“EACH day the ringgit weakens against the Singapore dollar, the Republic benefits. Malaysia becomes cheaper to it.”
Veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said when he reads such statements, he views it as very serious and should not be underestimated.
He said during this Chinese New Year festive season, many Singaporeans visit Malaysia because of their strong currency.
“Their currency is seen as ‘king’. One Singapore dollar is RM3.50 and added to this, the cost of goods and services is cheaper in Malaysia than Singapore,” he penned in his latest Facebook post.
“Only those who take this statement seriously understand the negative effects of currency weakness while those who under-estimate it are those who do not understand or who try to protect it.”
The ringgit exchange chart in the last nine or 10 years began to fall against the Singapore dollar. Before that, it was “steady”. For example from 2004 to 2014, the rate was between RM2.23 and RM2.52.
Kadir said that since September 2014, the value of the ringgit has begun to fall against the Singapore dollar.
He pointed out that during this period, the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) scandal was exposed and a lot of 1MDB money flowed into Singapore while many Singaporean banks were involved in the scandal.
He also questioned why former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak was given a pardon as he had hurt the country’s image with the 1MDB scandal.
“From September 2014 until July 2017, when the 1MDB scandal was exposed, the ringgit fell drastically from RM2.52 to RM3.15 which was about 25%, and again until February 2022 from RM3.10 to RM3.54 which is about 14% and in Feb 7 it hit its lowest level, ” observed the national journalism laureate.
He added that during the term of the unity government from Dec 1 to Feb 7, the local currency fell from RM3.28 to RM3.54.
The former editor-in-chief of mainstream New Straits Times said the weak ringgit hurts the people as well as threatening the sovereignty and security of the country.
Kadir went on to warn that when a nation is weak, other nations can take advantage of it.
A case in point is that there are countries that will want “to cooperate” with Malaysia so that they can influence the country and take advantage of any of our weaknesses.
For example, they can use their strong money to buy and control assets in our country at a cheap price, according to Kadir.
Doubtlessly, there are some nations that have conspired with Malaysia but they have their own agendas.
He added that through that partnership, they want “to control us so that we don’t get stronger than them”. – Feb 12, 2024
