Remind me again, did the Communist defeat the combined Commonwealth forces during the Malayan Emergency?
PUTRAJAYA: Five kilograms — that is the maximum amount of cooking oil that each consumer can buy when a move to solve the shortage of the essential item is enforced next week.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal however did not specify when the move would be implemented to increase stocks of cooking oil, especially in areas like Kelantan, Pahang, Malacca, Kedah and some parts of the Klang Valley where the shelves are getting bare. [5kg buying limit on cooking oil. The Star. January 5 2008]
I ask you comrades, because our economic policies are showing the characteristic inefficiency[1] of a communist economy.
Let prices be free instead. I would rather have inequality in wealth rather than equality in poverty.
p/s — This is Malaysia under the Abdullah administration:
It is time to take it back. If we do not, these people would have died in vain. They would have fought for nothing.
[1] — See remarks in the comment section. Shortage is not uncommon. Similar episodes are observable in the past, for instance, in the sugar market not too long ago. Such shortages constitute inefficiency. After some rethinking, the word inefficiency works better than the word characteristic. Indeed, Malaysia has run a centralized economy for the longest time but I do not remember when was the last time the government has imposed a rationing regime on goods (okay, apart from water…). Perhaps, I am suffering from recency effect bias but the point here, taking the hyperbole aside, there is a mismanagement of the economy that is associated with centralized planning.
7 replies on “[1502] Of welcome to the Soviet Union”
[…] from reaching its sad conclusion is to ration water at one stage or the other. Suffice to say, I do not think highly of policy that leads to rationing when flexible pricing mechanism is able to offer better […]
hey hafiz…. i hope they dont have a national flag act 1988 to prosecute you … :P
My point is, taking the hyperbole aside, there is a serious mismanagement of the economy that is associated with centralized planning.
It’s a bit disingenuous to say that Malaysia’s turned communist under the Abdullah administration, since our five-year plans have been in place since before independence, and our government was already dabbling in price controls during the Mahathir era, if not before.
The more i hear about Malaysia turning into an Islamic state, the more socialist it gets.
So maybe this is Islam Hadhari all about.
Islam-marxistsme.
yeah. But I used the word “inefficiency” in place of “characteristic” earlier. Maybe I should revert it back.
Hmmm, actually the 5-year MPs and the 15-year IMPs are scarier resemblance.