Malaysians feel the pinch as the ‘shringgit’ returns – and there’s no quick fix for PM Anwar

For the last 20 years, the 75-year-old has diligently arrived at the crack of dawn to set up his stall on the city’s outskirts selling gardening goods.

But business has never been this bad, he said. And it’s not just him – all the stallholders at the open-air market in the upscale Taman Tun Dr Ismail suburb are suffering.

“Just look around you … nobody has sold anything,” he told This Week in Asia.

A 26-year low on February 20 shook markets and rattled the Malaysian public, as their currency slid to 4.7965 against the dollar, according to Bloomberg data, its weakest level since 4.8850 in January 1998, during the white heat of the Asian financial crisis.

“Back in 1997, it was not this bad,” recalled Al-Amin. “The big companies suffered, but we were mostly OK. Now, we’re really feeling it.”

The crisis then made paupers of retail currency traders and forced corporations with high foreign exchange exposure, such as banks and import-reliant industries, to either fold or merge to avoid bankruptcy as currencies in the region wilted under hedge funds’ speculation, led by US billionaire investor George Soros.

This time, it is ordinary Malaysians being hit, as the cost of shopping surges with each ringgit depreciation, small businesses struggle to pay for imported goods, and the money in the pocket of retirees loses value.

But experts say it is unfair to pin all the blame on the prime minister, pointing instead to structural problems, including protectionist policies favouring the Malay-Muslim majority, inconsistent educational policies and weak government delivery.

“The economic policy plans of previous administrations have not delivered the innovation, productivity improvements or entrepreneurial growth that was hoped for,” said