Malaysia: The Economy is in bad shape. Thank you, UMNO

September 18, 2018

by Phar Kim Beng@www.malaysiakini.com

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak should be awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics for his management of the Malaysian Economy. He pioneered the 1MDB method of robbing the Malaysian Treasury.

COMMENT | The Malaysian economy is in bad shape. Very bad.

Revisiting the 2014 magnum opus of the Prime Minister’s new Economic Advisor Dr. Muhammed Abdul Khalid, The Colour of Inequality: Ethnicity, Class, Income and Wealth in Malaysia, we see that Malaysia’s income gap has not changed much from 1957 levels, when the country first gained independence.

Between 1990 and 2018, Malaysians on the whole gained little, except the very rich. Muhammed describes a small breakthrough in 2012, but there is no telling if this was due to fiscal spending to ward off the effects of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.

Muhammed’s reliance on the Statistics Department’s Household Income Survey, while illuminating, is not entirely convincing, especially when paired with numbers or assertions culled from Pemandu, the now-defunct government-funded performance delivery unit.

 

In other words, the actual picture of the Malaysian economy could be worse than what Muhammed actually describes.

Income from the manufacturing sector, for example, has been on the decline, which may be due to the over-reliance on cheap foreign labour – with an estimated 5.5 million migrant workers in the country – which further depresses the cycle of Malaysian wages.

Indeed, Muhammed correctly notes that “90 percent of each ethnic group does not have any liquid savings, and would not be able to survive more than few months in case they lose their source of income or employment”.

Ticking time bomb

This is not a very pleasant picture, even if it is colour blind. Why? The danger lies in the ticking time bomb that cuts across all races and groups. When the income chasm widens, people tend to blame one another for their problems, which in turn accentuates social, political, religious and racial tensions.

While democracy can ameliorate the tensions, it cannot overcome them completely. What democracy cannot structurally and systematically solve, groups of all religious and ideological fancies might rise to plug the policy gaps. When they do so, inter- and intra-ideological or religious pressures will only become more acute.

When political parties refuse to have elections, or postpone them indefinitely, they become blindsided by what the people want, which in turn hastens their own demise, as witnessed with Umno and BN.

Knowingly or unknowingly, as the book was completed well before the May 9 polls in which a kleptocracy was defeated, the above was one of the key takeaways of Muhammed’s simple but sophisticated book.

A bad economy will skew a political party’s fate, even if it well-larded with cash, corruption and connections. Reading the book now, after the 14th general election, it almost seems like a eulogy to UMNO-BN.

Barely a trickle

But The Colour of Inequality is also a sad indictment of how politicians and corporate leaders have steered the mighty Malaysian ship aground.

As Muhammed (photo, below) notes, most companies simply refuse to pay their workers well. When they don’t, and with less than nine percent of workers unionised, the bargaining power of the workers is overwhelmingly diminished, leaving them to the mercy of their corporate masters.

 

If the book is anything go by, the whole of Malaysia is sputtering to a halt – despite a GDP that “grew from RM5.1 billion in 1957 to RM1 trillion in 2012”. With the national debt now standing at RM1.09 trillion, Malaysia is caught in the vice-like middle-income trap.

The infamous trickle-down economics, for the lack of a better term, is not just non-existent here; wealth seems to be flowing upwards. Given when it was written, The Colour of Inequality references the Occupy Wall Street, where the 99 percent were trying, seemingly in vain, to challenge the grip of the exalted one percent.

In any case, widespread disempowerment is a phenomenon that should not be happening if the state and the market, as is the case in Malaysia, have vouched to work in tandem to help the poor – as reflected in the National Economic Policy and its derivatives.

But although Malaysia as a whole was becoming richer, the income differentials of Malaysians is growing wider. The lethal brew of myriad income determinants and gangly systems of income distribution have conspired to render the middle and working classes disempowered.

As Muhammed puts it: “(As of 2012), the top 20 percent held more than 52.1 percent of all wealth, while the bottom 40 percent held less than eight percent. The distribution of liquid assets was very extreme – the top 20 percent had 95 percent of all financial wealth, while the bottom 80 percent had only five percent.”This shouldn’t be happening

This process of emasculation should not be happening. Especially not after 61 years of independence.

In 1958, there were only 3,000 Malay taxpayers out of the overall of 33,000 taxpayers. A decade later, of the 1,488 students in Universiti Malaya – the only university in the country at the time – who graduated with a BSc, only 69 were Malays. Only four of the 408 who graduated with an engineering degree were Malays.

“During the same period,” Muhammed adds, “only 12 Malays graduated from the medical faculty, representing less than 10 percent of the total medical faculty graduates.”

But while the number of Malay graduates, technocrats and universities between 1970-2018 have risen dramatically, the chasm between rich and poor continues to stay the same, if not widened.

Statistics from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) show that 92 percent of the people are earning less than RM 6,000 a month; four out of 10 Malaysians have no pensions at all; close to 40 percent earn less than RM3,000 per month; 25 percent of Malaysians have no properties to their names; and the money that pilgrims save for the hajj is spent entirely on the hajj, leaving their children with nothing to draw on.

Muhammed adds that it is “estimated that there were only 150,000 inter (-racial) marriages in Malaysia, a small figure in a population of 28 million”. Wealth, or, the lack of it, tends to have the same clustering effects in one group and one race.

An epilogue

One thing that Muhammed does not address at length is the extent to which the state can compel GLCs and GLICs to remunerate their workers well, or at least put a cap on the salary differentials between those at the top and the workers at the bottom.

Additionally, in the aftermath of the financial crisis and Occupy Wall Street, the honeycomb, gig, platform and sharing economy has emerged. If more people put their minds together, more bottom-up solutions – as manifested by Uber, Grab, Air BnB and other forms of electronic commerce – can and will emerge.

But are Malaysians ready for this, beyond the template of the digital free trade zone offered by Alibaba? Or will the proverbial cheese of Malaysians once again be consumed wholesale by a flood of new migrants from China, India and the rest of the world?

Come what may, Malaysians have to work together and understand the structural and systemic reforms that are needed beyond the mere creation of a few digital unicorns.

They need to empower themselves through education, especially online education, even if this involves disciplining themselves to start taking self-enrichment courses – including learning management systems such as edX or Class Central.

If anyone is in need of more inspiration, Muhammed’s book is the best place to start.

The Colour of Inequality, if not redressed, will lead to the panic of inequality, in which only the paranoid will survive. Especially because it is only another 20 years or so before Malaysia starts greying, a process that took European societies a century to experience.

---

PHAR KIM BENG was a multiple award-winning Head Teaching Fellow on China and Cultural Revolution in Harvard University.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

Lies, damned lies and fairy tales

September 13, 2018

Opinion

 by R Nadeswaran@www.malaysiakini.com

 

You Belong in Jail–The sooner we lock you up, the better it will be for Malaysia. Enough of your fairy tales.

COMMENT

Unlike the past, I am not going to address you as “Yang Berhormat” (YB). I am not being impolite. Translated, it means the “Right Honourable”. Your conduct over the funds of the 1Malaysia Development Fund (1MDB) has been nothing honourable.

I pride myself as a journalist. It will not need a forensic auditor and time-consuming investigations to poke holes in your assertions and contentions over the past two days.

I have been keeping tabs on the issues related to the 1MDB’s missing billions over the years. You have vindicated my belief that a massive attempt had been made to cover the shenanigans in the company, especially with its finances. Through your statements, you attempt to imply that you’re an angel who has been falsely ostracised and vilified by political opponents.

On Monday, you issued a statement, with documents, to show that you received US$100 million (RM420 million) from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud. I will accept this on face value, but I am wondering what took you so long to release the letter? It was dated February 1, 2011.

You could have released the letter to counter the Asian Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which broke the story in July 2015. You could have avoided the entire furore and the rakyat would have believed and trusted you. Who knows, you could still be the Prime Minister today. And if that had happened, this commentary would have never seen publication!

 

Even when the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions branded your dealings as “kleptocracy at its worst”, you maintained elegant silence. Understandably so – with one letter, you could supposedly account for only a fraction of the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) which found its way into your personal account in AmBank.

Like DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang and the majority of right-minded Malaysians, I believe you had been feeding the public with a series of misinformation – aided and abetted by your then cabinet colleagues, your aides and cronies. No one believed you then and no one believes you now on anything you say on 1MDB.

Even WSJ journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope (who broke the story and extensively covered the scandal) don’t believe you. Neither do Clare Rewcastle Brown and Sarawak Report and any journalist worth his salt.

Wright and Hope say you were not offering anything new with this disclosure and maintain that the bulk of the RM2.6 billion banked into your account came from 1MDB.

These days, when a currency with all the security features and watermarks can be counterfeited, one does not need sophisticated equipment to produce letterheads in colour on expensive Conqueror paper bearing the emblem of any royal household. I remain to be corrected.

Hence, it is not surprising that Wright noted: “The documents you (Najib) have included are partly misleading (i.e. the wire transfers, which shield the true origin of the funds) and based partly on alleged fraud (the letter purporting to be from the Saudi prince, which was created to mislead regulators and banks.)”

But if you thought that your statement on Monday would have been swallowed by gullible Malaysians, you were wrong. We read only one chapter from Grim’s Fairy Tales. You did yourself no credit with the second chapter with yet another piece of fiction yesterday.

 

The second chapter was an attack on Kit Siang  saying you had issued some proof of the money donated from Saudi Arabia to your personal account. Really?

“Returning stolen money is not the real issue. You should be answering questions on the billions in your bank, your wife’s extravagances, your stepson’s movies, his millions on gaming tables and the apartments in New York and London”.– R. Nadeswaran

 

The Malay Mail quoted you as saying: “Prior to GE 14, Kit Siang along with DAP often asked ‘where is the RM2.6 billion?’ I want to ask Kit Siang before I reveal more documents and explanations, would the YB admit that I have returned some or all the RM2.6 billion, but the facts are deliberately omitted by Pakatan (Harapan)?”

The questions you should answer

Returning stolen money is not the real issue. You should be answering questions on the billions in your bank, your wife’s extravagances, your, stepson’s movies, his millions on gaming tables and the apartments in New York and London.

If the Arab prince (pic below) had only wired US$100 million (RM420 million), where did the balance in your personal account come from? Then again, why return more than US$500 million (RM2.1 billion)?

I find your distraction humorous, entertaining and amusing. We are coming close to the modern day alter-ego of Robin Hood who did just the opposite – robbing the poor to pay the rich.

Common sense dictates this question: Why was the money from the Arab royalty sent to your account via a circuitous and convoluted way before it ended up in Singapore’s Tanore Finance, which then transferred the money into your account?

Couldn’t the money be wired via a bank in Saudi Arabia? Similarly, why send the money back to Tanore instead of the prince’s account?

The Penang-born Arab who is known for his lavish ways at Malaysia’s taxpayers expense.

We now know who were the owner/beneficiary of this company. They were inexplicably linked to one man – Low Taek Jho or Jho Low (photo). You don’t remember him or you want to say you have not met him? Just to refresh your memory: You and your family holidayed on his yacht and pictures of this outing have gone viral.

You, your Comical Alis and cronies tried to discredit the US Department of Justice (DOJ) report and used it to parrot it as “an attempt by foreigners to overthrow a democratically elected government”.

The DOJ report could not have been more succinct and unequivocal. Paragraphs 339 to 348 outline the flow of funds to an account belonging to “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1). Former BN propaganda chief, Abdul Rahman Dahlan confirmed (to the BBC) that you and MO1 were indeed the same person.

Thank You, Tony Pua, for 1MDB Expose

Para 340 says: “On or about March 21, 2013, Tanore transferred US$620,000,000 into an account at AmBank in Malaysia, whose beneficiary was listed as “AMPRIVATE BANKING-MR.” The wire transfer was processed through correspondent bank accounts at JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo in the United States. On or about March 25, 2013, an additional $61,000,000 was wired from the Tanore Account to the same account at AmBank, for a total of $681,000,000.”

What have you got to say about this? Where does this fit into your scheme of things? The courts will decide on your innocence or guilt. In the meantime, if there is going to be a third chapter, don’t take Malaysians to be fools with your implausible, unbelievable and far-fetched stories. If you have to say something, let it be the truth and nothing but the truth.

---

R NADESWARAN says that Najib should put everything on the table and come clean which could be points for mitigation in the current situation. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

Mahathir the Disappointed Leader–Father

September 12, 2018

Opinion

by Nathaniel Tan

http://www.malaysiakini.com

 

COMMENT | Over the (very many) years, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed has kept a fairly consistent tone regarding what I suppose he might term the Malay Dilemma – a tone that we saw again during the recently held Future of Bumiputeras and the Nation Congress (KBN 2018), at the Bersatu anniversary,  and a recent interview.

I suppose I might term this tone that of the Disappointed Leader–Father.

I have this image in my head of Mahathir, himself a successful bumiputera, looking down and shaking his head while sighing, maybe face in hand, constantly disappointed at what he sees to be an endemic failure of his fellow bumiputeras to live up to his hopes and expectations.

We get the sense that Mahathir has a very clear idea of the kind of attitude and character you need to succeed as an individual and as a community, and that a big part of his persona seems to be having to deal with his view that the bumiputera do not live up to these standards.

Mahathir’s favourite counterpoint appears to be the Japanese, a fact reiterated by his recent visit to Japan and specifically named once again in the interview, where once he again he has held them up as the paragons of self-sacrificing patriots whose self-worth is tied to how diligently they can contribute to the betterment of their nation.

He then likes to ask: “Why can’t the Malays be more like the Japanese?”, in the same tone perhaps a dad would ask his kid, “Why can’t you be more like your older brother?”

Unhelpful comparisons

Mahathir’s other big go to, of course, is to compare Malays with other ethnic groups, notably the Chinese. A common theme of his seems to be something along the lines of the Chinese are successful because they are hardworking, and the Malays are not, because they are lazy.

“Mahathir’s sincerity is not doubted, and he has a great many strengths. Effective motivation, however, may not be one of them. His recent comments show that while he has changed in many positive ways, he still seems to rely on a certain amount of BN era fearmongering, his trademark sarcasm, and a degree of condescension.”

Most recently, at KBN 2018, Mahathir has taken this a step further:

Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad today questioned whether the bumiputera will be able to compete with a new wave of skilled and business-savvy entrepreneurs from China making their way to Malaysia.

Speaking during a dialogue session on bumiputera economy, Mahathir said the new wave of immigrants will be unlike early Chinese settlers in Malaysia – who were then mostly involved in small businesses, and whose children have now gained control of major developments in the cities.

“These are the Chinese already in Malaysia whose attitudes we can accept. But if we bring in three million more people from China, what will happen to us?” he asked.

“They are hardworking and skilled in business. The ones who are coming, they are not labourers, but those who are already successful. Will we be able to compete with them?” he said in response to a question on China nationals buying property in Malaysia.”

In the West nowadays, this kind of framing would likely be denounced as having considerable elements of racism. Sadly, the truth is that this rhetoric retains the culture of fearmongering perpetrated by UMNO over so many decades – a variation on the theme that the bumiputera are under constant threat by other ethnic groups.

Mahathir’s approach is marginally better in that his conclusion is not “Therefore you need UMNO to protect you” but “Therefore you need to work much harder.” Of course, this is not to say that Mahathir’s tone has not changed at all. He now says that it is foolhardy to blame other races for the shortcomings of the Malays. On the whole, though, we should ask: is this a truly helpful approach?

Has Mahathir’s approach worked?

Mahathir’s sincerity is not doubted, and he has a great many strengths. Effective motivation, however, may not be one of them. His recent comments show that while he has changed in many positive ways, he still seems to rely on a certain amount of BN era fearmongering, his trademark sarcasm, and a degree of condescension.

If you have ever been on either end of questions like “Why can’t you be more like your brother?” being repeated over and over, I think you know the ultimately negative end result – a lot of resentment, and almost never any actual change towards becoming like the said brother.

After all the years of Mahathir’s Look East Policy, do we actually see any significant movement of Malays or Malaysians adopting Japanese values? (Anime does not count.)

I am also most curious as to where this idea of letting in three million new Chinese nationals came from. Is this a thing? Or was it plucked from thin air, to be used as the convenient bogeyman?

It’s true that global competitiveness should always be a cause for concern, but bringing up the sceptre of some sort of invasion by foreigners who bear a striking resemblance to Chinese Malaysians in a Malay-only conference could easily be seen as striking the wrong note.

The dichotomy of the ‘successful’ Chinese nationals of today compared to the ‘inferior’ Chinese labourers from whom today’s Chinese Malaysians descended could also rub people the wrong way.

Inspire hope, don’t fearmonger

Some say that the biggest two motivators are hope and fear. One might have hoped that a coalition named Pakatan Harapan might be intrinsically inclined towards one instead of the other.

At the end of the day, Malaysians are Malaysians, and the Japanese are Japanese. Each has their strengths and weaknesses, and each can learn something from one another.

If, however, you keep expecting one to become the other – something they simply are not – only disaster awaits. Your children may be siblings, but they are each unique individuals.

Instead of constantly berating or belittling Malays with fearmongering, unflattering comparisons or sarcastic jibes at every turn, think about how you can motivate them positively.

It is good that we start addressing practices like Ali Baba schemes out in the open, but why not focus more on success stories? Highlight successful bumiputera entrepreneurs and how and why they succeeded. Use them as inspiration.

Sometimes all that is needed is the reminder that having only ‘becoming rich’ as the goal is a recipe for failure.

We need only look at the lives of successful Malaysians – from any ethnic group at all – to see that the right goal is to develop the attitude, character and habits that breed success, and that once that goal is achieved, riches come fairly easily.

Abandoning the racial lens

As a Malaysiakini commentator correctly said, it is in the interests of all Malaysians for Malays to be successful. That said, perhaps a big part of the problem is looking at it as a Malay or bumiputera problem.

 

Perhaps what we need to solve racial inequality, somewhat counterintuitively, is to stop seeing everything through a racial lens, and stop obsessing about comparing one ethnic group with another.

If, for example, you have never met a lazy Chinese, you simply haven’t met enough Chinese.

It’s not accurate to go so far as to say that culture plays zero role in the welfare of a community. Sometimes, historical factors such as living in harsh climates where saving for the winter is essential to survival, breeds a slightly different work ethic than living in temperate climates, where food is easily available all year round.

That said, any type of biological determinism is inherently unhelpful, and not relevant to the question of how we can best move forward.

Play to each individual’s and community’s strengths

People react much better to being inspired and encouraged than they do to being belittled or scared–especially when it comes to becoming self-motivated achievers. Every sibling has unique strengths and talents to contribute.

The role of the parent is to play to those strengths, encourage those talents, and help each child maximise their potential – on a road that they themselves determine.

Ultimately, helping each Malaysian achieve their unique potential is the single best way to help the Malaysian family as a whole.

The way to do this is to reverse this habit of public dressing downs and bemoaning, and adopt instead an approach that does not ignore reality, but acts on that reality in a manner that is less negative, and more one of positive encouragement.

---

NATHANIEL TAN is eager to serve.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

Time for Malaysian Bar Council to act against Shafee Abdullah

September 11, 2018

by Malaysiakini

Arrogance is this outstanding lawyer’s Waterloo. I watched Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah in action during the Dato Ramli Corruption Trials. He was brilliant, earning the presiding judge’s respect and consideration.A man of his talent and legal reputation does not need the money. His gamble is likely to bring an end to his brilliant career as a prosecutor and defence attorney. –Din Merican

The Bar Council has been urged to take action against lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah for allegedly receiving RM9.5 million from former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

“We urge the Bar Council to uphold the Rule of Law and to invoke the provisions stipulated in the Legal Profession Act 1976 and to take necessary action against Shafee inter alia, by lodging a complaint with the disciplinary board,” Perak DAP legal bureau chief Leong Cheok Keng said in a statement today.

Shafee purportedly received the payment for his services as special prosecutor in PKR President-elect Anwar Ibrahim’s appeals against his Sodomy II conviction in the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.

According to Leong, the Perak DAP legal bureau believes that Anwar may have been denied a fair trial as Shafee had not acted independently in the appeal, but for “financial or pecuniary interest.”

“An advocate and solicitor is duty bound, even when, or more so when, acting as a senior deputy public prosecutor to uphold the law, the dignity and the high standing of the profession at all times, and shall not practise any deception on the court and shall not accept a brief if his professional conduct is likely to be impugned,” he said. This is all laid out by the Legal Profession (Practice and Etiquette) Rules 1978, he added.

As such, he said he believes Shafee may have committed misconduct in his professional capacity, which amounts to grave impropriety and is subject to disciplinary actions by the Advocates & Solicitors Disciplinary Board.

 

On Sept 6, it was reported that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AG-C) submitted “new information” to the Court of Appeal that showed Najib paid RM9.5 million to Shafee between 2013 and 2014.

The evidence was submitted by a special task officer to the attorney-general in an affidavit, which included transaction details of Najib’s and Shafee’s bank accounts. It also included a copy of two cheques from Najib dated September 11, 2013, and February 14, 2014, to Shafee for RM4.3 million and RM5.2 million respectively.

However, Shafee has since responded to this, admitting yesterday that he received the RM9.5 million from Najib, but that it was merely part of fees owed to him for legal services rendered to Umno and BN since the 1990s.

Shafee also alleged that it was Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had pushed for him to be appointed special prosecutor in Anwar’s trial.

In 2010, Anwar was charged and tried with sodomy for the second time, this time involving his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur cleared Anwar of the charge, but the prosecution appealed, this time with Shafee being put in charge as special prosecutor.

The Court of Appeal then overturned Anwar’s acquittal in 2014, which was reaffirmed by the Federal Court in February 2015.

Anwar received a royal pardon for the conviction in May. He had argued at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that he was denied a fair trial because his prosecutor had received payment from Najib. The appellate court is set to hear his appeal on September 14.

Azmin Ali’s New Malay or A Remake of the 1965 Malay

September 8, 2018

Azmin Ali’s New Malay or A Remake of the 1965 Malay: It’s All Politics

by Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi@ http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com

The Confused Dysfunctional Malay

“In closing, I would like to urge all thinking Malays to come together in forums and hold discourses about the New Malay beyond the congress’ simplistic resolutions. Let us debate and concretise the real values that will make this race a special contribution to civilisation.”—Tajuddin Rasdi

If someone were to ask me what I thought about the recent Congress on the Future of the Bumiputeras and Nation 2018, I would have shot back a question: who was it meant for?

If it was meant for Pakatan Harapan (PH) to assure the Malays and fend off UMNO and PAS who are rallying the Malays under their “Malays are being threatened” mantra, I think UMNOno and PAS will be losing more members pretty soon, particularly those who are contractors and “kaki bodek” (sycophants).

The New “Money Men”: Block Anwar Ibrahim-Rafizi Ramli Partnership

The message of the congress was loud and clear: PH will still support affirmative action in the economy to “help” the Malays achieve what was started in the New Economic Policy (NEP). This time, however, there will be no hanky-panky “Ali Baba Bujang Lapuk” stories about the implementation.

If the congress was a clarion call to position Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali as the new “money men” who would ward off an Anwar Ibrahim-Rafizi Ramli gamble for power, it was a powerful statement of whose hands to kiss.

But if the congress was to paint a picture of a “New Malay”, as Azmin said, the whole thing was pathetic at best and embarrassing at worst. Why do I not share the euphoria of heralding the “Melayu Baru”? Simple. The “Melayu Baru” is soon to be “Melayu Lama”. Same old, same old.

My first salvo against the congress is the question on every non-Malay’s mind and that of the few thinking Malays. Didn’t the NEP of the previous government under our present leader Mahathir have any checks and double checks against the Ali Baba scenario? Were there not enough checks to ascertain whether the computer labs or stadiums could stand structurally? Is Mahathir admitting to his own carelessness or indifference?

Is the congress now trying to convince taxpayers that Malays are, again, to be given the trust to carry out projects with new measures of checks and double checks?

I may not be an administrator or a contractor but I know enough to say that there are, even now, procedures upon procedures for purchasing materials and awarding contracts. What happened then was that greedy, opportunistic Malays – including civil servants, elected officials and even professionals – took cuts and everybody became happy, even though the roofs of stadiums and laboratories collapsed.

As a taxpayer, I am not buying the assurances of Azmin or Mahathir regarding affirmative action for the “Melayu Baru”. To me, the only difference between the Melayu now in government and the Melayu then in power is the colour of their party symbols. My crystal ball says that the Melayu PH will be no different from the Melayu BN. Dua kali lima saja (the same).

My second salvo is my extreme disappointment that the congress did not outline the new values of the “Melayu Baru”. The speeches of Mahathir and Azmin and the question and answer session with Mahathir were one big fat near-zero on the values that would make the Malays a more civilised, enlightened and caring citizenry – a citizenry that others can look up to as well as have deep respect for.

Only in Anwar’s speech was there some inkling of this, but I will deal with that in my last point. I was hoping the congress might talk about the “Melayu Baru” having values of “keterbukaan” or openness. The Malays should be more open to new ideas of work culture, new interpretations of religious texts other than those of ignorant ustazs and officials, and new values of other cultures that can be adopted.

The opposite of this value is “kejumudan” which means the closing of the mind to new ideas and thoughts.

I would also have liked it if the congress had touched on the values of “kesederhanaan” or humility in which the Malays must get away from their superiority mindset. The opposite of this value is “ketakburan” or “kebongkakan” which signifies arrogance where one feels superior in every way to others. If a race feels like that, it will never learn anything from others.

Mahathir himself urged the Malays to learn from the Japanese work culture and the industrious nature of the Chinese. One weak point about Mahathir is that he is quick to isolate the traits he wants of a culture but does not recognise the underlying values stemming from that religion and that culture’s belief system.

Malays, for instance, always look to their version of Islam as their guide and shun other thoughts and principles such as those in the Tao Te Ching or the Bhagavad Gita or Shintoism. But this is where the values of those cultures come from.

A good trait in a culture or community cannot be seen in isolation from its value system. This is also one reason why the NEP failed to distribute in a more meaningful manner the wealth cultivated by the few BN warlords.

I would also like to see the value of “keihsanan” or compassion towards all life becoming part of the everyday life of the “Melayu Baru”.

Do Azmin and company view projects and efficient management as the only key to the success of the economy of the New Malays? Any economic guru would point out that “keterbukaan”, “kesederhanaan” and “keihsanan” play a major role in how the economy is managed.

Mahathir himself alluded to the problem of education when he said our children were being taught to memorise information but possessed no real values to turn the information into meaningful products because religion was taught in a manner that had little value. The value of “keberusahawanan” as opposed to “ke-Ali-Babaan” has been touched on many times by Mahathir, who is genuinely disappointed with the Malays who cannot follow his own personal work-hard ethos.

How will the Malays react to being part of a multiracial nation after the congress? Only Anwar alluded to it but he was given the least attention and time. Anwar is the author of the book “The Asian Renaissance”. I read it cover to cover 20 years ago when PKR was formed. I previously asked leaders of the party why they did not use the book as their “bible”. The answer is obvious after 20 years. The Malays are not ready for the new idea of a global civilisational construct based on the spiritual values of Eastern faiths.

Make No Mistake: For Politics they are Malay First to remain in Power

Ninety nine percent of Malays want to be like Muhyiddin Yassin who once declared “I am Malay first, Malaysian second”. I think Anwar has the solution to the New Malays and it is in the book “The Asian Renaissance”. The first person who should read the book is Rafizi, followed by his lieutenants.

We Malays now have the wealth, intelligence and raw materials but we lack a wholesome value system which will make us a formidable global player. Alas, the Malays in PH, UMNO and PAS want to be “jaguh kampung” (village champions) and stay safe and snug under their own “tempurungs” (shells).

In closing, I would like to urge all thinking Malays to come together in forums and hold discourses about the New Malay beyond the congress’ simplistic resolutions. Let us debate and concretise the real values that will make this race a special contribution to civilisation.

Tajuddin Rasdi is a professor of Islamic architecture at UCSI University.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

Longing for a kinder, compassionate, more humane and freer Malaysia.

September 7, 2018

Tough Love: Longing for a kinder, compassionate, more humane and freer Malaysia.

by Zainah Anwar

http://www.thestar.com.my

THIS time last year, I wrote about my longing for a better Malaysia, and how my utter belief that this was possible would always triumph over my many moments of despair. There was just too much good in this country for us to ever give up hope.

And this year, as we celebrate our 61st year of Merdeka, I am simply thrilled. Thrilled that what most people thought was impossible, became possible. Malaysia bucked the global trend and voted into power a reformist government, throwing out a kleptocratic government and a ruling party that had held uninterrupted power since independence in 1957.

The election of a reform-minded government that believes in an inclusive Malaysia and eschews the use of race and religion for political gain does not of course mean we are home free. It is important that we who voted for change remain vigilant that the Pakatan Harapan government delivers on its promises of transformation. And to do this transparently and in consultation with stakeholders.

Malaysia’s autocrat turned reformer: at 93 can he deliver?

Politicians and voters now realise the power of the ballot box. It cannot be business as usual, replacing one set of economic and political elites with another set whose priorities will be to divide the spoils of victory.

As we welcome the first Merdeka and Malaysia Day under this new Malaysia, I have many wishes for the kind of country I want to live in.

First, I wish to see our ministers summon the political will and courage, and build their knowledge and strategies on how to deliver their reform agenda. And not least, how to stand their ground and defend what is just and what is right, in the face of opposition. We in civil society are tired of seeing too many ministers over the decades retreating in the face of criticism from ideologues, instead of defending a principled position.

Many NGOs, activists, academics, professionals who have long been working on issues such as human rights, women’s rights, education reform, poverty eradication, and economic justice, stand ready to support this government with the kinds of data, analysis, policy instruments, arguments and strategies needed to deliver on the reform agenda and build public support for this urgent necessity for change.

We want to see this government succeed in making this country a just home for all. We pray this government does not squander that goodwill.

Second, I wish to live in a kinder, compassionate, more humane Malaysia. It pains me to see the frenzy of hate, attacks, violence, demonisation of the LGBTIQ community in the country. Why this obsession with another citizen’s sexual orientation and gender identity? The debate is not about same-sex marriage or even about the halal or haram of their sexuality. It is about the right of LGBTIQ people to freedom of movement, their right to work, to health and to live a life free from violence. Why should that be contentious? They are citizens of this country and entitled to the same fundamental rights that other citizens enjoy.

It is obvious that the issue has been whipped up as a political tactic to generate hate and fear, spearheaded by those opposed to the reform agenda of the new government. So they stir up controversies in order to rebuild lost ground. And politicians fearful of losing popular support cave in, so quickly, so easily, so thoughtlessly.

How could a small, oppressed, and discriminated community who actually live in fear on a daily basis, and who long to live in peace and dignity ever pose a threat to Malaysian society? How could an all-knowing compassionate God ever condone cruelty against his own creations just because they are different? So let’s be confident in our faith and believe that if God really wanted all of us to be the same, he would have done so.

Third, I wish to see an end to corruption that has been long fuelled by the intricate web of business and politics in this country. Professor Terrence Gomez’s just released research findings on Government in Business reveal a mind-boggling labyrinth of thousands of GLCs at federal and state levels, most of them unlisted and thus, unscrutinised. There are of course GLCs that are professionally run. But many also serve as tools of patronage and as vehicles to provide politicians with monthly directors’ fees to support their political ambition – at best.

At worst, official investigations and media revelations of outright corruption, criminal breach of trust, and asset stripping display a spectacle of unbelievable greed and betrayal of trust.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed himself has called such GLCs “monsters” that have deviated from their original noble intention of helping the poor.

The Head of the Council of Eminent Persons, Tun Daim Zainuddin, has promised that this time the government wants to get it right in delivering its bumiputra empowerment policy.

We all wait with bated breath, for this country cannot endure, economically, politically and socially, yet more decades of affirmative action on the basis of race rather than need, and all the consequent distortions and abuses that had benefited the economic and political elites.

Fourth, I wish to live in a country where the political leaders and the citizens embrace our diversity as a source of strength, and not a threat. And to walk the talk. It is imperative that the new government sets the tone that it will not tolerate further manufacturing of a siege and crisis mentality among the Malays and supremacist speeches in the name of race and religion to incite hatred and fear of “others”.

This country was on the verge of implosion, and it was the wisdom of the rakyat that saved us, when with courage we voted into power a reformist party.

I was in Bangkok last week to give a talk on identity politics in South-East Asia together with speakers from Indonesia and Myanmar. They were depressed about the political developments in their countries, and my optimism on Malaysia was tempered by the reality that they too had earlier voted in reformist leaders who have now succumbed to the politics of race and religion in order to remain in power.

But I would like to believe that Malaysia is different as we have strong antecedent resources that will put us in good stead in moving forward on a reform agenda. Most importantly is the entrenched belief that this country cannot survive nor prosper without the three major races accepting each other and learning to give and take in sharing equitably the wealth of the nation. It can never be a winner take all game in Malaysia.

Second, we have a significant minority population. This means there is a limit to how far the majority group can use race and religion to serve the interest of the ruling elite, before paying a high political cost for its relentless transgressions, or complicity in its inaction and silence.

Third, while things are far from perfect, our long record of economic growth, poverty reduction, and strong state apparatus put us in good stead that a more open and robust democracy will not be destabilising, and can lead to a more inclusive Malaysia.

Moreover, a large educated Malaysian middle-class and a strong business community eschew any hint of violence or chaos or extremism, and there is a growing critical mass of voters, not least from among the young, who expect their freedoms and rights to be upheld.

And more than anything, the rakyat feel very precious about what we have achieved. As much as we are willing to give Pakatan Harapan the support it needs and the time, too, to deliver on its reform agenda, we have learnt from the mistakes made in the past. We are no longer willing to acquiesce in silence in the wrongdoings and abuses in powerful places, in return for stability and prosperity.

This is the new Malaysia where it will be tough love for all.