Author: Hafiz Noor Shams

For more about me, please read this.

Categories
Economics

[1159] Of how to increase productivity of the civil service?

Talk, talk, talk…

PUTRAJAYA: Civil servants should reframe or condition their minds to work harder and longer to increase the country’s productivity and realise the National Mission.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said: “There is no substitution for hard work and it should become our goal and culture.”

“Work is a virtue and not a punishment,” he said while addressing the monthly gathering of staff and officials of the Prime Minister’s Department here on Monday.[DPM: Civil servants should work harder to increase productivity. The Star. April 2 2007]

There is no substitution for hard work. Empty words are no substitutes for real incentives either. Words, even if it comes from a supreme being, means nothing without incentives. Unless, the supreme being is the Invisible Hand. Yes, hang me for blasphemy but economics is the all-powerful being. And I could hear the supreme being laughing at the Deputy Prime Minister’s words.

Despite that, I concur with the Deputy Prime Minister; the civil service needs to increase its productivity. I asked the almighty, “What kind of incentive could back up the Deputy Prime Minister’s word and realize the dream of higher productivity?”

The supreme being, as merciful as he is wise, brought light to darkness. And the Lord God said, “Behold! Increase thy civil servants’ salary up to competitive market level and cut down thy gluttonous workforce. Once wages are at par or even surpass that of the private sector, thy would have every reason to expect the best of men and women on this earth to flock in volume to join the realm of public service. Lo! Higher productive. Have faith in me and we shall make fruitful of your faith. Disbelieve in me and we shall leave you at the mercy thy own foolishness.”

Listen to the all powerful being. For he has spoken; before that is done, words are just words!

Categories
Economics

[1158] Of keen Koreans and myopic Malaysians

In Malay, there is a saying that roughly goes “hendak seribu daya, tidak hendak seribu dalih“. It means where there is a will, there is a way. The proverb aptly describes the just recently agreed upon free trade deal between South Korea and the United States of America. The deal is agreed upon despite the fact that both parties missed the first two deadlines twice. As such, while “hendak seribu daya” belongs to the Korean, “tidak hendak seribu dalih” truly belongs to the Malaysian.

As reported by AP earlier:

The United States and South Korea successfully concluded a free trade agreement after almost 10 months of contentious negotiations, a U.S. official said Monday.

The deal, which requires legislative approval in both countries, is the biggest for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in 1992 and ratified in 1993. It is the biggest ever for South Korea. [South Korea, U.S. Reach Free Trade Deal. AP via Forbes. April 2 2007.

With the deal, the South Koreans are probably going to move farther up the economic ladder, leaving behind Malaysia which is too scare to face the reality out there in the world. So far behind that we would, as our leaders ever so proudly declare, be first among third world nations.

We, unfortunately, seem to prefer to sit in the dark inside a box, ignoring the wave of changes outside the box. While South Korea will continue to roar, there we are, sleeping with policies crafted nearly half a century ago, thinking such outdated policies are our savior.

Between the world of wonders in one hand and world of stagnation in the other, Malaysia chooses the latter, thinking it is not worth it to be better tomorrow than what we are today. We would rather defend an outdated policy that has failed instead of creating new one that promises greater prosperity.

All is not lost though. Malaysia and the US plan to get back to the negotiation table in mid-April:

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Bernama) — Malaysia and the United States Saturday missed their deadline to submit a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to the US Congress that would have secured fast-track approval from Capitol Hill.

US Ambassador to Malaysia Christopher LaFleur said here Friday “although the two countries won’t make the deadline, what’s important is not the timing but the substance of the agreement.”

The goal of the two countries was “to reach a high quality FTA that would benefit both countries,” he said when addressing the Malaysian-American Society at the American University here.

[…]

Meanwhile, US-Malaysia trade talks which stalled in Sabah will be revived in Washington in mid-April. [Malaysia And US Miss FTA Deadline. Bernama. April 2007]

The ambassador is right in every sense. Nevertheless, with the Democrats in control of Congress, it will be harder to get a free trade agreement that comes close to the the spirit of free trade. Further, previously, Malaysia had great advantage over the US negotiators. Time was the leverage and time was on our side.

Alas, that window had come and passed. With the end of the TPA, Malaysia now truly stands alone against a giant, unless we jumpstart the Doha round.

Categories
Sports

[1157] Of Ajax cut PSV lead to 3 points

While PSV struggled against NAC, Ajax struck 3 goals against SC Heracles. Because of that, Ajax is now only three points behind PSV. Three points!

I have some animated photos and would like to post it. However, I’ll wait for Youtube.

In the meantime, I would just love to savor the moment. It ain’t over yet but we don’t have to worry about that for the next six days.

Categories
Earthly Strip Environment

[1156] Of Earthly Strip: UMNO-PAS the environmental warriors

Upon news of the devastation of Lojing broke out, UMNO Kelantan immediately seizes the opportunity to grab a couple of brownie points by appointing itself as the guardian of the environment:

KOTA BAHARU, March 31 (Bernama) — Kelantan Umno has set up an action committee to check the ecological damage due to excessive logging at Lojing Highlands, which is said to be worse than anticipated and rather complex in nature.

Chairman of the State Umno Liaison Committee Datuk Seri Annuar Musa said Saturday non-governmental organisations were invited to join the committee which would compile data on the damage with information from various agencies. [Umno Forms Committee To Check Damage At Lojing Highlands. Bernama. March 31 2007]

PAS meanwhile declares that the party is “pushing for total conservation of the environment“, despite what is happening in Lojing:

KOTA BARU: Kelantan PAS plans to use a helicopter to conduct aerial inspection of hilly areas in other states to check for environmental damage.

Its secretary, Takiyuddin Hassan, said the party would hire a consultant who would be accompanied by knowledgeable government officials to inspect the development of hilly terrain in other states.

“We are pushing for total conservation of the environment. We are aiming for it in Kelantan, but can other states follow suit?” he said in an interview. [Look at damage in other states first, says Kelantan. The Star. April 1 2007]

Methinks:

Some rights reserved. By Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams

Categories
Economics Environment

[1155] Of a solution to climate change

There is a template in economics that deals with tragedy of the commons: permits.

And this is how it looks like when applied to replenishable commodity like fishes, graphically:

Some rights reserved. By Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams

This is exactly the case in the rationale behind the proposed legalization of turtle eggs collection.

I myself learned about the model at Michigan to solve scarcity issue faced by the fishing industry in northwestern US; the Pacific. In fact, the graph is a reproduction of the original diagram I learned during a cold fall day in Ann Arbor.

For water scarcity faced by the states along the Colorado River, the same idea of introducing tradable permits to combat tragedy of the commons is used. In the NYT a few days ago, the fishery model was cited as a solution to combat another tragedy of the commons; the climate:

Later today, Mr. Festa is going to release a fascinating study about the fishing business that on its face has nothing to do with global warming, and yet has everything to do with a solution. At dozens of the nation’s fisheries, the fish population is in danger because fishermen have no incentive not to take everything out of the water that they can. But 10 fisheries, stretching from the halibut fishery off Alaska to the surf clam industry in New England, have tried a different route. [Earth’s Climate Needs the Help of Incentives. NYT. March 28 2007.]

Tradable carbon credits, which is essentially tradable permits, is part of the Kyoto Protocol.