What I've Posted In Tun's Blog II

1. Generally I agreed agreed with Tun's idea. Pegging the Ringgit requires lots and lots discussion. But I wonder if pegging the currency to a certain "value" of gold is appropriate since we have seen in recent months that the value of gold reaches up to USD 1000 an ounce.

2. The event of gold value reaches up to USD 1000 and falling back to USD 750 an ounce shows that the value of gold can be manipulated. Since we have seen that hedge fund traders has trillions and trillions of dollars pocketed by unscrupulous derivative trading. I still think that the value of gold can be manipulated by coordinated buying by hedge fund traders.

3. However, contradicting to my 2nd point. Even though gold is still up for speculation and manipulation. the value of gold will not drop to new lows in this modern day. Thanks to god which has created it to have and hold value. Therefore minimizing the risk of severe currency devaluation. And similar as Tun, I am also not an economist, therefore my argument could be ridiculous.

4. In my opinion, to use the Ringgit as a trade currency in order to increase the demand for Malaysian Ringgit thus strengthening its value might be a risky business. Even though we are one of the largest trading nation. One must remember that if trade volume decreases, it will affect our currency too. Thus, making the currency vulnerable to speculation and attacks. We have seen that speculative attacks to our currency is causing capital flights out of Malaysia.

5. We have seen that the value of USD fiat money is due to the demand for it in the market and I wouldn't like to see the Malaysian Ringgit suffer the same thing we had in the late 90's. China has trillions of dollars in reserves and as the the Arabs. But if the dollar keep weakening day after day. These economic behemoth's might call it a day and disposing their US dollar in order to protect their wealth. The disposing the US dollar will further devalue its currency and we know that the US dollar is losing its value day after day after they abandoned the gold standard after the Bretton Woods agreement failed.

6. In my opinion we all should go back doing what Tun has teach us a long time ago which is " Belilah Barangan Buatan Malaysia " , Establish our own brand. Invest in the Malaysian economy. Reduce imports and increase exports whether its raw materials, finish products, professional expertise and etc. Increase R&D for our own product and trust on the creativity and innovation of Malaysian. Sometimes we know how the Malaysian products fair with products of other country in terms of quality. But I don't doubt that we can produce goods as good as others. By reducing the need for imported goods, I think we are building our economy on more sound and solid foundation.