It is very hard to write about Mahathir (老马) in history book 10 years later. 成也老马、败也老马。幸亏老马识途，大马有救！
Mahathir’s life is like a company, started as an activist (start-up company or disruptive technology), then leading the party or even establish country vision 2020 with own set of rules (growing company), eventually ruling for more than 20 years (matured company), finally stepping down from the stage (changing from CEO to Chairman or Advisor of a company after retirement), cannot rest during retirement (bringing down at least 2 prime ministers and 2 deputy prime ministers, similar to internal company conflicts), finally starting another party and rule the country again (start new company as competitor to take over the market share).
Under PH, due to balanced power among the 4 or 5 parties (if Sabah included), we are back to 1957/1963 when Malaysia first independent with balance of power among Umno, MCA, MIC and even later with Singapore and Sabah/Sarawak joined. This is similar to a company with several major powers, there is no significant major shareholders, no one has more than 50% shares (like Umno in the past few decades), then it becomes a group decision making, until one day a party becomes larger again.
People should be the boss, although each one is like owning only 1 share in a company but when group together, it could choose the board of director to rule the company or the country. Malaysia now has a dual-political system which is good, similar to USA, every 5 years, the board or ruling parties/alliance has to show the report card to people (you as the boss), you could decide who to fire or hire. Therefore, education is required to train the people to be a smart boss, knowing the short term needs (saving GST, toll fee, income tax), understanding to compromise for long term needs (growth of company or stock).
Understanding a country (general election) is similar to choose a good company. However, when a company is not good, we could sell the stock and choose a better one. When a country is wrong, we should correct it, not just abandon it. Although there is no forever right, at least Malaysia is back to the right starting point again, which path to choose will determine the growth of Malaysia.
Singapore without much natural resources, after SG50, could grow to be a strong country, therefore a giant (not just by size). Singapore is similar to US in the past 50 years, able to attract foreign talents who are dissatisfied with home countries, to stay as second home or even new home, contributing to success of Singapore. If Malaysia has the right management (see the example of last 10 years of statement governments in Penang and Selangor), the growth rate should be stronger than Singapore. Singapore may not have the same outstanding leader as late Lee Kuan Yew anymore but with a system setup, at least it could be a slow grower country (3-5% GDP), similar to other matured economy such as US.
From investment perspective, there is no need to guess or predict which country will be better 10 years from now. We could just choose from the current market. China has been recovering from the 100 years of correction since Qing Dynasty, we could ride the way by considering China related stocks, especially related to rising of middle class. For Malaysia stocks, we don’t have to guess the impact of new government, just use the next few years to observe the different Malaysia giant stocks.
To learn about stock investment, which country to invest, what giant stocks to buy, when to buy …. simply register for a free stock investment course by Dr Tee.
