OF CHILLIPADI AND BUAH KERAS

Hantu Laut

Pak Lah says don't compare Singapore with Malaysia.Read it here.

He says you can't compare "first-class grapes(Singapore) and first-class apples(Malaysia).

In the first place, metaphorically speaking, there are no 1st class grapes and 1st class apples in both English and the Malay language.There are only sour grapes and bad apples in English.

In the " The Fox and the Grapes" fable by Aesop, the fox made many attempts to find a way to reach the grapes hanging high on a vine but failed to reach it, retreated and said "The grapes are sour anyway"

The moral of the story is, it is easy to despise something you can get.

Who should we compare ourselves with in this region, Burma, Philippines or maybe Timor Leste ? Would that be a fair comparison ? What about Zimbabwe in Africa that has a whopping inflation rate of farcical 66,000 percent, where everyone is a millionaire but poor and a loaf of bread costs over 100,000 Zimbabwean dollars.

Isn't it natural that we compare with the best or the better ones rather than with something inferior to us.Wouldn't it be natural that we chose Singapore as a model due to its thumping success and close proximity to us.

Pardon me, Mr Prime Minister, I don't think Singapore is a first-class grapes, I think it is a 'chilipadi' and a 'buah keras'. Malaysia could have been a hotter chillipadi and a tougher buah keras if there where less corruption, nepotisn and cronyism. We have bigger land area, bigger population and much more natural resources than that tiny dot south of us. They have nothing but brains that have made them the envy of many nations and one of the highest per capita income in the world. Singapore is the touchstone for other countries especially Malaysia.

Three weeks ago you said Malaysia was the 6th most competative country in the world, now you say we are the 8th in the world. Which is the correct one?

I tell you what, both of your figures were wrong, cooked up by your good-for-nothing MOF boys.Why didn't they give you the source of their information so your humble citizens can check the validity of your claim.

The correct information, if you want to know and for all Malaysians to know are shown below.These are ratings done by IMD, a leading business school in Switzerland and WEF (World Economic Forum)

Overall Scoreboard 2007 (PDF, 151)

WEF World Competative Ranking

From the chart you would notice Malaysia's ranking for 2007 was 23rd by IMD and 21st by WEF, not 6th or 8th as given to you by your MOF boys who probably did a stitch-up on you.

I do agree with you that the Malaysians economy has been doing fairly well the past few years but at the same time the costs of living has also jumped up making life difficult for the average Malaysians. It is the middle and lower income group who are taking the brunt of the higher prices.

Last but not least, the disinformation must stop.