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Op-Ed: The Malaysian Ringgit – The disappearing currency by Pascal Najadi

International Observers and Investors alike are waking up to the fact that Dictatorship and total absence of Justice will bring down the Malaysian Ringgit into its obliteration. 
Zimbabwe is perhaps the best live example out there. “The regime is surviving by printing money, at this stage there is no other way.” said Martin Rupiya, professor (war and security studies), University of Zimbabwe. The United Kingdom once condemned Mugabe’s authoritarian policies and alleged racist attitudes as being comparable to those of German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. A response came during the state funeral for a Zimbabwean Cabinet minister in March 2003. Mugabe telling journalists “I am still the Hitler of the time, […] This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.” His dictatorship has brought down the nation to her knees and deep into an opaque brown morass.  The country’s central bank could not even afford the paper on which to print its worthless trillion-dollar notes. President Mugabe issued edicts to ban price rises, of comedic value were it not for the devastation that hyperinflation wrought upon the people. The miserably low savings and incomes of the impoverished population were wiped out; shopkeepers would frequently double prices between the morning and afternoon, leaving workers’ pay almost valueless by the end of the day. On 6 February 2007, Mugabe orchestrated a cabinet reshuffle, ousting ministers including five-year veteran finance minister Herbert Murerwa. On 11 March 2007, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and beaten following a prayer meeting in the Harare suburb of Highfields. Another member of the Movement for Democratic Change was killed while other protesters were injured. Mugabe claimed that “Tsvangirai deserved his beating-up by police because he was not allowed to attend a banned rally”
With the latest unlawful arrest of the Malaysian critic and leader of the democratic movement Bersih, Mrs. Maria Chin Abdullah, the Malaysian top government has not only committed an unconstitutional blunder trampling the human rights, law and justice in Malaysia with boots, but it also fuels the continued decline of the Malaysian Ringgit. “We are troubled by the ongoing detention and solitary confinement of Maria Chin Abdullah under national security laws,” Alicia Edwards, a spokeswoman for the US state department, told Reuters in an emailed statement. Such statements from serious governments around the world are especially sensitive to all those who monitor Malaysia’s decline on their trading floors. Because they well know from history, Zimbabwe is only one of many horrid examples, that dictatorship never paid off, quite the contrary, it has always resulted in the economic collapse of nations under Dictatorships. And the opposition splitting ridiculous talk about Hudud in Malaysia is another no no for international investors. Religion mixed into government never worked and always ended in a bloody disaster. Old Europe can sing a song from painful blood stained lessons learnt already hundreds of years ago when it comes to religion dictated ill gotten governance that resulted in horrid wars.
International investors of 2016 like to observe functioning institutions, a rule of law and a justice that can rule fair and true as per the prevailing laws and regulations. It is called legal transparency. But in Malaysia there is no legal transparency as the country is run by a rogue Mr. Najib, an unconsitutional Attorney General who makes super use of article 145 of the Federal Constitution allowing him not to pursue any criminal cases at his free will. Combine this duo with the the third element, a totally unprofessional and remote controlled IGP, you will get none other than bad perception about Malaysia out there. Sitting top politicians around the world will have to tread very carefully with the Malaysian kleptocrat dictatorship if they want to promote democracy, good governance, transparency and justice as their export goods to the world.
Mr. Najib and his collaborators have embarked on their adventure of total destruction of a once thriving rich nation called Malaysia. Expect the Malaysian Ringgit to sail past 5.00 to the USD with flying colours and beyond. The Malaysian Ringgit is bound to continue its total failure. A direct result of unconstitutional Dictatorship that has become a world champion in kleptocracy. Add to this situation a weak Bank Negara with melting hard currency reserves and you are left with only one question as an investor: To buy or sell the Malaysian Ringgit. A large short position will be the only way to make money out of the Malaysian Ringgit. Selling it has become the trade of the day for investors abroad. Consequently it is sad to observe that only a collapsed Ringgit can offer real change for the better. Freedom in Malaysia has become a scarce element and the Ringgit is on its best way to obliteration
 
Sad but true.

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