What's with the weak ringgit?

WHY is our currency still lagging behind others in value when our economy is faring much better? ANYONE TRAVELLING TO SINGAPORE LATELY will realise that the ringgit is weaker than the Sing dollar. Why should our currency be lower than the Sing dollar or the US dollar when their economies are in worse shape than ours? The answer, perhaps, lies in the manipulative instrument NDF (Non- Deliverable Forward Market).

In the late 1990s, some people set up the NDF to get around the capital controls put in place during the Asian financial crisis. It is an OTC (over-the-counter) market, and a market place for short-term, cash-settled currency forwards between two counterparties with pre-agreed contracted …