Will Trump trump or be trumped by the world?
Published on: Saturday, February 04, 2017
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FIRST Time he mentioned about building a wall along the Mexican/US border and boasted he would make Mexico pay for it during the Primaries, I thought Donald Trump was a political joker and that he would never succeed to get elected into the White House.
Here we are, he has been sworn in as President of the most powerful nation in the world.
Most of his nominees are very pro-white and a few, to put it bluntly, hardcore racists, including the Attorney General who had to deny having sympathies for the KKK [Ku Klux Klan] during his nomination hearing in the Senate. The Secretary of State is definitely anti Asian and anti China. Also quite a few are from Wall Street, especially Goldman Sachs which had done and benefitted from some “shady financial deals”.
Some of them are very pro Israel and anti Islam.
Among Trump’s first visitor to the White House will be the PM of Israel. Already Trump said he would relocate US embassy to Jerusalem. So far, no invitation for any Muslim leader. No invitation for President Xi Jinping whose country is the 2nd largest economy and to whom USA owes the greatest debt.
“We will follow two simple rules: We will buy American, We will hire Americans” with this simple but very clear statement in his inaugural speech, he has shown his true colour. First day in office, he has withdrawn USA from TPPA on which PM Najib has pinned a lot of hope. Trump is unknown quality and quantity, unreliable, loose cannon with a very narrow vision of the world. His attitudes are quite frightening.
In his augural speech, he has come across as a demagogue, zero statesmanship and is unfit to lead the world.
To him, ‘fortress America’ is top priority. The number one country in the world now has a president who is clueless as a world leader. Very simply, Trump does not possess statesmanship qualities to be the world leader that the world needs at this critical juncture. At best he is a political greenhorn, a novice, an apprentice.
His first executive order confirms USA under Trump has become inward looking and has lost the moral high ground and will power to be the No.1 country in the world.
In sharp contrast, China’s President Xi Jinping, since assuming office, has shown to have much better quality for a world leader than Trump. He has reorganised and restructured the Chinese economy and still can continue to reach out to other countries and opened his arms to welcome them to work with him.
The Chinese model of relationship is simple – no interference and no regime change, no imposition of political ideologies on other counties. Xi’s ‘One Road One Belt’ concept of economic cooperation linking China to South East Asia, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe is exemplary.
It is everything that isn’t with Trump’s closed door selfish policy. Above all, China does not go dropping bombs and starting war with other countries like USA has done in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and pulled out, leaving them in a mess.
China built the Great Wall in 221BC to prevent invasion from outsiders. More than 2000 years later, Trump will build a solid wall against Mexico and a ‘virtual Great Wall’ against the world for USA, indicative of his lack of confidence in Americans being able to lead and compete with the world.
Already buckling under Trump’s pressure, Ford, GM and several American MNCs have reversed their decisions and pulled their investments back to the USA. Many more American companies can be expected to follow.
Trump is sporting for a fight with China for sure because he wants to act like an American cowboy hero.
If and when he does that, North Asia, South East Asia and Asean countries will suffer shrinkage of their economies. How much is uncertain at this stage as it will depend on the extent of Trump’s closed door “America first” policies.
China now is not China years ago when western countries could bully China at will. China of today will not take it lying down. The biggest creditor country to USA will not take any nonsense from this Trump fellow without a fight!
Trump’s electoral victory is the clearest signal that the No.1 super power in the world has began to crawl back into its own shell. Trump’s America will be self-centric, withdrawn, inward looking. More than 90pc of Trump’s inaugural speech is filled with “America first” and the rest of the world does not matter.
He has also run down Europe and Nato. All in all, the world under this fellow will go through a lot, an uncomfortable lot of uncertainties. Where is Malaysia in all these?
As a small country, we need to tread in these uncertain times very carefully.
First and foremost, our government leaders should not be under any illusion – in Trump’s scheme of things, in his present context, Malaysia means nothing to him. We are just a tiny prawn. We can expect and should be prepared for 2 negative impacts. Malaysian goods and products will find a lot of difficulties entering the Trump’s “walled up American market”. On the other hand, expect less American investment to come.
More than that, expect some American companies to relocate back as Trump plies pressure on them to return.
I am afraid PM Najib’s statement of a strong Malaysia/US relationship under Trump is premature and misplaced.
Obama thought “Moderate Malaysia” was useful to him as a conduit for him to reach the Islamic world.
Trump is indifferent, he cannot be bothered with any country. To him, there is only America!
The opposition may want to blame PM Najib for poor management and financial woes of the country.
As opposition, this is natural, it is their job. The fact of the matter is that right now, Malaysia can do with some foreign investment to fill up a serious economic void. RM144b from China is coming in at the most appropriate opportune time to give us a much needed economic lift.
Perhaps destiny has favoured Malaysia for PM Najib has cultivated and improved ties with China even before the US election. In the new world of Trump’s “America first”, China is the best bet for Malaysia.
China is the only country which has the financial muscle to invest RM144 billion in Malaysia.
With additional investment from Chinese companies and arrival of more Chinese tourists, Malaysia’s economy can be expected to sustain fairly comfortably in the depressed global economy. No thanks to Trump, the global economy will worsen in the near terms.
Sabah has been lucky in these uncertain times as Datuk Musa has quietly courted for Chinese investment/tourists with great success. These have kept our economy pumping and have averted serious dips.
Going forward, this Musa initiative will prove to be critical to our economic well being for a long time.
Even in the best of times, USA has never invested so much money in Malaysia at any one time.
I have written this before and like to reiterate here. Opposition leaders are making a grave mistake to ‘bash’ the Chinese investment in Malaysia using fear and racial sentiments. Whatever accusations they want to level against the Chinese, the Japanese have done it during the era of “look east policy”.
What have Malaysia gained from this “Look East Policy”? Remember Proton’s first few models?
They were all discarded, rejects from Mitsubishi for which we must have paid hefty sums.
For all we know these models could have been dumped into the sea or gathering dust in the store.
No wonder Proton could never have succeeded?
If Malaysia cannot benefit from foreign investments, irrespective of from which country, blame it on the political leaders who have been elected to look after our interest. The last party to blame are the investors.
The opposition’s casting fear and racial aspersions on the Chinese investment can do one thing only – inflicting harm to our national economy. This is extreme irresponsible political expediency.
It is easy to criticise. Much harder to produce positive solutions to our national problems.
As a Malaysian citisen, I like to see where the opposition can get this sise of investment, if not from China.
Can they talk to Trump? And what is their alternative plan?
A very senior opposition leader has alluded that the 700,000 Chinese house buyers will compete and take away economic opportunities from Malaysian Chinese. He wants to protect them. Thanks and no thanks to him.
This is weird logic. He is being presumptuous. These Chinese will have plenty of business opportunities in China and elsewhere. They are already successful in their own right. They will have lots more spending power than those we are welcoming under MalaysiaMy2Home programme. They will be our ‘permanent tourists’.
They may find Malaysia’s policies cumbersome and tedious for business. We have been suffering a serious brain drain for many years. If and this is a big IF, they want to settle down with their business in Malaysia, we should welcome them. We can tell ourselves that Malaysia can enjoy a “brain drain reversal”.
If this can happen, other Malaysians who have migrated with their brains may want to reconsider returning.
The opposition should not be afraid to welcome “good brains” from anywhere in the world to Malaysia.
It will be 1st class brains that will propel the new economy of the 21st century – not cronies, NEP and favoured monopolists.
When it suits USA, when it is to their advantage, they rave globalisation.
Now that they are unable to compete effectively, Trump wants to shut their door.
Trump, by his actions in the first few days in the Oval office, has already surrendered the USA’s world leadership baton to Xi Jinping without a fight. China’s appreciation of Tun Razak’s recognition in 1974 has never wavered.
This is consistency. So don’t condemn China’s investment too soon.
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