Re: M'sia's competitive edge: How to get it

A little early for a Christmas wish list?
We all know what needs to be done. Who is going to do it if we keep voting
in this bunch of clowns?

"pluto" <pluto@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uiktg1tum4hshfcsd40rjcoorteh0u9tsj@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/39581
> M'sia's competitive edge: How to get it
> Noor Yahaya Hamzah
> Aug 26, 05 3:12pm
>
>
>
> What should we as a nation do to remain competitive in the face of
> competition from China and India? First, let us put our own house in order
> first.
>
> We need a high quality education system for an educated workforce that is
> easily trainable. We must build the necessary infrastructure to produce an
> educated workforce - not only educated but also creative. We do not want
> just 'yes men' but people who are of critical mind and creative.
>
> Let's remove barriers that were designed to protect and pamper local
> businesses and industries. Trade barriers only encourage monopoly pricing
> of goods with a consequence - economic loss. Pampered businesses become
> uncompetitive in the global market and they would continue asking for
> protection until doomsday if we let them. The common people would suffer
> from high prices and loss of economic benefit.
>
> We should simplify our tax system. A low tax rate for businesses, eg, 20
> percent like in Ireland or Hong Kong would encourage business investment.
> Higher investment rates would have positive flow on the economy.
>
> In most Western countries, the citizens carry the burden of taxes, because
> their citizens enjoy the benefit of their taxes in the form of efficient
> governments, defence and education. A high corporate tax is meaningless
> when multinationals (as most large companies are, even those domiciled in
> Malaysia) can evade taxes by inflating intercompany invoices. Ever wonder
> why multinational companies report most of their profits in the country
> with the lowest tax rate?
>
> Encourage R&D spending. I do not know the rules for R&D in Malaysia, but
if
> companies were allowed to offset their R&D spending in the year it occurs
> instead of capitalising it and spending it over the life of the project,
it
> would make a difference to their ability to compete in the marketplace.
>
> We should remove barrier to capital movement into and out of the country.
> Multinational companies that invest in a country would like to know that
> they can take their investments elsewhere if they need to. The existence
of
> capital barriers is just like a big sign saying 'Don't invest here'.
> Therefore a free floating the ringgit is desirable.
>
> Transparency in governance and the way we run the government is vital. For
> goodness sake, set the rules and stick to them. No favouritism and bending
> of the rules. In this regard, we must treat everyone in the same manner
and
> equally.
>
> There should be transparency and equality in our justice system. Make the
> rule of law available to everybody with a swift and fair justice system.
> Reduce backlog in civil and criminal cases. If swift and fair justice is
> easily available from village level up to the corporate towers, businesses
> and investors would be assured. We have a good background in following the
> English legal system.
>
> But please, get rid of repressive laws that were enacted to silence the
> communists. Laws that deny a group or person a fair trial and justice do
> not give a good image to the country. Look at Zimbabwe, is that a good
> example?
>
> Once we have put our house in order, then we can move on and improve our
> competitiveness. And let's also increase our savings rate to an optimum
> level. High savings rate would provide capital for business expansion.
>
> Economist Robert Solow calculates that optimal savings rate is about 50
> percent of income. We may not be able to achieve that soon, but moving
> towards this target is desirable given our current inflationary pressures.
>
> And we shouldn't forget to manage our resources carefully - water, air,
> land and the forests. When pricing resources, due consideration must be
> given to the needs of future generations, the other species (flora and
> fauna).
>
> Our recent experience with droughts and the haze bring home the point that
> even the air we breathe and water for drinking are scarce resources. When
> giving out licences to extract resources, be it for water, fishery, land
or
> minerals, we must not deplete our environment in the process.
>
> Subsidising and underpricing these resources only encourage wastage. A
more
> effective way would be pricing these goods at market value, but
subsidising
> those who cannot afford them by giving them money to buy these goods.
>
> The same system could be used for petrol and diesel. Sell petrol and
diesel
> at world market prices and give income top-ups directly to the poor -
> straight into their account.
>
> And we must increase our talent pool. Western countries have realised
> lately that human capital - in the form of talented and hard working
> individuals - is a form of wealth. That's why the US, Canada, Australia
and
> New Zealand are encouraging immigration of people from around the world.
> These countries set up a points system, whereby the most desirable and
> demanded skills are allowed in.
>
> We also need to attract talented migrants into the country and revamp our
> 'state of siege, keep them out' immigration policies. We should encourage
> diversity, because diversity brings different viewpoint and ideas. This,
> and all the above, is where our future competitive edge lies.
>
>
> Corruption the chosen system in Malaysia
> 01:03pm Fri Aug 12, 2005
> New National Agenda's unanswered questions
> 12:27pm Mon Aug 08, 2005
> Ringgit de-pegging was unavoidable
> 01:05pm Tue Jul 26, 2005
> Yessir! Selangor richly deserves 'developed state' status
> 01:36pm Wed Jul 13, 2005
>
> =========================================================
>
>
>
> cheers
> pluto


.

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