FinanceAsia: Misleading Malaysians

Press Statement by Datuk Huan Cheng Guan
Vice-President, Parti Cinta Malaysia

FinanceAsia: Misleading Malaysians 

While FinanceAsia may have hit the headlines with its rating of our Prime Minster, few may have realized a few vital facts that reveal the insidious intent of that article.

In its history, this is the first time FinanceAsia has labeled so negatively its lowest ranking Prime Minister of the 12 it normally assesses annually.

Try googling Asia’s Worst Finance Minister 2015 or 2014 etc and you will find that only the one for 2016 appears with the wording "Asia's Worst Finance Minister".

In 2015, the lowest ranked Prime Minister assessed by FinanceAsia(at Position no. 12) was Taro Aso (http://www.financeasia.com/News/394289,finance-minister-of-the-year-8212-part-1.aspx) and FinanceAsia never ever labeled Taro Aso the way it labeled our Prime Minister.

Then, FinanceAsia said this about Taro Aso:

Japan’s Taro Aso rates lowly because he has presided over a weakening in fiscal weakening during his tenure.

It delved into Japan’s sales tax hikes, the drop in tax revenue and budget deficit, hike in spending, and the debt-to-GDP ratio, which means they DID assess some economic indicators.

In sharp contrast, the first three paragraphs of FinanceAsia’s write-up of our Prime Minister are all about 1MDB, including a full paragraph devoted to the 1MDB report by Wall Street Journal.

An uncanny coincidence or a carefully calculated attack?

Subsequent paragraphs were on oil prices, our country’s budget, GST and TPPA – nothing like the assessment for Taro Aso or any of the other PMs rated no 9, 10, and 11. None of the following statistics about Malaysia was highlighted.

Look at the following tables on Malaysia’s GDP and GDP per capita from the World Bank Group.

The trends prove PM Najib does NOT deserve the brickbats hurled so ruthlessly, maliciously in a seemingly well-orchestrated attack in synchrony and harmony with other detractors including The Wall Street Journal.

Source: Here

Source: HERE

Source: HERE

Source: Here

The following graphs clearly indicate Malaysia is classified as an Upper Middle Class nation as its performance is well above that of East Asian and Pacific Nations.

FinanceAsia conveniently omitted mentioning how PM Najib has lowered the poverty rate from 3.8% in 2009 when he became PM to 0.6% in 2014.

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/country/malaysia#wbboxes-source-NY-GNP-PCAP-CD

If FinanceAsia’s allegation were true, our GNI would not be increasing steadily as shown in the following diagram.

Source: http://data.worldbank.org/country/malaysia#wbboxes-source-NY-GNP-PCAP-CD

Another vital point is that FinanceAsia did not dare to disclose the author of the article, which is attributed to FinanceAsia Editors unlike the 2015 article, which dared to name its writer – James DiBiasio. If you click on the hyperlink of the byline, it only leads the reader to a list of articles by the editors who remain nameless. Only Wikipedia listed Alison Tudor-Akroyd as the editor.

This brings us to one valid query. What is the motive of FinanceAsia in writing such a damaging and insulting article that has never ever graced its website?

Is there any financial patronage for this article that clearly shows their intention is to smear and to tarnish the good name of PM and Malaysia?

If FinanceAsia are interested in making POLITICAL STATEMENTS, then focus only on politics. If they genuinely commenced on economics and financial matters, then, they should do more research on their subject instead of just writing and commenting base on hearsay.

FinanceAsia certainly owes Malaysians many explanations as to why there are such damning and misleading discrepancies in its write-up.

The FinanceAsia article is clearly mal-intended and politically motivated to discredit Malaysia and its Prime Minister, and the article is clumsily put together toward that end. In all honesty, the fact doesn't concur with the sentiment attempted to be portrayed by FinanceAsia. Whom are they trying to fool?