ISN’T it a déjà vu that Malaysia has the same finance minister both in 1998 when ringgit plummeted to its lowest level of RM4.76/US$ and today when the Malaysian currency broke yet another record low of RM4.7925/US$ on Monday (Oct 23)?
Such is the question posted by netizen Abu Ali on the Facebook of veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin after the latter sparked a debate with his latest post which can be literally translated as “This is not the history that we wish to create. Ringgit at the lowest level in history as compared to the greenback”.
“At that time (1998), Anwar (Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) objected to the ringgit being pegged at RM3.80 to the US dollar,” recalled the national journalism laureate who was a business reporter during his heydays.
“He supports the IMF (International Monetary Fund) method. He was a good friend of Michael Camdessus who was the IMF managing director at that time.”
As to whether there has been negative effects from the capital control measure implemented by the then premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as suggested by netizen Amir Azmir, Kadir reckoned that it was during the former’s era that Malaysia enjoyed “the highest average economic growth”.
“If you’ve additional information, kindly debate here or on your Facebook page,” quipped the former Bersatu supreme council member who claimed to be aligned to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) struggle. This is when netizen Norhasiyati Taharin chipped in:
“It’s weird how could Anwar be crowned as the best finance minister once upon a time…? 😁” wondered the netizen.
“And once again when Anwar appointed himself as Finance Minister, the value of the ringgit plummeted. Perhaps Datuk can share your experience as a journalist by commenting on this issue. BBNU (budak baru nak up) should know history.”
Reminiscing about yesteryears, netizen Ida A B praised Dr Mahathir for mooting the capital control measure to keep the value of the ringgit in check. “Tun was bold enough to take action. Thank God, that worked out well.”
However, Halmay Mohamad Noor was of the opinion that even if the ringgit pegging method worked, “there is no need to belittle other methods for they might work as well, too”.
This somehow prompted a rebuttal from Ida A B: “Ask yourself. What is the government doing right now? What are their actions? Bear in mind (that) we have a ‘part time’ MOF (Finance Minister). (At the moment,) political vendetta is (seemingly) more important than the rakyat‘s needs.” – Oct 25, 2023
