Meltdown 101 - Mark Clifford on Mahathir Mohamad

I'd like to share an excerpt from an essay on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the Time magazine's Essay section in its November 3rd issue by Mark L. Clifford, Executive Director of the Asia Business Council. I think this is a nice piece of a fairly-well balance article. Reason why I say this is because, it is relatively hard to find any positive review by Western media or journalists on Mahathir, especially after the Anwar Ibrahim saga and his infamous "Jews rule the world by proxy" (CNN) remark made at the opening of the 2003 OIC Summit in Putrajaya, 5 years ago.

Generally, the writer was trying to draw a parallel between the current global financial crisis with the economic crisis that hit several countries in Asia 10 years ago and on what can be learnt and what action should be considered for that matter. Also mentioned was the "unorthodox" measures by former premier, Mahathir Mohamad.

"Another lesson: don't be afraid to experiment. Unorthodox measures can pay off. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was slammed by most orthodox economists for pegging his currency and slapping on capital controls when the crisis hit to defend the ringgit.

While Mahathir's anti-Semitic diatribes against hedge funds and currency traders were off the mark, his radical action bought Malaysia time and almost certainly saved it from the worst ravages of the crisis." [Read full essay]

On another different topic, I am glad to hear the news of the new petrol price, which was reduce by another 15 cent(!), effective Saturday, Nov 1. Good news indeed.

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