When data is misused to further political ends

Free Malaysia Today

Warisan’s Junz Wong and Umno’s Suhaimi Nasir are banking on erroneous trade figures to disparage Sabah government.   Read More:  https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2025/07/11/when-data-is-misused-to-further-political-ends   Laporan Lanjut:  https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/pandangan/2025/07/11/apabila-data-salah-jadi-senjata-politik   Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com  Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5  Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM  Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h  Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp  Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX  Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb  Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj  Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Download FMT News App:  Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46  App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ  Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP   #FMTNews #Sabah

Transcript

00:00A significant decline in economic performance from one year to the next is alarming for any state,

00:07and it also presents an opportunity for the opposition to criticize the government.

00:13That's exactly what's happening in Sabah.

00:17According to the Statistics Department in June, Sabah's total trade plunged over 70% in 2024,

00:24with exports down to RM32.07 billion from RM91.33 billion the year before,

00:31and imports are falling even more sharply.

00:35Opposition parties Warisan and UMNO saw this as an opportunity to slam the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government,

00:42led by Chief Minister Hajji Noor.

00:45Warisan Vice President Jun Zwang described the decline in imports as a worrying drop in investor confidence,

00:52while Sabah UMNO Information Chief Suhaimi Nasir claimed that the state was experiencing economic stagnation.

01:00But the numbers were not as they seemed.

01:02Updated numbers issued by the Statistics Department just weeks later showed a completely different picture.

01:09Officials eventually traced the spike in exports in 2023 to a single extraordinary transaction.

01:16Without it, exports in 2023 were actually RM31.08 billion, close to 2024's RM32.07 billion, a slight increase of 3.2%.

01:28In other words, without this extraordinary transaction, the export figure would have been more or less similar to other years.

01:36It is an anomaly.

01:38The state government has since stressed that the 2023 figures were an outlier,

01:43and the opposition's attempt to twist the conversation for political points will only hurt the state in the long run.

01:50The state government has since the 19,000-19.

02:03The state government has since blessed is a unlimited amount of the country,

02:06which is still a new size and a small majority of states not only attested by the state government.

02:09The state government has since single-month organization.

02:11The state government has since itsarray.

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Transcript

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