Malaysia is getting wealthier but are you feeling it?

There are advantages to a weakening currency. It makes Malaysian exports competitive and attracts more foreign investments as cost of doing business becomes cheaper. Tourists’ arrivals should also see a rise.

LAST week, I was on the hot seat of a live call-in radio programme organised by the ETP (Economic Transformation Programme). On air now for over a year, the show calls for Pemandu (the Performance Management and Delivery Unit) and government officials to bravely front a hotbed of issues, fielding no-holds barred questions from some smart people.

I had the privilege to anchor the final “talkback” session for the year and faced a particularly contentious topic. Even as the country charts all the right numbers on gross domestic product (GDP), gross national income and investment, some Malaysians do not believe change is real.