YOURSAY | ‘Perception arises from lack of transparency and poor governance.’

Bank Negara says ringgit should not be priced out of sync with fundamentals

Donplaypuks: What are you saying, Bank Negara governor Muhammad Ibrahim? That the market is wrong as in 1998?

If PM Najib Abdul Razak had got the right policies, the ringgit would not come under attack, would it? The savvy players in the market know way ahead when fundamentals are sinking.

How can our economy be right when under Najib, the country’s gross debt has more than doubled to nearly RM830 billion?

RM2.6 Billion Turkey Haram: Don't talk about fundamentals. Talk about perception. The perception right now is the country is not transparent and could not even fix the 1MDB mega scandal, while other countries are busy pursuing the matter.

Why is the country so badly hit? We lost ground to even the Thai baht, Japanese yen, and Australian dollar, just to name a few. It’s time for sincere leaders to rise up to fix the problems.

Straight Talk Joe 51: Have you included all the off-balance sheet debts in your fundamentals calculation, as well as the projections of the short and long-term repayment? You know the answers to that.

Yes, next comes the perception. Perception is formed due to lack of transparency and poor governance. You can't challenge any of these two killing blows, can you?

Wira: Does this effectively mean we are temporarily pegging the ringgit to an onshore rate until the storm is over?

Thickskin: Just waiting to see how big the drop will be once the Bank Negara controls are removed.

Fair Play: At best, it would only stall the slide with the local investment community. At worst, it would cause an acceleration in capital flight by foreign investors because they do not know what fundamentals you are referring to.

And inexplicably with Donald Trump as the incoming president of the US, the stock market strengthened and the Federal Reserve would likely raise interest rates in the immediate future and further weaken the ringgit going forward.

Sleepy: Let me add to Fair Play, I think it will be ‘capital flight’ for two reasons: 1) Trump is inward-looking, and 2) This is a Muslim country.

Fair&Just: Straight and simple solution - MO1 steps down and resigns.

Anonymous #01428088: Or borrow from China.

Bank Negara won’t peg ringgit, says governor

Quigonbond: Dear governor, what fundamentals? The fundamentals to any functioning democracy is you get a chance to replace a corrupt leader, your institutions of governance are all working professionally and without fear or favour, and everyone is entitled to so far as possible the same vote weightage.

On these three principles alone, Malaysia has gone to hell. Instead, we are fundamentally a madhouse of racial and religious extremists, equipped with a less-than-credible court, and an alleged dictatorial kleptocracy prone to grand corruption and even grander abuse of power.

Unless you are born just hours ago, you'd be aware by now of the revelations that have been coming out regarding 1MDB - an attorney-general who is refusing a request for mutual legal assistance (MLA), a Singapore prosecution witness saying Jho Low is behind all communications, and that lack of confidence is now the chief reason of capital flight.

SSG: It is my understanding that the value of the local currency of a country reflects the policies of the government. So please stop telling people that it is all due to external factors.

What is needed is structural and fiscal reforms in our country, which we desperately need to be implemented urgently. So long as this is not addressed, our currency will continue to weaken.

Just stop dreaming that our fundamentals are strong and mislead the simple people of Malaysia. Our fundamentals have been deteriorating since 1981 (we all know who became PM that year).

Applying band aid on a wound which requires major surgery is definitely not going to solve the problem of the ringgit’s free fall.

Anonymous_3e93: Perhaps the governor is self-delusional. He attributes everything to "external environment".

The country has the worst public governance in the region, driving investors away. No one has confidence anymore, including Bank Negara's anti-money laundering enforcement. It has no teeth.

Roger 5201: That the Mexican peso dropped more than the ringgit is little consolation when massive funds are leaving our shores.

Why is this the case when our fundamentals are supposedly strong? Why are we not defending our currency?

Telestai!: What do you mean by not pegging the ringgit? It is already on a managed peg.

Fair Play: Never say never. Both pegging and non-pegging have their merits and demerits. And as the central bank governor, you know best.

But moving forward, I see the ringgit trading above the RM4 mark against the greenback. Either way, the Bottom 40 percent would suffer the most.

That is the reality the powers-that-be must come to grips with. But would ‘Big Brother’, the People’s Republic of China, play any role to calm the jittery market?

Annonymous: In the 60s and 70s, with zero oil revenue, our ringgit was a strong RM2.10 to US$1 and on par with the Singaporean dollar.

The country then was under the strong leadership of the first and non-corrupt PM, our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.