Strong Government Needed For Economic Recovery: Tun Dr. M

BEIJING - Malaysia must return to having a strong government to manage the global financial crisis and place the country back on the growth path, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.
Recalling the Asian crisis over a decade ago, the former prime minister said the country could implement radical and unorthodox measures because the government had a two-thirds majority in Parliament to support its policies.
The calm political situation then also allowed the government to think through how it could tackle the crisis which had affected Malaysians of all races, he said.
"It is important that we try to return to a situation where the government is strong, where the government can have a two-thirds majority," he said after delivering a lecture at the prestigious Peking University on lessons for Asia from the global meltdown on Tuesday.
"Hopefully, if the present government navigates well the economy as well as politics, at the next election, we can win a two-thirds majority and go back to the growth path we had for the past 50 years."
Dr Mahathir, who are here for a three-day private visit, was asked by a Malaysian student if the present economic crisis would lead to political crisis back home.
He said a government without a strong majority and beset with demonstrations would not be able to tackle a crisis when it was being attacked and uncertain of its position. "But I think if people are sensible enough, they will give sufficient support to the government," he said.
He was accompanied by Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, Malaysian ambassador to China Datuk Syed Norulzaman Kamarulzaman and business tycoon Tan Sri Mokhtar Al-Bukhary to the lecture attended by about 200 Masters students at the 111-year-old university's National School of Development.
Dr Mahathir is a guest of the Chinese People''s Institute of Foreign Affairs. He last visited China in 2005, two years after he stepped down as prime minister after 22 years. - BERNAMA

tunku : we too believe that if najib and his new team can navigates well the economy as well as politics, at the next election, BN can win a two-thirds majority like it has been doing all these while except in 2008.