MCA Youth chairperson Nicole Wong is attempting to rain on Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng's parade, telling him not to be "syiok sendiri" (self-praise) about some ranking improvements, when others have fallen.

"Guan Eng is a happy man, boasting about Malaysia's rise in the Ease of Doing Business Index, from 15th in 2019 to 12th in 2020.

"However, (he) should get a reality check as Malaysia has also plummeted in various ratings," Wong (above) said in a statement today.

This was in response to a statement released by Lim, two days ago, saying Malaysia’s reaffirmation of its sovereign credit ratings was the best way to answer critics. 

He said critics claimed that the present government does not know how to manage the economy or has increased government debt excessively.

Lim (below) credited successful institutional reforms with helping Malaysia to improve its rankings and said it is also among the best-improved economies as published in the World Bank’s 2018 Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) earlier this month. 

Wong, however, takes a much dimmer view of Malaysia's economic prospects saying that Malaysians at the grassroots level are feeling the pinch as they are directly subjected to the market pressures.

"Malaysians are now in hot water, faced with inflation and the withdrawal of foreign investors, with no new investors come to take their place.

"This predicament strikes a stark contrast with Lim's self-praise," said Wong, calling it a bleak reality.

"Guan Eng and Pakatan Harapan are only fans of sweet talk and praises. Research which is positive and uplifting, they will spare no effort in spreading the news; while research which is harmful and dismal, they will claim as inaccurate.

"This would only cause distrust between the government and its people," she said.

Wong highlighted the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston (below) who claimed in August that Malaysia has been severely under-representing the true state of poverty in the country.

Slamming a "torrential flood of ministers" who came out to deny this accusation, she said their arguments withered against substantial evidence, leading to the government admitting the official record of 0.4 percent to be inaccurate, as it should be between 16-20 percent.

It should be pointed out that should Alston's claims be correct, the underreporting of poverty would date back many years to the BN administration, of which Wong's MCA was a fundamental part.

Wong also took aim at Lim for Malaysia dropping two places in the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2019 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 25th to 27th.

"It's not surprising that Lim once again did not bother to address this," she said.

Finally, she rubbished Lim's claim that Malaysia would stand to gain from trade wars, saying: "It appears that it was just part of Guan Eng's ego trip."

She highlighted a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit on Safe Cities Index showing Kuala Lumpur has dropped from 31st two years ago to 35th.

The safety index is calculated based on four indicators - digital, health, infrastructure and personal security.

"Also, the prevalence of corruption and organised crimes were also considered.

"The fact that Malaysia has dropped down in the ranks is evidence that Harapan's dedication to reform is mere propaganda, while in reality, they are too caught up with internal disputes," said Wong.