Tomorrow is Today.....

Budget 2004:A different viewpoint

Yo, what’s up…It’s been a long break for studies and exams. Just could not find the time to type out the articles, though it has already been written. However, many significant happenings occurred which I’ll try to write about in the coming days.

First and foremost, the annual budget for 2004. A rather mundane budget with no significant surprise for any sector of the economy. Even the announcement of the introduction of excise fees to offset the abolishment of excessive import taxes on vehicles was largely expected but more on this later. If you only scrutinized the document closely, the eccentricities are only too obvious of which I’ll go through one by one.

"The merging of Tmnet and Jaring as the two foremost Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the country was so that better coverage and service can be provided to the consumer", according to our esteemed PM. The statement above is laughable and nearly as unbelievable. And to think that no representative of ours in Parliament (MP), actually had anything to say about it.

Jaring was the first to offer Internet access in Malaysia and offered a range of packages for home users and also to the corporate sector. And along came a huge Government-Linked- Corporation(GLC) to barge its way with our taxpayers money.However even after all these years, with millions of ringgit spent and billions more at their disposal, Tmnet’s services are inferior. And after the Streamyx fiasco, where many eager customers were put on waiting lists for up to 6 months, the realization that ultimately Telekom is just as any other government subsidiary hit hard. A behemoth that tries to meddle in almost every area of service and does it the easy way:buying up smaller,better competitors. A who are the losers?The customers,of course...

In Singapore for example,an Internet dial-up package with unlimited access at 56kbps is only 15 Singapore dollars and a broadband package with unlimited access at 3Mbps is only 76 Sg dollars!!!And you know why?Because there are many companies that are able to offer the same services. Because ultimately that’s what it’s all about: competition.

Look at how Malaysia Airlines System (MAS) has been able to miraculously lower their domestic rates (after years of claiming that it’s impossible for it to go any lower) when faced with Airasia’s no-frills approach. How has Perodua been able to maintain their price even with the introduction of newer models? That’s what we want as consumers. Better services with lower costs. Is it too much to ask?

China is enjoying its greatest years of economic growth after joining the WTO and opening up their economy. Prices of computers have dropped tremendously after Dell introduced their direct sales model. This and many more examples prove that competitiveness can only improve productivity and ultimately the consumer benefits. And it’s also proven that when prices drop, sales of a particular product increase. Therefore the company also benefits by passing cost savings to the consumer. If the government is for the people, they should heed this call. What is there to be afraid of?

Another example:Proton was incorporated in 1984. It has been almost 19 years but the basic models haven’t changed much. Proton Saga was given a facelift into Proton Iswara. Remember Proton Knight? It’s still around in the form of Proton Iswara Aeroback with different lights!?! And this from a company that claims to spend billions of ringgit each year in research and development. I wonder what there searching for: a new tissue box holder?

And isn’t it weird that the Government, after insisting so fervently for years that they would replace the import taxes with excise duties so that the lost of income can be recovered, still found it necessary to delay the implementation of AFTA by two years?

Another interesting observation, which has also been widely debated in our local newspapers, is the introduction of anti-dumping duties on newsprint (the paper used by publishers of magazines and newspapers). Anti dumping duties intend to protect domestic industries from the selling of similar imported products at lower than cost price. So what’s wrong?

Well, it’s because the so-called local Malaysian newsprint industry is of all but one company. A single company!!! MNI Sdn. Bhd. Therefore a decision that has implications for all subscribers of newspapers and magazines, publication companies-big and small and thousands of employees has been agreed upon to protect only company. I can only imagine a similar decision taken in another country. It would have probably invoked serious dialogue and maybe even demonstration and strikes. And in today’s parliament session (10th of October) only the opposition thought about raising the issue. Sigh…It looks bleak when even simple reasoning is ignored in the name of party unity.

Malaysia is a country that is developing across all facets. We, as the new educated class, should start thinking out of the box. It is NOT wrong to criticize the government. We voted them in and therefore we have say. However, we should also respect the laws of the land. Open dialogue with no malicious intent should be allowed and embraced by us. If we don’t say anything for this country that we love, who will?

posted by Desmond S.D. @ 3:24 PM