Formulators, fornicators,and why you should treat Wikileaks like condom

From used condoms to hairbands

Use once only, don't recycle. I read the analysis in the Star, the press statement by the MCA boss, and the postings at Stop The Lies t Bujai. I can tell you, going gaga over some so-called Top Secret despatches supposedly leaked out by Wikileaks is a natural thing. It can also be a dangerous pre-occupation. This thing acts like a double-edged sword. The so-called leak cables on Pakatan has no economic formulators may hurt Tony Pua and gang deeply today but tomorrow or next week the same diplomats from the US Embassy in KL in their report to their bosses in Washington will go out of their way to leak out information aimed at hurting Najib and Co. It is how they play you. Mark my words.

In any case, what is it that these diplomats are saying that we didn't already know? Pakatan Rakyat does not have good economic formulators to run the country? We all know that Anwar Ibrahim's economy starts and ends with lowering oil prices after the every general election (if Pakatan wins) and Nik Aziz does not know any better than him, that in Penang Lim Guan Eng has been claiming credit for decades of his successors' economic successes, and Selangor's Khalid Ibrahim is not doing any better. At least Tony Pua recognises that the Malaysian economy is sound and admits he would maintain the status quo if Pakatan Rakyat comes to power (he's assuming he would become Minister of Economics, by the sound of it). If it ain't broke, why fix it, right?

Krugman: One of Dr M's "advisors"

Here's the thing. The BN has good economic formulators but they are a rare commodity. One of the best is Daim Zainuddin but he is retired (and he will continue to retire as along as Nor Mohamed Yakcop is still around behaving like MoF, some says). Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman have a good grasp of the economy, too, which is why Sarawak and Sabah have always done well economically despite the complaints. Dr Mahathir Mohamad, of course, has the knack of picking the best economic advisors (including Paul Krugman without the man's knowledge).

Otherwise, the best economic formulators, regulators, propagators, perpetrators and what have you, are mostly in one place: Bank Negara. Day in and day out, they advise the politicians on economic matters.  One or two others are in the local Unis, another one of two in some ministries, and a couple more abroad minding their own business or advising foreign governments. Apart from the last group, these are all civil servants. Malaysia has been economically sound thanks to them and the fact that we have politicians who are not, in Krugman's words, politically naive.

We don't need to wait for some American diplomats to tell us through leaked cables that Malaysia would suffer an economic disaster if Pakatan Rakyat wins the General Election. Tell us something we don't know, please. 

But if you want to go gaga over this, go ahead. If the next "leaked cables" don't suit your political palate - and they will not, mark my words - go gaga over them, too.