Anti-hopping bill passed, correlates with the economy

KUALA LUMPUR July 29 – The Anti-Hopping Bill which was passed yesterday is significant to the country's political landscape.

In the overall grand scheme of things, the bill which was unanimously passed by 209 lawmakers in Parliament also correlates albeit indirectly with the economy.

Political stability

The anti-hopping bill will provide political stability to the country.

For the past several decades, members of parliament hop to another party at their whim and fancy literally like frogs in a pond without the slightest care for their constituents who voted for them.

To make matters worse, in the past four years, Malaysia has seen four different prime ministers jostling for power in Putrajaya.

The bill will snuff this selfish behaviour among the politicians once and for all.

The economy will stabilise

It is an open secret that once the political situation stabilises, the economy will follow suit.

The gross domestic product may rebound and the feel-good sentiment will return.

Malaysia will be on investors radar again

Investors will not invest when there are uncertainties.

Nowhere does this adage ring true except in Malaysia when three prime ministers assumed the threshold of power in a spate of 5 years.

That was why social media was awash with videos criticising the nation's leaders while billionaire Elon Musk met Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Due to the uncertainty, many investors threatened to exit Malaysia such as in 2021 when the Japanese Chamber of Commerce claimed that many Japanese firms wanted to leave Malaysia.

With the passing of the bill, investors will return in droves to Malaysia.

FDIs might return

Investors are a peculiar lot. Some trade for the short term while some invest for the long term.

But investors have something in common - they abhor uncertainty.

This is because if they park their money in Malaysia at a time when the politicians are squabbling, they won't be comfortable as they are afraid that they will not get their money back.

Now that the bill is passed and the General Elections are beckoning, foreign direct investments might return.

The ringgit will strengthen

With the passing of the bill, the feel-good vibes permeate in the air.

This indirectly spills over to various sector of the economy including the ringgit.

The ringgit weakened to as much as RM4.60 to the US dollar at the height of the pandemic.

It may now rebound in line with the positive political development in the country.

Bursa Malaysia will be green all around

The country's stock market has been bleeding red for the longest time.

This presents an opportune time for investors to take up position and wait for sentiments to turn around.

That feel good factor is here with the passing of the bill and the market may stay buoyant until the upcoming 15th general election.

The rakyat will spend more

Previously, some segments of the rakyat may be reluctant to spend.

Now that things are better, they might spend more to stimulate the economy further.

However, the spending might be too much leading to inflation and already there are talks that Bank Negara Malaysia might hike the interest rate once again.

Sabotage in the works?

Already there are talks that a spanner will be thrown into the engine to prevent the bill from reaching Dewan Negara.

If this is true, this would be very unfortunate as the advantages of the bill clearly outweighs the disadvantages.

Politicians must stop hopping around and behave like elected leaders. – DagangNews.com