Proud to be Malaysian

When S&P downgraded the US from AAA to AA, Moody’s defended the US’ triple-A status. Fascinating. I think this presents Malaysia with a unique opportunity to lead. I think it’s time for Asia and the emerging markets to combine forces and expertise to create our own neutral rating agency.

America didn’t confront their problems sooner and now the gap seems too wide for any single president to fix. Europe is stressed and in disarray. Do we want to wait for crisis levels before we act? Why not start now to increase domestic – led consumption and exports to Asia, the emerging, and frontier markets. Buy Malaysian. Promote Malaysian – made. Act now.

Let’s you and I stand up for our economy. Let’s champion Brand Malaysia.

Let’s collaborate with China, India, Africa, and our Latin American friends. Let’s form joint venture alliances to scour the planet for products and services that these huge consumer nations seek and desire. When companies see demand surging for Malaysian – made goods and services will they be inspired to produce more, and produce quality. Everybody wins.

Under the US Dodd – Frank law that was proposed on 2 Dec 2009, there’s the Volcker rule. By this rule, depository banks are prohibited from proprietary trading, meaning they can’t trade with their own funds, only with clients’ money.

Banks forced to curb trading means money looking for new places to go… This gives Malaysia a brilliant opportunity to attract global funds. It’s time for us to modernize our trading systems. We’re well – poised as one of the world’s foremost Islamic Banking centers.

“In the near future I envisage that the Yuan will become the safe haven currency of Asia. Later, the Yuan together with other emerging market currencies such as the Brazilian Rial, Russian Ruble, Indian Rupee, and South African Rand will be in one big gold – backed basket,” predicts Ashwin M Binwani Wealth Strategist at Peak Prosperity Consulting Hong Kong Ltd.

(That means Americans can’t simply print money; create Quantitative Easing 2 and 3 without backing it with a measure of gold!)

Malaysia is in a sweet spot as our Ringgit is the proxy currency for the Chinese Yuan. In fact when the Yuan appreciates, all Asian currencies follow suit.

The entire matrix of business and finance has shifted to the East. It’s time for Malaysians to develop more courage and confidence. Why not use this time to perfect our systems and take measures to decouple from the West. For this to happen our financial and political groundwork must be honed and refined.

Malaysia has a lot going for itself. At this point the stakes are high and primarily we’ve got 2 choices. We can work to do ourselves proud. Or we can let ourselves down. I say we stand for unity. Think National Pride.

I say peace will secure prosperity.