Notes To The Prime Minister.

Is full of typos.

But the book itself is a vivid reminder of the Asian Financial Crisis which struck the region in '97. What made me like the book (aside from the fact that I got it for free) was how the author wrote, in detail, how the crisis affected the country, as well as Tun Dr. Mahathir's predicament at that time. The conditions and perils in which Malaysian citizens suffered, as well as the reasoning for the drastic measures in which Mahathir was forced to take, to subsequent castigation's by the international community, all documented in one full of typos good book.

Although I might have thought differently if I actually had to pay for the book. 

There were a number of pages which caught my attention but one page stood above all else - Page 336, where details on the criticisms made by the international community was laid down. Business Week labelled Malaysia as a renegade economy, and that the government made the worst possible choice. The International Herald Tribute proclaimed that Malaysia shut the door on the global economy. A London-based analyst claimed that Malaysia suffered an IQ-crisis. Pretty harsh.

When the government decided to peg the Ringgit to USD$3.80 it was blatantly obvious that the ringgit was being undervalued, depriving Black Market traders from the incentive to conduct currency exchanges. Since the country refused support from the International Monetary Fund, they were not burdened with ridiculous interest rates unlike Indonesia and Thailand, allowing them to have much more freedom in managing their budget without foreign intervention. In the end, it seemed that the measures which the government took neither helped the economy to recover, nor did it inadvertently made it worse. Recovery ensued nonetheless.

Where most of the western community backed the IMF's revival package for Asian countries, one particular oddball, Paul Krugman's Plan B to revive Asian markets was very similar to the actions Mahathir took. In his article, he noted that instead of cutting spending and increasing interest rates, the exact opposite should be enacted. He believed that the Asian economies were in dead water and all they needed was something to jump start them back into drive mode. So maybe he was spot on, in a way.

I believe that the book should be kept in close quarters for young Malaysians as a reminder of the past, to never forget the difficulties in which the country faced, and how it survived and recovered faster among its peers. Although I'm pretty sure most youngsters would prefer having Justin Bieber CD's with Japanese Mangas stacked up on their book racks.

To the least, it will have a place on my bookshelf.