Ringgit is weakening badly

I would like to share an email sent to me by Andrew Tang andrewtang69@gmail.com expressing concern on the riggit. Do you agree with his view?

Dear Tun,

I am truly amaze by your past achievements in bringing high growth to Malaysia a PM.Of late I am worry to see our RM weakening by so much while othe SEA has remain stable versus US dollar…is the government spending too much with not much revenue due to slower growth and foreign investing? I plead with you Tun to lead BN again and reinstate back Malaysia to its glory days…A weak RM couple with rising petrol price and subsidy cut back is not the solution…we should create more growth, spend wisely (the govnment) and bring up the standard our education so that all the hard work and benefits to the nation from our fathers and grand fathers can be pass on to futher generation..please do something..Malaysia PASTI boleh bukan saja boleh..proud to be a Malaysian..Salam hormat and Selamat Malam..29/1/2014

MULTIRACIAL MALAYSIA

1. Malaysia is a truly multiracial country. It is truly so because Malaysians retain their identification with their countries of origin.

2. Multiracial countries are almost never peaceful. More so if the races follow different religions, speak different languages and adhere to different cultures as in Malaysia.

3. But contrary to general expectations, Malaysia is relatively peaceful and stable. It is accordingly more prosperous than can be expected of countries which gained independence recently.

4. The reason for Malaysia’s peace and prosperity is because the people believe in sharing, sharing political power and economic wealth.

5. Unfortunately there are in this country people who wish to end this sharing concept. They see a possibility of dominating not just economic wealth but political power as well.

6. They dangle this bait before the Chinese in the 2013 elections. And this resulted in wholesale desertion of Chinese voters from the BN coalition to basically the DAP.

7. Fortunately the majority of Malays adhered to the sharing concept espoused by the BN. And so, despite this desertion the BN won, but won with a much thinner majority. The fact that the contribution to this victory is largely by Malays and other indigenous people reflects a rejection of the concept of inter-racial sharing by non-Malays.

8. I think the parties in the BN should be reminded that this is a multiracial country and it can only remain peaceful and prosperous if they uphold this ideal of sharing between the races.

9. The Malays must remember that they cannot rule and prosper this country on their own.

10. They need the dynamism and business skills of the Chinese. They need also the professional skills of the Indians.

11. The Chinese and Indians must also realise that they need Malay support if they wish to form a Government in Malaysia. And Malay support will not be forthcoming if the Chinese and Indians are not prepared to share and share fairly political power and economic wealth.

12. In multiracial Malaysia a strong Government is a necessity. We cannot afford a minority Government.

13. Having tried to stop sharing in the 2013 elections, those who deserted the BN should come back. They should return to the status quo ante.

14. Perhaps some adjustments should be made to the sharing formula. But there should be no threat, no holding others to ransom by any race. Any attempt to do so would kill the effort.

15. For more than 50 years the sharing formula brought development and prosperity to Malaysia. The whole world acknowledges this. The opposition will deny this of course but then the opposition needs to denounce all Malaysia’s achievements since they wish to have one dominant race enjoying political power and economic wealth. If they acknowledge the success of Malaysia there would be no ground for their existence.

16. But all others agreed that among the countries which gained independence after the war, Malaysia is the most peaceful, stable and prosperous. Its rate of growth is among the highest in the world. Even when its trading partners in Europe and America face regression, Malaysia is still growing.

17. Only the insane can think that Malaysia should have the kind of upheavals, demonstrations and the like that we see in the countries of the Middle East and elsewhere. Maybe we are not perfect but that is no reason why we should discard something that had largely delivered on its promise.

18. Political parties do not like to lose. But in Malaysia when the Government party lost, it had peacefully surrendered power. That this has not been seen at national level is the people’s will. But at state level it has given up power in six states. I believe it will give up power at national level if the people so wish.

19. But the will of the people must be expressed through elections, not through demonstrations or other means.

20. But they say the BN Government will cheat in elections. If it cheats it would not lose at State levels and it will not see opposition candidates win and take their places in Parliament at national level. But it has never happened that the opposition fail to win at all as happened in countries in which the Government cheats. We don’t have the 99 per cent victories for the ruling party in Malaysia.

21. 2014 will be a difficult year for Malaysia. We need stability in the country more than ever. The racially-based component parties in the BN should return to the sharing principle that had won them support for more than half a century. This will ensure stability. And with stability we can face all challenges and continue to grow the country.

FLOODS

1. Every year the east coast states would suffer from floods, with loss of property and lives. In Kuala Lumpur and other cities and towns flash floods following heavy downpours occur regularly several times a year.

2. We accept these floods as a climatic feature of Malaysia, as something which must happen. It is God’s will. There is no way we can stop them. And so we make preparation for the victims – food and evacuation centers. We commiserate with those who lost their loved ones.

3. The architects of Malaysia are not satisfied with just repairing the damage by the floods. In particular they want to prevent motor vehicles parked in underground car parks from being “drowned” as water pours down and fills up the multi-storied underground parking lots.

4. So now they build six-storeyed car parks above the ground. The residences and hotels have their first floor seven storey above the ground.

5. The cars are saved from the flood waters. But the buildings look ugly especially when no attempt is made to decorate architecturally the bare openings around the car parks to the outside.

6. A better and more attractive design would be to maintain the underground car parks but with the first floor of the building, (lobby or entrance hall) raised to about 12 feet or more above the level of the street or the road.

7. The building’s first floor must be about 12 feet plus from the road level with concrete walls surrounding the space below the first floor extending down to surround the car park bellow the building. The space between the wall and the road can be filled with earth and grown with grass and flowering plants.

8. A ramp must be built from the road to the entrance of the building at the first floor. Another ramp must be built for the cars to drive down into the multi-storeyed car park below. The car park must be enclosed by solid walls and floor. There must be good lighting and security.

9. The road or street will become virtual drains during floods due to rain or tide. This will help the flood waters to drain quickly into the canals or rivers as soon as tide goes down or rain stops.

10. On the east coast where floods regularly occur during the monsoon rain, the simplest solution is to go back to building houses on stilts like the old Malay houses. The first floor of the houses must be above the highest flood water mark.

11. The stilts supporting the houses must be sturdy and buried deep in the ground. Concrete should be used.

12. Steps can be built leading up to the first floor as in the old Malay houses. A ramp can be built so that the cars can be driven up for to the first floor during floods. There should of course be an entrance to the house from the raised porch for the car.

13. Government spends quite a substantial amount of money for flood relief. By insisting that houses be built on stilts this money would be saved. Part of the savings can be used to subsidize the cost of the stilts at least initially. The house-owners or occupants too would save money.

14. Architects can design these stilts so as to look attractive. In fact a competition for new styles of houses on stilts should be held if this idea is accepted.

15. In Malaysia the only town which built houses including shop-houses high above the road is Beaufort in Sabah.

16. Incidentally I was born in a house on stilts. The first floor of my Seberang Perak house is 4½ ft above the ground. The land is very low and during springtide river water used to flood the ground under my house and around it by a few inches. It does not do so now because of dams upstream and a barrage downstream.

17. But the northern plains of Kedah get flooded after heavy rains in Southern Thailand and North Kedah. Still the flood waters never reached the raised floor of my Seberang Perak house.

18. When I built my own house in Titi Gajah, I decided to raise the ground by about 2 ft. A concrete wall 2 ft high was built round my land and it was filled with red earth.

19. The ground floor of the house was at a slightly higher lever, about 3 ft. I decided to build a basement about 1½ ft lower. The window of the basement was about 4 ft above the floor. Outside the basement I heaped up earth to a level just below the windows. The kitchen was also at the level of the basement.

20. During springtide tide flood waters did not get into my kitchen or basement. But during big floods water did get into the kitchen and basement but not high enough to damage the hot plates or refrigerator.

21. The new housing estates in Kedah are all built on existing ground level. Where the ground is high they are safe. But those built on the low land areas will get flooded.

22. If we don’t do something, every year thousands will have to be evacuated and a few will lose their lives. And lots of money would be wasted on food, evacuation and repairing flood damage.