Despite Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak insisting otherwise, an objective review of the budget will find that it is indeed a rather populist one. Upwards revisions of poverty classifications, reductions in import duties and income tax rate all indicate that the government knows it has a populist fight on its hands. Incidentally, it is probably not one that they are willingly engaged in – the Barisan Nasional has always been perceived to be rather business-friendly, even if the success of those businesses occasionally relied partially on patronage.

But politics and governance have never been separable. The Pakatan Rakyat has undeniably seized the political momentum and with it, defined the language of the debate on governance. Lofty promises of fuel price reductions and already-implemented large scale handouts in a Pakatan state for example, meant that Barisan too, had to change its tune unless it was prepared to gamble away its future in power.

Race to the bottom

While it would be disingenuous to suggest that Barisan’s record of economic management – under this administration or its predecessors – has been perfect, one worries for Malaysia’s economic future if the two political blocs get locked in a protracted battle to “out-populise” one another. Capitalism has been termed as a race to the bottom, yet in Malaysia’s case, it could be such simplistic socialist-like policies that run the country’s future to the ground. Forget far-fetched theories about synagogues outnumbering mosques, –this Barisan supporter never bought such BS anyway – what happens when FDI plummets at the prospect of a minimum wage that would make Malaysia far less attractive to foreign investors? Oh wait, since we’ve ushered in an era of kindergarten-economics, allow me to pre-empt what Anwar and co. might come up with – “ini negara rakyat Malaysia punya, kenapa kasi duit pada orang putih”. Scoff.

Pakatan struggles to respond to its own tune

It is these worrying circumstances that make the responses of Pakatan leaders to Budget 2009 frustrating, to say the least. Having set the tune and the rhetoric, they seem unable or unwilling to acknowledge that Barisan have now quite possibly matched them at their own game, on their (Pakatan’s) own turf.

Nobody expected Pakatan to give Barisan a free pass when it came to the Budget, but political mileage could have just as easily been gained by accusing Barisan of adopting Pakatan’s policies. Instead, one is left dumbfounded at Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s sudden realisation that Malaysia’s economy, actually depends on the global climate too! He was quoted as saying, “(T)he argument that Malaysia can isolate itself from the global economy is a non argument”. It is worth reminding ourselves that this is a man who fully supports increasing fuel subsidies at a time when global oil price remains high. I do not say this often, but damn, I am at a loss.

It is even more telling that the man of the moment has failed to find his tongue; Anwar thus far has said little more than to accuse the Budget as failing to address fundamental flaws such as corruption. The problem with this comment is that endemic as corruption and rent-seeking may be, the Budget is well, a budget, and not a detailed plan to root out institutional flaws in the economic system. One would expect a former Fellow at top institutions in the UK and US to know this. (Cue new conspiracy theories about Jewish takeovers).

Where are the Bloggers?

Bloggers – long the thorn in the government’s flesh – are not covering themselves with glory either. Theirs appears to be a slightly different problem. Rocky Bru, A Kadir Jasin, Susan Loone et.al have by and large failed to forward concrete positions on the Budget, much less post detailed analyses about it. One may be tempted to accuse them of not being equipped with the skills to truly understand the relevance of certain measures contained in the Budget. Yet it seems more likely that they were too; to be charitable with words, occupied to go drown themselves in the details and face the prospect of having to forfeit a post because only stories on corruption, sex, race and religion ’sell’. Bread and butter issues affecting the livelihood of all Malaysians are suddenly too ‘technical’, ‘elite’ and ‘jargon-istic’.

The economic impact of Budget 2009 will take months, and in some cases years, to fully materialise. Much will depend on whether these trends of populist policies worsen to the detriment of future generations. However, in the past days, responses to the Budget have already painted a picture of an Opposition that may have found itself outplayed by an Incumbent ready to get some dirt on its hands, and a ‘mainstream’ Blogosphere so shallow that hippie/cuckoo liberals might as well start visiting Kulit Pisang for some real meat, even if the Chief Editor and his trusted friend wreak of conservatism.