Looking
at the title alone might lead you into thinking that this blog post has
nothing to do with investing. Please continue reading and I will show
you why this topic is related to investing in the stock market.
The
fortune of public listed companies in a country depends on the
country's economic advances. This is especially true for those with
their manufacturing plants and offices located in their home country.
Some companies even diversify outwards to mitigate the impact caused by
bad economic progress in their home country.
Hence,
if the economic policies implemented are not good enough, local
companies' long term prosperity will be severely affected. Frankly, what
I see from the newspapers everyday has limited relevance on economic
policies made to boost our economy. Most of the efforts are placed in
solving 1MDB's issue, political bickering, etc.
My humble opinion, be it government or oppositions, please put more focus on delivering economic values to the Malaysians.
We
have absolute abundance in natural resources like petroleum, natural
gas, palm oil plantation etc., which have generated much wealth for us.
These gods gifts have given us an advantage as compared to other
countries without such natural resources.
So, how can Malaysia be better? I have a few recommendations in general.
Facilitate the Process of Government Services
For
those applications and renewal processes, they should be completed as
fast as possible. The government has done a smart move by assigning
companies like MyEG to deal with some of the processes. MyEG, a public
listed company in Malaysia, certainly deserve our praise as it has done a
great job in offering services online.
Faster application and renewal processes allow us to spend more time on contributing to the economy.
Improve the Punctuality of Public Transports and Reduce Road Congestion
I
must confess that the Malaysians public transports are very far off the
satisfactory mark. For instance, if a train is late for a round, the
next train will be extremely crowded, forcing them to wait for another
round.
If
the public transport is improved, we could be more punctual for work
and most importantly, we do not need to drive anymore - congestion
issue is then greatly mitigated. These allow the Malaysians to free up
themselves to contribute more to the economy.
More Help for the Exporters, Especially the Very Profitable Ones
Manufacturers
and exporters especially those involved in rubber gloves and palm oil
plantation should receive the most benefits and assistance from the
government. The Big 4 glove manufacturers in Malaysia (Hartalega,
Kossan, Supermax and Top Glove) are having increasingly expensive and
shortage of foreign labour.
It
is noticeable that the government provided many kinds of tax incentives
and reinvestment allowances to help the local manufacturers. This move
is laudable and I hope that the government will continue or even better,
increase its support to the manufacturers to incentivize them to keep
abreast of their expansions.
Combat Corruption
According
to the latest global corruption perception index (CPI), Malaysia was
ranked 54 out of 175 countries surveyed. We were way behind Singapore
(ranked 8) and it is the least corrupted nation in Asia. Hats off to the
Singaporeans.
How
does corruption affect a country's economic progress? Just a simple
illustration can let you see the light. For instance, you went against
the rules and regulations of the road, a police caught you and you bribe
him RM50. Instead of using the money to bribe, you could have spent
that money elsewhere for consumption. Also, the summon could be used by
the government to do more infrastructure projects.
This is exactly why highly-corrupted nations are hard to prosper due to the 'lost money'.
Conclusion
These
are the four points which I think we could do even better. Let's begin
at oneself by, for example, not bribing the policeman. I hereby end this
blog post by the first sentence of our national anthem - "Negaraku,
Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku".
Thank you.
http://www.valueinvestingstock.com/single-post/2016/09/16/Malaysia-Will-Be-Better-if-4-Things-Improved
