In response to the letter from A Serving Umno Youth Bureau Member especially regarding his views on the effectiveness of the government's actions in protecting the country's economy ([#1]The other side of the Mahafiraun II[/#], March 28), yes, I agree that Malaysia might not need to borrow from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but don't forget that the government measures also involved the pegging of the ringgit to the US dollar, the Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) closure and restricting the outflow of the ringgit.

Prof KS Jomo is right in that we do not need IMF help since Malaysia has a high savings rate and banking liquidity, but what Jomo and the writer forgot was the massive outflow of money from Malaysia during that period of time which, if not curbed, will further limit the options on what Malaysia can do to help her economy as the availability of internal funds will be severely limited.

Malaysia was also concern with the volatile exchange rate which was suffocating the nation's growth engine - manufacturing.

Having said these, I would say the actions taken by the government to address these issues were justified.

Jomo and the writer should credit the government for what was done as the past two years have shown that the actions taken were correct. How the writer's research and discussion with Jomo did not factor in the rest of the government's actions is a puzzle to me, unless the writer was focusing to justify his views based on Malaysia's high savings rate and the banks' liquidity alone. If that was the case, then I would say his research was flawed as any economic analyst would see the complex interactions that make up a country economy.

I hope the readers keep an open mind, hear the views of others and think before calling a spade a spade as nothing in this world comes across as plain black and white.