The government's recent announcement that it will rely less o­n foreign investment for growth, is basically a pipe-dream.

There are very few economies in the world that are not dependant o­n foreign investments. Even economies like US, Britain that seemingly do not rely o­n foreign investment, rely o­n foreign capital i.e., their bonds are heavily in demand. Most of Europe, while not dependent o­n foreign investment, rely o­n two things: foreign capital and ever increasing high taxes. None of these options is open to Malaysia.

The truth is that most of the guys running this country have no idea how to build a sustainable economic model. Our growth, and even the less severe recession in the last few years, have basically been financed by deficit spending. More than three quarters of our growth last year was basically due to the government spending more and more money.

If not for the deficit spending, and high oil and palm oil prices, we would be the worst performing economy in Southeast Asia. We are basically doing what Latin America did for many years. Until the whole bubble explodes in our face, the high and mighty will never see it.