BNM's Zeti, "Zeti: Economy strong enough to take downturn"

As reported in the Press:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Bank Negara Malaysia yesterday acknowledged that the country would experience the full impact of the global downturn this year, but painted a picture of an economy sufficiently resilient to withstand the external shocks should conditions worsen. (snipped)

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Penumpang Halal's Counterpoint:

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Strength is Relative, Prophetess!
written by Penumpang Halal, March 26, 2009
The Prophetess may have just prophesied that, "The Malaysian Economy is Strong Enough to Take Downtown".

That statement begs for 2 more nervous questions:

1. How Strong (or Weak) is the Malaysian Economy
2. How Strong (or Weak) is the Anticipated Downturn and How Long Will the Downturn Be?

In 2007-2008, buoyant market priced Malaysian Oil financed more than 40% of the Malaysian Budgeted Expenditure.

With Oil having lost more than half of its market price vis-a-vis its peak, how much more oil must Malaysia sell to raise the same amount of revenue to finance the identical amount of budget expenditure?

But then again, Malaysia is no Switzerland whose currency is still backed by gold and like USA, Malaysia can gear up the printing press to print more money, because unbacked money is like what it says on the US Note: "In God We Trust".

Great, but other than "God", should we trust anyone else?

Well, unfortunately, it is dead silent on that!

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Proverbial Boiled Frogs

One of the most valuable lessons in life I learn and applied from school books is the experiment on frogs (or toads rather).

Toads and Frogs are cold blooded amphibians and unlike mammals like humans; amphibians cannot regulate their body temperature, but rely on external sources of heat like sunlight and ambient temperature to regulate their body temperature for survival purposes.

Therefore, if you throw a frog or a toad into a basin of warm water (approximately 36degreesC), they will immediately jump out through reflex instincts.

However, if you place them in a basin of room temperature water, they will just remain in it, even when you start to heat up the water on a stove.

They will just continue to enjoy the cozy jacuzzi of warm water until they are literally boiled to death.

Humans are largely creatives of habits and more often than not, for want of diligence, we end up as proverbial boiled frogs in the comforts of our cozy habits.

Amidst the negative ambiance against "hopping" or "lompat" in the current political scenario of Malaysia, there are indeed merits for hopping out of our insidious comfort zones or die a nice slow boiled death.

So, politicians and people out there, it is OK to jump, hop or "lompat', if survival necessitates it!