Malaysia grew at 5.2% as of Feb 2012. A quick check online of the list of countries by real GDP growth in the latest year by wiki shows
1) Except Brunei (2.8%), ALL of the ASEAN countries grew faster than Malaysia incl. Philippines (8.3%), Thailand (7.3%), Indonesia (6.4%), Singapore (5.3%), Vietnam (5.8%), Laos (8.3%), Burma (5.5%))
2) There are a total of 63 countries that grew faster than us (incl. Ethiopia (7.5%), Timur Leste (7.3%), Bangladesh (6.3%), Zimbabwe (6%). Even war torn countries (Iraq (9.6%), Afganistan (7.1%) did better than us.
We are, at best, an average performing country. Nothing commendable about being average.
The facts above, could be easily checked by an average Malaysian with an internet access like myself. Unfortunately, ‘brilliant’ strategists from UMNO, incl the BN leader/Prime Minister himself, either do not know how to check, did not bother to check or assume that the average Malaysian is too stupid to verify this fact.