The Malaysian government is a big liar

The government of Malaysia is lying to the people again. The International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz recently announced that the total foreign direct investments (FDI) for Malaysia in 2006 was a record at RM20.2 billion (about US$5.7 billlion). Malaysia's FDI figures dropped from US$4.6 billion in 2004 to US$4.0 billion in 2005.

At the same time, the Malaysian government orchestrated lots of "feel good" news in the recent days, from the RM1 trillion total trade figures in 2006 to the higher economic growth for the country in 2007. The Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is a big liar himself had even said that Malaysians now enjoyed a higher living standards (no thanks to his cruel Islam Hadhari government).

Malaysians are being fed with lots of misleading "feel good" news these days

And once again, the truth has prevailed. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has cast doubt over the actual amount of foreign direct investments (FDI) into Malaysia in 2006. According to the UN report (downloadable here and here), Malaysia actually suffered a negative FDI growth in 2006.

UNCTAD reported that Malaysia's FDI inflow suffers a decrease of -1.6% in 2006 dropping from US$4.0 billion to US$3.9 billion, while the whole South East Asian region actually experienced an increase of 13.1 % FDI inflows last year. The UN report shares the same conclusion with the banking giant Citigroup, which in their latest report has mentioned that Malaysia is quickly dropping off the radar screens of global investors.

Can Malaysians trust their "responsible" government ever again?