Media statement by Steven Sim, MP for Bukit Mertajam in Kuala Lumpur on 19 November 2020:
The Prime Minister Must Openly Reprimand And Instruct Wan Ahmad Fayshal Wan Ahmad Kamal To Withdraw His Absurd Proposal To Print Money To Help The Economy
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin must openly reprimand and instruct Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Wan Ahmad Fayshal Wan Ahmad Kamal to withdraw his absurd proposal to print money to help the economy. Wan Ahmad must have forgotten that Malaysia is not United States of America (USA). Even US does not openly talk about printing money to help its economy.
Germany is the classic example of how printing money after the Great War led to hyper-inflation, the collapse of its economy and society, leading to the rise of fascism, Nazism and Adolf Hitler. Those who read history should know what happened to the world with the horrors brought by Hitler.
Those who forget the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them.
Wan Fayshal’s suggestion to print money displayed his economic naivete. He ignores basic economics of the disastrous consequences of loss of confidence in the monetary system, hyper-inflation and the ultimate collapse to the economy.
Money supply can be increased not through printing money but through quantitative easing (QE) by buying bonds or purchasing assets. However even QE measures must be used judiciously and is ineffective in a low interest rate regime.
At present, our problem is not funding but the government’s overtly conservative approach towards spending. The fact that Dewan Rakyat was unanimous to allow the passing of the Covid-19 bill which included the raising of the debt ceiling is a signal to the government that we are willing for the government to borrow more to fund a higher deficit.
No economic idea is worse than printing money because ultimately our currency will not be even worth the value of the paper it is printed on. To protect the value of our currency and assure investors of the economic competence of the government, the Prime Minister must immediately reprimand and instruct Wan Fasyhal to withdraw his irresponsible remarks and stop talking about the economy.
My advice to Wan Faysal is, he should instead focus on the Youth and Sports Ministry which is about to receive nearly 20% budget cut in Belanjawan 2021. This is definitely bad news to the youth and sports sector amidst the triple blow health-economic-political crisis we are facing.
Steven Sim Chee Keong,
MP for Bukit Mertajam.
