The recent developments of the economic planning and control of the nation’s wealth via Federal Government planning and spending within the last five years have left much to be desired. Depsite the national coffer Petronas dishing out to the amount of RM 253 billion in taxes, dividends, royalties, advance payments, capital market instruments and other forms, the economy is still sluggish and no tanglible projects visible or known to be in the pipeline.
Within the last five years, Malaysia saw:
1. The inception of ‘Level Four Boys’ in 2004 which effectively took over the role several of strategic Federal Government agencies such as EPU, ICU, MAMPU and even set the tone and direction of several Cabinet Committees. Several bad decisions were done by this inexperienced ‘kitchen cabinet’ with a serious deficit in macro planning and policy execution
2. The birth of the term ‘GLC’ (copycat from Singapore) and the restructuring of Federal Government investment arm Khazanah Holdings Bhd. All GLCs then after are given KPIs to focus and deliver on profitability, return on investment (ROI) and ‘increasing value’ with enlarging market capitalisation in mind
3. The hiving off MOF Inc controlled Avenue Capital Resources Bhd. (ACRB) to ECM Libra for the ‘cover of a merger’ and the financial scandal presiding the exercise beginning December 2005. The exercise saw how irregular tactics such as the impairment of goodwill was carried out to devalue ACRB and pump up the market capitalisation of ECM Libra, the even out the value of ‘an anchovie eating a whale’.
4. The sharp and unplanned increased of retail petrol price from 1.62 to 1.92 per litre in mid 2006 and a economically suicidal but dissastrous jump from RM 1.92 to RM 2.70 mid last year. To alleviate the burden of high petrol cost of the rakyat, a subsidy scheme was introduced as a thought after and proven to be a failure.
5. The re-structuring of the automobile industry in 2006 which almost saw the slow and painful but certain demise of national car maker Proton and the scandal evolves the hiving off the price motorcycle brand MV Agusta to Gevi SpA for an unbelievably meagre sum of Euro 1
6. The ‘Federalisation’ agenda on the state economic planning units with the inception of economic corridors since 2006, which saw macro management and exposure deficient professionals taken out from GLCs to do pseudo EPU-cum-implementor work at incredible cost and worst of all, progressed to little beyond the academic and theoretical approach
7. The borrowings that has been incurred by GLCs from the capital market since Khazanah restructuring is unbelievable. The amount of wastages and project failures that Khazanah investment is amazingly dangerous. Example is a a RM 200 million prawn rearing project in Setiu, Terengganu called “Blue Archipelago”.
8. The plan to systematically kill national icons such as KLIA with the proposal to develop a dedicated LCCT, a few kilometres away which got the imaginatons and very strong opposition from the Malaysian public
9 The plan to hive off IJN to Sime Darby and later when that proposal failed, to ‘privatise’ for the intent to IPO it in the future
10. The scandals involving the decisions made the Federal Goverment such as PKFZ in Port Klang and the redevelopment proposals in Penang (the home state of then MOF I PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and MOF II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yaackop) such as the PGCC and PORR , that could seriously impair the confidence for the rakyat and market.
11. A more elusive by highly strategically damaging proposal is for Malaysia is the redevelopment proposal of KTMB Lands along its Singaporean track
12. Another elusive proposal in the pipeline is to list Petronas subsidiary MLNG, as an effort to boost the Bursa Malaysia. Some said even FELDA has been proposed to be listed as well.
At the helm of these dissastrous decisions and scandals still remain another constant personality which has yet to be reprimanded. Former Minsiter of Finance II and now Minister in charge of EPU Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop has his hands in all of these botched schemes.
Why he is still in the Cabinet under Prime Minister VI Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak is still unclear. He has no political clout within UMNO and the market no longer regard him as a ‘national asset’. Probably he was employed as Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister to do what he did best by then Fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad; the revolutaionary and anti-IMF ‘Capital Controls and pegging of RM’ on 1 September 1998. His experience as a treasury man within Bank Negara has proven success to support Tun Dr. Mahathir’s unorthodox remedy to the unique Malaysian economy.
There after, he was given more responsibilities. Of course, his success of co-ordinating the turn around and restructuring of so many GLCs post the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar “Mat King Leather” Ibrahim is something that can be proud of. Anwar “Darling of the Jews” Ibrahim was an advocator to IMF prescription, which saw many Malaysian coroprations suffering from certain and slow death due to high interest rates and shorters NPL period and RM to the USD, which has risen as high as 4.88.
After the landslide BN win of 11th General Elections, PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah invited Nor Mohamed into the ‘Feel Good’ Cabinet. He was the Second Minister of Finance (MOF II) for one and a quarter term or five years to be exact. He was the ‘functional finance manager’ of the nation as 90% of this tenure PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah was the MOF I and it does not take much to figure out the latter was completely oblivion to the job. Hence, the spending pattern under Nor Mohamed is very worrying. From the Petronas figure, the Federal Government and some state government took RM 19 billion in 2004, RM 28.1 billion in 2005, RM 37.8 billion in 2006, RM 44.1 billion in 2007, RM 56.8 billion in 2008 and RM 67.8 billion for this year. The reason for the huge deficiency in Federal Government books must be due to poor management, on top very poor budgetting and tax planning work.
As the Minister in charge of EPU, he wold have a direct responsibility of the National Economic Advisory Council. So far, not much could be desired from this council which is filled with IMF alumnis. Presently, even the mechanics of the NEAC has yet to be completed. The only announcement that Nor Mohamed could be made responsible for is the revocation of the FIC ruling and the incorporation of the elusive and confusing Ekuinas as a substitute. The rakyat should also be made aware that under the second stimulus package, an SPV called Danajamin Bhd with a RM 1 billion paid up was incorporated designed to underwrite the issuance of syariah compliant commercial papers, which is something that existing structure like Takaful and Takaful Ikhlas could do with lesser operating cost.
Now that his usefulness has been saturated, it is time to reprimand him for his bad economic planning and execution. The more drastic approach is to ‘dismiss’ him from the Cabinet (the politically correct term be, ‘retire’). This could be politically boon or bane for PM Najib. Boon is that he is willing to make decisive move, to restore the confidence of the rakyat and capital and financial services market. The bane is that, Nor Mohamed could turn around and bite him back where it hurts, especially at a point where Pakatan Rakyat particularly PKR and partyless-Opposition Leader Anwar “Drama King” Ibrahim are scandalously vulnerable and would use all opportunities no matter how insignificant to remain afloat, even temporarily.
Otherwise, a ‘softer’ approach would be to deduct RM 100.00 (One Hundred Ringgit Malaysia Only) a month from his pay will suffice. It is all about his KPI as the MOF II for five years and now Minister in charge of EPU. Obviously Nor Mohamed failed, at a mind blowing exorbitant cost. The planning and implementation of RM 253 billion dished out by Petronas within one electoral term but no real and tanglible results being seen, felt nor believed in is undoubtably mind boggling to a point of very unacceptable.
The call is made in the spirit of ‘1 Malaysia’, “Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan”.
*Updated at 200pm
The "thirteen million plus Ringgit" guy rambles.... 
“At the helm of these dissastrous decisions and scandals still remain another constant personality which has yet to be reprimanded. Former Minsiter of Finance II and now Minsiter in charge of EPU Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop has his hands in all of these botched schemes.
Why he is still in the Cabinet under Prime Minister VI Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak is still unclear”
Unclear? The reason is obvious : because Najib is stupid. The whole world knows about Nor Mohd stupidity. This is the bugger who lost RM17 billion and bankrupted Bank Negara. He used BNM credit to borrow USD50.0 mill from other Central Banks and used it to play the Ringgit against the Dollar and Sterling. That was unethical. The Brits then set him up and slaughtered him. Market gossip was that when he was doing this ‘FOREX’ trading with BNM credit, a ‘mamak FX trader / money changer’ in Singapore also made tons of money betting on Ringgit / Dollar. The mamak money changer is still his “runner” until today.
There was a Police Report made against Nor Mohd for using public funds (Abrar Aset Mgmt) to support the share price of Mun Loong Bhd. That was CBT. But nothing happened in that case.
This mamak fellow has a track record of screwing things up big time. The loss of five States and the loss of 2/3 majority can also be attributed to poor financial management of the country’s economy under Pak Lah. We all know Pak Lah was sleeping and Nor Mohd was running the MOF.
The major screwing up of Khazanah also began under Nor Mohd. Khazanah has lost hundreds of millions under Nor Mohd crony Azman Mokhtar. Why does Najib still keep this idiot around? Because Najib is a bigger idiot.
Please, its not good and proper to call the Prime Minister by such names. Get a hold of yourselves and stay calm.
Point 1 is an observation. I’ll let it pass.
Whats wrong with point 2? Shouldn’t a private run entity be focussed on delivering profits? I think even Citigroup which is now a US GLC has the same mandate. If it makes you happy, pretend that this was borrowed from Britain.
Point 3 – in the history of the capitalist market there have been many cases of a take over of a larger entity by a smaller entity through the LBO. What about KKR’s takeover of RJR Nabisco? So its hardly new or novel or to get upset about
Point 4 – Petrol at RM 2.70. Ok, last yr in 2008, the Government spent RM 28 billion on subsidies. Can you gurantee that oil prices wont sky rocket to USD 200 in the next 5 years? Of course not – its not a pleasant thing but right now thats how the economy is structure i.e. to have this subsidy element. Personally, this is a disastrous policy designed to make it appear that inflation is controlled when in reality its not. Want to solve the problem – make the Ringgit go back 2.5 to the dollar. Only PM Najib can do that (with some help)
Pt 5 – Ok 1 Euro seems to be a small price, but if the acquiring company bought the liabilities as well, then net, the number is not 1 Euro but how much liabilities was there with MV Augusta. Since you broached the topic, you should tell us. So unless, MV Augusta was sold with 0 liabilities for 1 Euro, only then you can scream blue murder.
Pt 6 – No comment. If only everybody is like the Melaka State Government we wont have any problem. Balanced budget after balanced budget. Syabas Dato Seri!
Pt 7 – Khazanah’s dee[ borrowing? Enlighten me pls. This sounds new.
Pt 8 – Well if a carrier operates out of KLIA then it wont be Low Cost. The question is whether Low Cost Carriers benefited the country. If Big Dog says no – then no, if Big Dog says yes, then yes. Let Tony Fernandes fight his own battles. So this point I throw back to you and accept whatever your decision maybe
Pt 9 – Ok this one I agree. Bad decision
Pt 10 – PKFZ? Is it the land valuation part, or the construction part which is the issue. If your ok with the land valuation, but take issue with the construction, then its clear your being very selective.
Pt 11 – What is your alternative on the KTMB land?
Pt 12 – Gas Malaysia Listing? Well I think it wont be good as the market will have to digest Gas Malaysia, Maxis and Felda – this may kill other prices, unless the market cap is supported wholly by new investment.
So it seems, there are perhaps only 3-4 points. The rest are debatable.
Let us support our PM and give him the benefit of doubt. The promotion of one or two people is a small matter, if like that people are going to insult him, then we might as well never have a leader lah.
And FYI, I am only commentating here because somebody used unflattering terms to describe the PM. There is a big task ahead, what with the global slowdown, resurgence of the opposition and everything else. A house divided will not stand.
Thats all. Not here to defend anybody, just to reduce the temparature a bit.
I agree with Laksa Mana. Najib is stupid and has no soul. He easily is worst than Paklah many times over.
Wenger. You miss the point or choose to ignore it or worse still are hiding behind the veil of ‘defending DS Najib’. As a whole, Big Dog is right, NMY screwed up the economy big time during Pak lah’s time. OK, it didn’t help that he was ably assisted by KJ, the 4th floor and Oxbridge boys, but if DS Najib is serious about accountability, NMY has no place in the new cabinet.
Many of the follies NMY presided on were committed during Pak Lah’s time. So, the point you missed, either on purpose or not, is that for DS Najib to survive, cancers like NMY should be excised from BN’s system. NMY served his purpose as a senior civil servant but he didn’t make the cut to be a TDM cabinet member.
Of course, any failure can be part of Pak Lah’s cabinet… there NMY could have said he was better than the guy who smuggled money into Australia speaking no English! Lets keep Pak Lah’s failures away from DS Najib.
Black spider baru extend 2 tahun contract Ismee di tabung haji.
Parah …
Masa march ’08 dulu, aku pergi tengok kempen nor yackop kat tasek gelugor, masa tengah pecah tanah projek ikm kalau tak silap.
ada laa borak-borak dengan bebudak UMNO situ, ada di kalangan tu yang memang sokong mamak ni laa, al-maklum lah menteri kewangan 2.
ada laa sorang mamat yang sokong dia ni cakap, “Bodo laa sapa tak sokong Nor Yackop, macam-macam projek dia boleh bawak”. aku pun dalam hati… “Fuhh, bukan main konfiden lagi mamat ni”. Tapi aku pun tak terkejut, memang dia kesayangan Pak Lah.
Time tu, dia nak masuk Parlimen Balik Pulau, tapi kena reject habis-habisan. Semua melayu, cina, india reject dia. Tapi, alih-alih dapat jugak bertanding kat Tasek Gelugor, tu pun jenuh nak berperang dengan Datuk Sharip Omar.
Tapi, time tu boleh tengok laa betapa geng bisnesman india muslim penang ni dok ikut laa dia ke sana ke sini. Nor Yackop pun dok ‘in sa alah’ (sebutan betul ‘insya allah’) nak bawak pembangunan pada tasek gelugor ni. Siap geleng-geleng kepala lagi macam mamak jual nasik kandar.
Dia menang jugak laa parlimen tasek gelugor, selain dari Pak Lah, 2 parlimen di Pulau Pinang yang dapat kat BN. Lain-lain, kawasan banyak melayu – Nibong Tebal – kalah Datuk Zainol Abidin Osman (orang kuat Pak Lah tapi sekarang dah convert jadi orang kuat Najib), Parlimen Balik Pulau – kalah Datuk Norraesah (anak Pak Lah panggil dia Auntie Chah sebab kononnya ada hubungan keluarga), tapi Balik Pulau ni unik sikit, yang hairannya ADUN semua BN menang, Permatang Pauh tak payah cakap lah, kawasan Anwar Ibrahim, kawasan-kawasan kubu yang lain semua kalah teruk – Koh Tsu Koon and the gang.
Ditakdirkan Nor Yackop dapat jugak jadi MoF 2 masa dengan Najib ni. Tapi, yang hairannya tu lah, masa time Najib ni dia lekat jugak jadi menteri EPU. Harap-harap Najib buka mata terang-terang.
I share a slightly different view. By the looks of it, Nor Muhamed (NM) should not be solely blamed for all the losses/ misadventures stated in your story, Bigdog. As far as I am concern, from reliable sources and their stories, the key factor responsible for the economic mismanagement rests substantially on the 5th PM and his family. The then PM seldom listened to government/ cabinet/ political appointees unless he likes what he listens to irrespective of economic merits. Too frequent were the common stories I heard of the then PM shooting down or revising the advice recommended by these appointees after listening to his family and close associates. Fortunately this useless PM who has no good knowledge of economic financial management is gone for good but his rascal SIL, son and daughter are still lurking round.
I doubt NM is the “real” decision maker; rather he is just one of several black sheep to take the shit. I still shake my head after reading your much earlier article that for him stepping down; the 5th PM got the Tunship for his present spouse. What about the carcosa land? Recently I heard he is the beneficiary to one of the new banking licenses.
Focus on the punk SIL, the son and daughter; make them bleed for they have taken too much for themselves and their father.
Let us concentrate on shooting down those crooks who had done the country bad in the previous 5 years and now still lurking or even holding forefront positions which can do the country worse.
The country cannot afford the loss of billions to international Forex markets or get-rich-quick money changers. No wonder I have been hearing about money changers wanting to finance or get involved in huge projects in recent times. Imagine the state the country has gotten into.
You can never imagine this sort of nonsense going on before Flip-Flopping sleepyhead’s rule. Now 1Malaysia DS Najib must remedy the situation. Enough with the disgruntlement against the attempt to win back PRU12 run-away votes, the appeasing of the non-Malays, the unclear Ekuinas and such like. If these crooks are not checked, more votes would run away during PRU13.
Care to comment on the other ex-banker Minister ?
Any good he has done so far ?
or shold be ex-Minister too !!!
Nor Mohamed should just resign and leave. If he wants Malaysians to remember his ‘national service’ under Dr.Mahathir Mohamad, then the wise thing to do is to leave NOW! If he stays on, he will forever be remembered as a TRAITOR.
Thank you Tan Sri TopCat, its time for you to enjoy the ‘funds’.
Huh…, lama tak jengok sini… macam-macam info ekonomi ada…
[…] namely Khazanah Holdings Bhd. which is known for spending lavishly and make bad returns despite ‘GLC restructuring master’ Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop (now Minister in charge of EPU) specific instructions on ‘ROI’ and bullish obsession on […]
I was always happy to see that the exchange rate was
always favourable during dollah ngantuk’s time , At one time the rate went as low as usd 1= rm 3.12 . You will
appreciate this if you have children studying overseas.
However when najib took over and the usd went crashing down and all over the world currencies are enjoying a
greatly improved rate vis a vis the usd , the malaysian
ringgit became worse compared to dollah ngantuk’s time.
Is najib’s policy of keeping a low exchange rate to
promote export the reason why we have to pay more for the usd?
Punca kepimpinan negara kita jadi lemah dan pecah belah kerana masing masing ada agenda tersendiri ekoran dari sudah tidak ada lagi kepimpinan bercirikan yang karisme islam yang sebenar benarnya, maksud saya “Roh Islam” tidak ada maka atas dasar itu bagaimana nak menjadi contoh kepada rakyat dan jenerasi muda yang semakin teruk dan rata-ratanya bangsa Melayu.Mesti ada kolektif idea dari semua peringkat tidak kira dari kepimpinan peringkat politik, keibu bapaan,DO,Penghulu,Ketua Kg. Ketua2 Belia, Ketua2 persatuan Penternak,Pesawah, Pekebun,Guru-guru semua peringkat termasuk le guru ugama, silat, guru budaya dan sukan, dan dikalangan professonal Melayu termasuk ahli2 perniagaan dan sebagainya untuk di berbincang dgn lebih terperinci.
No.. Not pay cut .. with so many follies.. He should be put at the chopping board. Give him the sack right away!
it is so sad
interesting information.
[…] we highlighted Nor Mohamed’s follies here in BigDogDotCom, which attracted a lot of attention here in […]
[…] Mohd. Nazri Tan Sri Aziz, despite so many which include UMNO Leaders calling for his sacking? The fate of failed EPU Minsiter Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop is being watched as well. Who would be the Ministers representing MCA and the Chinese […]
[…] about the Minister? Shouldn’t investigation be carried out too, especially immediate family members have been […]
[…] ini ialah cara dan intipati ‘Budak Budak Tingkat Empat’ dan Menteri EPU dan Mantan Menteri Kewangan II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop ‘menasihatkan’ PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yang […]
[…] Nor Mohamed is obvious about all the failures and scandals in GLCs, especially Khazanah Holdings Bhd. Nazri is about his uncouth remark against Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad being a “racist”, for defending BTN. Dr. Rais is about the being the Foreign Minister during the recently uncovered ‘Block L & M and Limbang’ scandals. Khaled about his one failure after another in two Ministries, now disbanded Entreprenuer and Co-operative Development and Higher Education, and the fact that he is no longer Majlis Tertinggi UMNO member. No need further explanation on highly controversial and onetime ‘The most powerful 28 year old” (as per described by The Star political columnist Joceline Tan in 2005) Khairy. […]
[…] theory is that Zarinah was placed in her current position in mid 2006 by then Minister of Finance II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop to ‘facilitate’ the highly ‘irregular merger’ between ECM Libra and Avenue […]
[…] of all ‘Level Four Boys’ ill-conceived plans and pseudo-self-destructive decisions. The Minister of Finance II was Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop, the ‘puppet master’ and ‘master operator’ of all of these […]
[…] Najib’s administration. The list is rather long but to sum it shortly, Cabinet Ministers such as Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop and Minister in-charge of Propaganda and Multimedia Dato’ Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim Ph.D. These […]