To me, Malaysia kena diversified and serious about building,rebranding and executing its business portfolio.

Byk industri or sektor ekonomi yang diwar-warkan ... tapi tak berjalan seperti yang diingini.Government jugak akan dipersalahkan ...

Will corporate governance work in public service? Maybe ... tunggu je lah I jadi KSU nanti. No need the Blue Ocean, Rich Dad Poor Dad, 8 Habits of Highly Effective People ... just a simple vision and mission statement.

norzah said...

Good to hear from U. U sound so serious now, like the state of our economy. Yes, the belief is not enough money is flowing into the country and the profit margins of many big companies are shrinking. Foreign investors are running away. Only Singapore is pouring money into the Iskandar project to make South Johor
it;s 2nd business hub.Our foreign debts are said to be more than 40% of GDP. No one knows the real truth. When U become KSU U'll know that the truth is what the government says. Start shopping yet for Xmas and the NY?

rambomadonna said...

am trying to be serious ... sesuai dengan tema topik nie. forgot to take off the thinking cap yesterday and put on my leisure cap hehehe. Foreign debt more than 40% of our GDP huh? how shall we translate that? more import and less export? or we ourselves should explore business opportunity overseas and transfer the profit back to the country instead of waiting 4 foreign investor to come in?

Actually been working hard to improve foreign investors confidence in our property market - better enforcement, better quality houses, less abandoned projects. maybe i just think too much for my age huhuhu ...

i have last big meeting this friday ... after that m going shopping secara berhemah ... actually dah shopping with mum earlier, got myself a nice dress ... now only need a nicer body to go with it hehehe

norzah said...

U know what one girl said about beautiful dress - I just wear it. U know why ladies want to dress beautifully? I won't answer that here. On the state of the economy, there's too much leakage and marking ups of costs. Foreigh investors know about this.
Every contract awarded makes someone a millionaire riding on commission alone. Am glad that the KFTZ
scandal is under scrutiny, Many more should be and the bloodsuckers brought to book.