FMT:
What bollocks, KJ tells Geoffrey Williams
Khairy Jamaluddin responds to FMT columnist’s assessment of his proficiency in economic matters.
In response to criticisms by Geoffrey Williams, Khairy asked the academic and FMT columnist to get his facts straight.
PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin came out with guns blazing today, accusing academic Geoffrey Williams of failing to get the facts right about his credentials.
He was responding to comments by Williams questioning his proficiency in economic matters.
Speaking in today’s episode of his Keluar Sekejap podcast, Khairy said he has no issue with people being critical of him, but the criticisms must be based on facts.
“You cannot speak without basing it on facts, especially if you are an academic at a private university locally,” he said.
PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin came out with guns blazing today, accusing academic Geoffrey Williams of failing to get the facts right about his credentials.
He was responding to comments by Williams questioning his proficiency in economic matters.
Speaking in today’s episode of his Keluar Sekejap podcast, Khairy said he has no issue with people being critical of him, but the criticisms must be based on facts.
“You cannot speak without basing it on facts, especially if you are an academic at a private university locally,” he said.
Williams had, in his column on FMT on June 25, wondered if Khairy was proficient enough to question the current government’s economic policies.
“Facts are facts. I want to get it out … up to Geoff if he wants to accept or not,” he said, referring to Williams’ claims that he had a limited understanding of economics.
In his column, Williams said Malaysia experienced “two recessions and an inflationary boom under the (two administrations) that Khairy was part of”.
Williams also stated that Khairy failed to solve the problems “crushing” Malaysia’s healthcare system during his time as a health minister.
In response, Khairy pointed out that there was a pandemic at that time and “the whole world was going through Covid-19”.
He said during the Asian Financial Crisis in 2008 and 2009, when Malaysia was also in recession, he was not in the government.
Khairy also said that historically, the interest rate in Malaysia had hovered around 3%.
“When I joined the government in 2013, it was slightly under 3%. Then it dropped to below 2% but the country was going through a pandemic at that time,” he added.
He said the last time the interest rate was at a high of 8% was when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was finance minister. That was during the Asian Financial Crisis.
“So, I don’t know what bollocks he’s talking about,” Khairy added.
On accusations that he failed to solve problems in the healthcare system, Khairy claimed he was the one who came up with the white paper on healthcare.
He said the government then was also “working hard” to handle the Covid-19 pandemic. “The efforts led to Malaysia being among the countries with the strongest recovery post-pandemic in the region,” he added.
Khairy said that when he was in government, approval was given for more than 3,000 new permanent posts in the healthcare system.
“This went a long way to resolving the longstanding issues of contract doctors, dentists and pharmacists,” he added.
On the day Williams’ column was published, Khairy was offered a one-on-one interview with FMT to give him a chance to rebut the claims made against him.
He had initially agreed but pulled out shortly before the scheduled interview.
“Facts are facts. I want to get it out … up to Geoff if he wants to accept or not,” he said, referring to Williams’ claims that he had a limited understanding of economics.
In his column, Williams said Malaysia experienced “two recessions and an inflationary boom under the (two administrations) that Khairy was part of”.
Williams also stated that Khairy failed to solve the problems “crushing” Malaysia’s healthcare system during his time as a health minister.
In response, Khairy pointed out that there was a pandemic at that time and “the whole world was going through Covid-19”.
He said during the Asian Financial Crisis in 2008 and 2009, when Malaysia was also in recession, he was not in the government.
Khairy also said that historically, the interest rate in Malaysia had hovered around 3%.
“When I joined the government in 2013, it was slightly under 3%. Then it dropped to below 2% but the country was going through a pandemic at that time,” he added.
He said the last time the interest rate was at a high of 8% was when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was finance minister. That was during the Asian Financial Crisis.
“So, I don’t know what bollocks he’s talking about,” Khairy added.
On accusations that he failed to solve problems in the healthcare system, Khairy claimed he was the one who came up with the white paper on healthcare.
He said the government then was also “working hard” to handle the Covid-19 pandemic. “The efforts led to Malaysia being among the countries with the strongest recovery post-pandemic in the region,” he added.
Khairy said that when he was in government, approval was given for more than 3,000 new permanent posts in the healthcare system.
“This went a long way to resolving the longstanding issues of contract doctors, dentists and pharmacists,” he added.
On the day Williams’ column was published, Khairy was offered a one-on-one interview with FMT to give him a chance to rebut the claims made against him.
He had initially agreed but pulled out shortly before the scheduled interview.
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