THE current decline in the value of the ringgit against the US dollar is not as temporary as claimed by Umno lawmaker Annuar Musa, DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng said today.  

The former finance minister slammed Annuar, who is the Communications and Multimedia Minister, for being ‘wrong and dishonest’ with his claims regarding the ringgit depreciation.  

“Annuar Musa is both wrong and dishonest. The current decline of the value of the ringgit against the US dollar is not temporary when the ringgit has weakened by almost 9% this year from RM4.17 at end 2021 to the current 24-year low of RM4.54,” the former finance minister said.  

“Will Annuar not listen to how much more Malaysians have to pay for the price of a declining ringgit over the past year in the form of higher costs of imports? These additional costs are definitely not temporary in nature and cannot be recouped,” Lim added.  

The ringgit has continued to weaken against the US dollar over the past weeks, even breaching the 4.53 level, which is by far the lowest since the Asian Financial Crisis.  

The Bagan lawmaker said that Annuar is wrong to imply that the decline in the value of the ringgit is principally against the US dollar. 

“Against the Singapore dollar, the ringgit has recently dipped to a historic low of RM3.26 whilst the Indonesian rupiah has appreciated by more than 4% this year against the ringgit,” the DAP lawmaker said.  

The former chief minister of Penang also pointed out Annuar’s failure to tackle inflation as the Chairman of the Special Cabinet Task Force on Jihad against Inflation, which he claimed resulted in Malaysians paying higher interest costs. 

He said inflation had risen since Annuar became the chairman of the special task force.  

“After Annuar became Chairman of Jihad against Inflation in June, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose from 3.4% in June to 4.4% in July whilst food inflation rose by 6.1% in June to 6.9% in July.  

“Such failures to stem inflation led Bank Negara to increase the Overnight Policy Rate by 25 basis points to 2.5% this month,” he said. 

Lim also chided Annuar for being in an “alternate universe” with such baseless claims on the national currency.  

“Annuar’s ignorance and ostrich-buried-head-in-the-sand approach about the decline in the value of our ringgit as temporary shows that he does not know what he is doing.  

“This level of incompetence is prevalent amongst the Cabinet and has only compounded the hardship of the rakyat and businesses demanding leadership to help them deal with soaring prices, stagnant wages, severe labour shortages and poor governance,” he said. 

Whilst criticising Annuar, Lim also took a swipe at Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who even claimed the general elections could be held during the flood season.  

He said that both Annuar and Zahid are living detached and disconnected lives, for putting their own selfish political interests ahead of the rakyat. 

“Clearly for Umno, holding and winning elections is more important than saving property and people’s lives affected by floods.  

“This is not only irresponsible, selfish and cruel, but a betrayal of the people’s trust to put their interests, safety and lives first ahead of political interests,” he said. 

Yesterday, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli also took a dig at Zahid for the very same reason, saying the BN chairman’s call for general elections even during floods shows the coalition is detached from reality. 

Besides Rafizi, other lawmakers including Muar MP and Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Klang MP Charles Santiago also criticised Zahid for insisting on elections during floods – September 19, 2022.