相较于中国，马来西亚是个贫穷国家吗，就像总理Mahathir所说的那样？ [美国媒体]

Is Malaysia a poor country compared to China, as characterized by Prime Minister Mahathir?

相较于中国，马来西亚是个贫穷国家吗，就像总理Mahathir所说的那样？




Ina Abdul, lives in Malaysia
Answered 21h ago
I’ll answer it this way. I’m sorry in advance if I’m not the most diplomatic person when it comes to answering especially in politics- not my forte but hope this makes sense.
With all the past fiascos of the previous government that the current government has to clean up, Tun Mahathir does not want to incur more debt.
As of now, there is already too much on our plate.
His statement is telling more of the current state of Malaysia, and of her future, if she continues to take up on the projects, which is likened to be “colonized” by China.
She will be biting off, more than she could chew.

这么说吧。由于这届马来西亚政府要收拾上届政府的烂摊子，所以Mahathir不想再欠下更多的债务。
截至目前为止，我们欠下的债务已经够多了。
他的声明更多的是在陈述马来西亚的现状，以及他自己的未来（如果他继续执行这些项目的话），因为人们认为中国利用这些项目来“殖民”马来西亚。
那么他将吃不了兜着走。



That is how I would figuratively explain such statement by Tun Mahathir:
“We do not want a situation where there is a new version of colonialism happening because poor countries are unable to compete with rich countries,” Mr. Mahathir said on Monday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing after meeting with Premier Li Keqiang.
Coinciding with that:
“It’s all about borrowing too much money, which we cannot afford and cannot repay because we don’t need these projects in Malaysia,” Mr. Mahathir said.
That’s a very long article, only read half of it.
A brief background story: He is the PM for the second time, in which the first time, he was named as the “Father of Modernization” for Malaysia. He has done many things, as a politician, for sure, but he was the one that put Malaysia “on the map”, so to speak.

我会这么解释总理Tun Mahathir所发表的那个声明：
“我们不想让新型的殖民主义发生，因为贫穷国家无法和富国竞争，” Tun Mahathir周一在会见李克强总理后于北京人民大会堂上如是说。
这个声明很长，我只读了一半。
背景知识：他是第二次担任总理了，第一次的时候他被称为马来西亚的“现代化之父”。作为一个政治家，他做了很多事情，但也有做的不好的地方。

Tun Mahathir was also the one, if I recall correctly, that vehemently refused against IMF loans during the 1997 financial crisis. That was a very low point in Malaysian economy history- many people lost their jobs and students on overseas scholarships had to be retracted and had to come back immediately and study locally, despite already studying at ATUs and BTUs.
I remember how the headlines went. Many people thought he was crazy back then (some of them still do) but he knew what he was doing. He solved it by pegging the local currency to the US dollars, which was stable, and the Ringgit did went back up after some time, something which he claimed to do in spite of Anwar at that time was the acting Finance Minister. This was also one of their points of distrust and contention, leading to “reformasi”. I’ll leave it at that.



Suresh Jeyaverasingam
20h ago
Great answer. NYT cited a case where Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port was given over to China for a 99 year lease along with 15000 acres of land surrounding the port since Sri Lanka could not pay for the port.
reference: How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port
I am happy that Mahathir is using this opportunity to right the ship. our country needs it.

非常好的回答。纽约时报报道称由于斯里兰卡支付不起债务，只能将Hambantota港租给中国99年，还有另外15000亩的土地也租给了中国。
我很开心看到我们总理利用这次机会来调整我们国家的走向。我们国家需要这样的做法。