Taxi rides in Malaysia can be extremely entertaining. Over the past nine months, I’ve had some memorable traffic maestros- from a government pensioner who shouted nationalist slogans (“Malaysia Boleh!”) while making impossible, and illegal, u-turns into oncoming traffic to an eighty year-old antique who remembered driving a rickshaw for military officers back before there were taxis and now proudly boosts that his two adult sons are both private drivers, and citizens!, in the United States. But last night’s taxi ride home was probably one of the most surprising, enjoyable, and informative of my entire time in Malaysia!
Last night, Natalie, Bloquis, and I had a relaxing girls’ night out filled with eclectic discussion first over Korean barbecue in Ampang’s little Korea and later in various establishments along Changkat Bukit Bintang. When our evening wound to an end, we parted ways in separate taxi cabs. Normally, hailing a cab late in the evening in the Bukit Bintang area can be an exercise in frustration. I was pleasantly shocked when one sentence in my heavily accented Malay yielded a metered ride back to my apartment. I was even more shocked to find that my cheerful taxicab driver had, in a former life, been a banker at Bank Negara!
The usual pleasantries quickly revealed that my cab driver and I shared a fascination with international banking and Malaysian bank regulation in particular! At first, I was skeptical. I have met a number of civil service pensioners driving taxis – I can’t tell if it is because the pension benefits are less than to be desired or because a lifetime in civil service yields the connections necessary to get a taxi permit – but none who were as knowledgeable as my driver last night. My cabbie knew his stuff!
In an amazingly productive conversation twist, he revealed that Malaysia’s central bank, while exhaustive in its ability to regulate all financial firms of any stripe in Malaysia, is subordinate to Malaysia’s Finance Ministry. In a classic example of mirror imaging, I had assumed that Malaysia’s Central Bank, with its long history of thorough and professional regulation, was also politically independent. The notion of a strong central bank being an independent central bank was so firmly linked in my mind that I had just assumed BNM and the Finance Ministry were on an equal, and independent, footing.
In policy discussions, BNM’s wealth of expertise may very well provide it with de facto independence. Market skittishness over perceived political interference with a central bank also helps ensure that any policy disagreements are kept internal. But according to my taxi driver, statutorily the Finance Ministry can indeed overrule BNM – hence the reason the Finance Minister post is so tightly held. Malaysia’s current Finance Minister moonlights as Prime Minister in his free time. And during the 1997 Financial Crisis, Anwar Ibrahim’s position as Finance Minister was obviously considered a potent springboard for a potential palace coup by his one-time mentor turned opponent former Prime Minister Mahathir.
By the time the taxi pulled up to my apartment complex’s door, our conversation had progressed to a discussion of his time working in Ontario, Canada. The end of the ride came too soon – I was just on the verge of asking him for his impressions of Canada’s banking system, a Krugman favorite, when he alighted at my door.
Malaysia is full of surprises, often of mixed desirability. Last night’s taxi conversation was one of the best surprises of my time here!
