Knock, knock, knocking on debt’s door
Some debts are fun when you’re acquiring them
But none are fun when you set about retiring them
– American poet Ogden Nash
A CYNIC once noted that living within one’s means “betrayed a lack of imagination.” By those standards, Putrajaya has displayed an imaginative creativity of such dazzling proportions that our new Finance Minister says we are now a trifle over-borrowed.
Over the last decade, it appears that the annual budget was just a schedule to get us systematically indebted.
We are now told that we are is in hock to the tune of a cool trillion. I finally understand the meaning of this American saying: In God we trust, all others must pay cash.
I am not even sure what’s higher than a trillion. A gazillion?
Things are getting interesting. There have been original proposals, the most intriguing of which is the Hope Fund. It is a splendid notion. Given that we are truly a functioning democracy, it is a concept borne out by a government of the people: by the people, for the people of Malaysia to reduce the national debt.
That is why it’s strange to hear an economist and distinguished former civil servant describe it as unprecedented and an “embarrassment.”
That is preposterous. For one thing, the former claim isn’t true and, for another, the latter is overblown.
In 1998, South Korea wilted under the ravages of the Asian Financial crisis and had to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund.
Unbidden, its citizens rallied around and donated US$2bil in gold to help pare down debt.
To a lesser extent, the people of India came together in 1991 to do the same after the republic suffered a balance of payments blowout.
The point here is that neither effort even came close to the total quantum of debt owed by each debtor nation. It was simply the principle of the thing.
So to suggest that the fund is an effective “bailout” of the country by its citizenry is nonsense because whatever the quantum raised, it will never be enough.
But the idea of a patriotic drive to bind together a nation wounded after a divisive election is a good one and might be exactly what the doctor ordered. Even if the amount raised is hardly enough, it would still leave a feel-good feeling in its wake.
So far so good. It has been reported that over RM40mil had been donated to the fund since its inception.
But our country’s cheapskates never change. The worst was the fellow who won RM3mil from Sports Toto and decided, in a burst of patriotism, to donate a quarter of it to the Fund. He is proud to report that he still has RM2,999,999.75.
Well, you have to believe patriotism means different things to different people. To writer and essayist Samuel Johnson, for instance, it was the last refuge of the “scoundrel.”
To Ibrahim Ali, on the other hand, it was the conviction that Malaysia was superior to any other country because he happened to have been born here.
But to the average Malaysian taxpayer, it was the ingrained notion that we would have to co-operate with the Internal Revenue Board because we all feel a strong patriotic duty not to end up in jail.
Let’s face it, money is very important. Even the staid novelist Jane Austen observed that “a large income is the best recipe for happiness that I know of.”
And the fellow who said “money doesn’t buy everything” clearly didn’t know where to shop.
Brace yourselves folks. The times, they are a’changing. And always remember to put something aside for a rainy day.
Even if it’s only an umbrella.