Category Archives: Public Management

How the Market Is Betraying Advanced Economies

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April 16,2016

How the Market Is Betraying Advanced Economies

Diane Coyle
coyle6_Michel StoupakNurPhoto via Getty Images_yellow vests

As lifestyles in the world’s developing economies improve drastically, many in the advanced economies are seeing their well being deteriorate – a trend that automation will only exacerbate. Without fundamental change in the framework of public policymaking, it is difficult to imagine a prosperous future in these societies.

 

CAMBRIDGE – Despite ever-improving conditions for millions of people around the world – documented by entities like the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data and highlighted by scholars like Steven Pinker – popular discontent is on the rise in many places. The reason is simple: whereas the first trend is being driven by low- and middle-income countries, the second is concentrated in high-income countries.

Apr 9, 2019 Joseph E. Stiglitz thinks it’s his attacks on the truth-seeking institutions that underpin economic prosperity.

Throughout the developed world, conditions for many workers are deteriorating, with no recovery in sight. Income inequality is near historic highs, wealth inequality is even higher, and economic insecurity is widespread.As the United Kingdom tears itself apart politically and constitutionally over Brexit, many of its citizens struggle with low-quality jobs, inadequate housing, and poverty so severe that they rely on food banks. France’s Yellow Vest protests have been hijacked by violent extremists, but they reflect real grievances about the growing challenge of maintaining living standards. In the United States, the Economic Report of the President touts the supposed elimination of poverty, but life expectancy does not decline in a prosperous country.In short, the post-World War II social contract in many of today’s developed economies is breaking down. And even more uncertainty and insecurity are on the way, as new technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics take root.Though the pace and scope of the next wave of automation is impossible to predict with precision, the impact will be profound. Like other digital technologies, AI and robotics will boost the value of some skills while reducing the value of others. And, by , extensive algorithmic decision-making risks amplifying existing inequalities further.It is impossible to uninvent technology. But we should not fall into the trap of technological determinism. The forces that drive structural economic change are always refracted through policy decisions, which can help ensure that technological innovations contribute to a more prosperous future.

Given the depth of the transformation ahead, however, it is not just the policies themselves that must change, but the very framework on which they are based. This means abandoning the idea – which has shaped public policy for more than a generation – that the “market” must be the organizing principle for collective decision-making.

The market, in this sense, is an abstraction – one that has little to do with actual markets, which are social institutions as varied and multitudinous as Leo Tolstoy’s unhappy families. It embodies the assumption that, overall, we secure the best economic outcomes if producers compete to respond to the desires of individual consumers (in line with their purchasing power). And its performance is measured according to the number of contemporaneous exchanges taking place.This is to be the best metric. For one thing, it does not account for the depreciation of assets, from houses in California destroyed by wildfires to insect species at risk of extinction. It also fails to account for the fact that a growing proportion of exchanges in the digital economy involve “public goods,” consumption of which is non-rivalrous (the good can be shared by any number of people without being depleted).But there is an even more fundamental problem with assessing an economy’s welfare according to the satisfaction of individual choices. As the late William Baumol pointed out, if you assume that economic agents are independent, you will conclude that independent choices maximize their well being. This is circular reasoning.In fact, economic agents are not as independent as the conventional wisdom would have us believe. People’s consumption preferences are not discovered through introspection and then upheld permanently; they are shaped socially and change over time. In the age of social media “influencers,” this may be truer than ever, with turbocharged network effects amplifying the impact of one individual’s choices on others.Likewise, in production, there is far-reaching potential for economies of scope and scale – potential that grows even larger in high-tech domains. This means that one firm’s production decisions affect production by others in the same market.The conceptual underpinnings of policymaking need to be updated to reflect this economic reality. For starters, governments need to recognize that their decisions shape the structure of production, and develop strategies to support particular strengths in production (through innovation policies or procurement frameworks) or to address weaknesses (in areas such as skills). Economists like Dani Rodrik and have led the way in proposing ways to think about modern industrial strategy.Governments must also improve the opportunities available to those left behind in today’s fast-changing economy. This means ensuring that all citizens have access to quality public education, public transportation and broadband infrastructure, adequate health care, and decent housing. Such basic services are more important than income subsidies, because they are public goods, which the market – where decisions are made by aggregating individual demand – will not provide.The organization of millions of interdependent individuals in a technologically complex society will always be difficult to manage. With productivity flat-lining and public anger growing, it is clear that existing policies are not up to the challenge. Without a new approach, it is difficult to imagine a prosperous future for Western societies.

 

  • WmC Mantis  

    Is Diane Coyle trying to tell us that economic policymakers should be doing more to ensure a continually rising mean household quality of life? If so, she could have done it in fewer words.

 

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Building a place called trust– Time to Talk Less and Do More

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March 20, 2019

Building a place called trust– Time to Talk Less and Do More

https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2019/03/471024/building-place-called-trust

 

by Datuk Dr. Anis Yusal Yusoff – March 19, 2019 @ 11:20pm

 

THERE is a little known place in the Scottish Hebridean islands in the United Kingdom called the Isle of Skye. It is said to have rugged and mountainous landscapes graced with deep lochs. No highrises, no discarded waste. The scarcely scattered white-washed cottages in this place show one how nature has ruled over human creation.

Image result for Datuk Dr. Anis Yusal Yusoff

But beyond the physical attributes, there is something more to this isle than its landscape. It embodies the epitome of TRUST. One magazine wrote that on the corners where paths cross, there are ‘product boxes’ where people leave their homemade jams and free-range eggs. Passers-by come, take what they need and leave their payment. Doors in homes are left unlocked. One can leave cars there with the windows open, and the only thing that will enter is the rain.

This is called integrity. This is called good governance. This is what I envision for our country. This is what I pray that one day every nook and cranny of Malaysia will become and that we do not take what does not belong to us, and we guard and protect with all we have, what is given to us to honour.

The example of Isle of Skye is the basis upon which we approached the National Anti-Corruption Plan. It isn’t just a plan, as cynics and critics would say, plucked from the air. The goal of the Plan is to create a corruption-free society governed by the principles of integrity, accountability and transparency.

The focus of the Plan is clear — and that is to ensure every agency and ministry in the public sector institutionalizes good governance in every part of their work. Why focus on the public sector, one may ask? The answer is simple. If public governance is not strengthened first, we cannot move to ask others to put their houses in order.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched the Plan on Jan 29. It essentially identifies six key corruption-prone risk areas; political governance, public sector administration, public procurement, legal and judicial, law enforcement, and corporate governance.

Again, the process of ascertaining these was done through public surveys, interviews and research. We engaged many components of society — public and private sectors, civil society and the media. The Plan is an amalgamation of information we received from this work and on completion, we had independent anti-corruption specialists review our work.

I think it is important that we also understand why we had listed out the nature and points of corruption. A content analysis of about 20,000 reports received by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission from 2013 to 2018 found that more than 80 per cent were concerned with four causes; administrative failures (36.43 per cent), conflict of interest (33.12 per cent), weak internal control and non-compliance (18.97 per cent), and lack of transparency (6.45 per cent).

When we look at the areas prone to corruption from the same data we had, we found that the procurement sector recorded the highest number of complaints (42.8 per cent).

That’s why a special section in the Plan focuses on public procurement.

Beyond the Plan, our greatest challenge remains, as the government and people of Malaysia, our understanding of the roles of our government, private sector and public. I constantly argue that we have a somewhat warped view of this and frankly we are not alone here in Malaysia. To some, it is almost like watching the movie Matrix.

A lot of things in movies like Matrix are used as metaphors for our fixed views of ‘reality’. Rarely do we observe the world for what it is. It is much simpler to build a perceived order, load our preconceptions and baggage onto them to the point it simply becomes conducive and comfortable for us.

When we become fixated on a certain world view, and when that world view is simply wrong we open ourselves to the ramifications that come with living a lie, and that is exactly what we are going through today — the bite of reality of having condoned a culture of corruption for decades.

I often use the examples of nations such as Somalia, Zimbabwe and Myanmar which all have comparatively high CPI (Corruption Perception Index), coming in at 180, 160 and 132, respectively, to further demonstrate my point. Such positions within the CPI have ultimately left these countries in shambles economically, socially as well as politically.

Meanwhile, Malaysia ranks 61 within the index.  Admittedly, we are a far cry from achieving the corrupt-free status enjoyed by nations, such as Denmark, New Zealand and Finland, which rank 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the index.

Attitudes and mindsets cannot be measured by Key Performance Indicators. They are intangibles.

The real engine to any delivery is mindset. Mindsets are defined by the culture we ultimately inculcate in this system. It is defined by the Isle of Skyes that we each develop in the little areas we are in charge of in our daily lives at work.

This culture has to be instilled, has to be imbued and built in every part of our society.

That is how we build a place called TRUST.

Datuk Dr. Anis Yusal Yusoff is the deputy director-general of the National Centre for Governance, Integrity & Anti-Corruption, Prime Minister’s Department

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Dr.Mahathir – The Last of Asia’s Strongmen?

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March 15, 2019

Dr.Mahathir – The Last of Asia’s Strongmen?

Politics | March 15, 2019

The Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network

Image result for dr.mahathir mohamad

Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad

 

MANILA : In one of his most famous lines, Shakespeare wrote, “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em”.

Many of today’s most powerful persons belong to one of these three categories. Some were born with exceptional capabilities and magnetic charisma, carrying in their bosom a burning vision for their communities.

They have an unmatched talent for inspiring countless souls, steering whole nations toward the terminus of history.

One could think of Cyrus the Great of Persia and Alexander the Great of Macedonia, who built the biggest and most cosmopolitan empires of their times, as belonging to this category of men.

Others achieve greatness through sheer hard work, untrammelled ambition and unimaginable sacrifice and self-mastery.

One could think of Nelson Mandela and Gandhi as belonging to this category.

Image result for maggie thatcher

For free marketers, Dame Margaret Thatcher also fits this description.

Then there are those who are catapulted to the vortex of history through sheer circumstances. Throughout their lives, they were never known as exceptional characters or particularly ambitious persons.

And yet, when the moment came, they did their best to rise to the occasion.

One could think of Catherine the Great of Russia and Cory Aquino of the Philippines as belonging to this category: two brave women who filled up the political vacuum left by their prematurely demised husbands.

Catherine oversaw the transformation of Czarist Russia into a haven for the European intelligentsia, while Cory oversaw a messy transition out of the black hole of a literally bankrupt dictatorship.

Image result for Tom Plate Mahathir

When I met Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) last week, I wondered to which category he belongs. Not that he is a perfect leader; nor have I turned a blind eye to his more authoritarian past.

In fact, I was a Mahathir-skeptic in the past, partly because I was critical of, inter alia, his “Asian values” argument: I reject the suggestion that civil liberties and human rights are only for Caucasian people.

I believe in the universality of human dignity and, similar to former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, the perfect compatibility between democracy and development.

But “greatness” should be understood in terms of Greek tragedy: We are not speaking of perfect beings, or the “best president in the solar system”, but instead restless mortals who dedicate their lives to pursuing a cause bigger than themselves, no matter the sacrifices it entails.

In my view, Dr. Mahathir is great in all three categories.

He was born with unfathomable energy for political engagement from early youth.

Hailing from a humble background, he worked his way up to the pinnacle of power by sheer hard work and ruthless ambition.

But the Dr. Mahathir that I admire is the one who had greatness “thrust upon” him. At the astonishing age of 92, he decided to rejoin the maelstrom of politics.

As D.r Mahathir told me during our conversation, he decided to shun “retirement” in order to “do something”: to save Malaysia from the downward spiral of unrestrained corruption and increasing subservience to a foreign power, namely China.

What I admire even more about him is his personal discipline, making sure that he never skips any major event despite the vicissitudes of advanced age. Not to mention his reputation as a loving husband and father.

Above all, however, Dr Mahathir is the epitome of a great leader, one who bravely stands up to both a hegemonic Western power and an overbearing Eastern rival.

During his visit to Beijing last year, Dr Mahathir bluntly warned of a “new colonialism”, underscoring the need for vigilance vis-à-vis welcoming large-scale but low-quality investments from China.

At the same time, he has also warned against the belligerence and warmongering of US President Donald Trump, who, according to Dr Mahathir, “resort(s) to unconventional reactions to problems”.

Now, that’s a truly “independent” foreign policy.

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Fidel Ramos

Of all Filipino leaders, I think only one came close to being our own version of Dr Mahathir: Fidel Ramos.

Sadly, he only had a few years to fix the mess of the lost decade of the ’80s, just to see a populist successor throw all the most precious gains of his hardworking administration out of the window.

We never lost the chance to under-appreciate truly good leaders. –

The Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network

MP Nik Nazmi brings back memories of the Anwar-led 2008 Pakatan Rakyat

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February 16,2018

Nik Nazmi brings back memories of the Anwar-led 2008  Pakatan Rakyat

By Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad  the MP for Setiawangsa.

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/464186?fbclid=IwAR25cGcttcKWep_VuYlXm9uT0Vhj3nuWoO3kgVCarZFwiZ2X8e8PkOTaVB0

Image result for Anwar-led 2008 Pakatan Rakyat

MP SPEAKS | This week, seven former UMNO MPs joined Bersatu. Bersatu has also declared its entry into Sabah, contrary to its pledge before the 2018 election.

I have consistently said that I am against this—and many of my colleagues in Pakatan Harapan feel the same way.

Let us focus on the challenges facing us in the present and how to move forward into the future. One thing that we need to do is to be willing to listen to all arguments—including the ones we don’t necessarily agree with.

It has been argued that these defectors are needed to shore-up Malay support for Harapan.

It has also been argued that the move is necessary to counter the emerging UMNO-PAS alliance, which is allegedly increasingly popular on social media as well as to strengthen our coalition’s standing in rural areas — such as the East Coast and Northern Peninsula.

It is true that Harapan did not win the popular vote in the last election—garnering only 48.31% of it. Indeed, much of the 50.79% of the vote that Barisan Nasional and PAS won was from Malays in the East coast and Northern Peninsula Malaysia as well as from Muslim Bumiputeras in Sarawak.

And it does appear that Malay sentiment towards Harapan is not exactly glowing. Although much of this is driven by the shrill and manufactured voices of UMNO and PAS surrogates, there is genuine concern among many Malays that the community is under threat: both politically and socio-economically.

Defections will not guarantee Malay support

But is taking in defectors from UMNO the best way to assuage these concerns?

Why can’t the various components of Harapan evolve so that we can, finally, access, engage and win the support of all Malaysians, including the rural Malays?

Why do some of our leaders seem intent on taking short-cuts, rather than the path of hard (but ultimately rewarding) work? Have we totally abandoned the idea of bipartisanship?

Why do some Harapan leaders assume that the Malay community will necessarily be impressed by taking in these defectors? Is the rural Malay community that monolithic? Is quantity really that more important in governance and politics rather than quality?

But if taking in defectors is not the way, how should Harapan resolve its “Malay dilemma”?

Image result for Anwar-led 2008 General election anwar poster

Negara ini bukan  Tun Dr.Mahathir punya. Ini adalah Malaysia–Negara kita semua. 2008 GE Tagline–UBAH SEBELUM PARAH

One way is to double-down on conservative Malay politics, including turning back on reform because it will allegedly weaken the community. This is the path that PAS has taken. That was their choice to make and theirs alone, but it also means they are no longer the party of Dr Burhanuddin al Helmy, Fadzil Noor and Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Image result for dr syed husin ali

Dr.Syed Hussin Ali-The Intelletual behind PKR

The alternative is to stick to the progressive, inclusive promises we made via the Buku Harapan.

Our GE-14 campaign manifesto was a document that all Harapan parties agreed to. But it was also a platform that addressed the aspirations and problems of all segments of Malaysian society, including the Malays.

The Buku Harapan can be executed. We couldn’t deliver all of the 100 day promises—but it doesn’t mean that it cannot be realised. The same applies to the other pledges.

Some things may need to be sequenced, but they must be done if the country is to survive and thrive. We should not simply cast the Buku Harapan aside due to political exigencies.

Harapan won because it gave Malaysians hope

It is cynical and disingenuous to say that Harapan won only because of the 1MDB scandal and the anger towards Najib Razak. That’s simply not true.

Our critics—but also our own leaders, legislators and supporters—should give us more credit than that.

Malaysians voted for us not only out of anger over BN’s scandals and mismanagement, but because they believed that Harapan had a better vision for the future of the country. They voted for us because Harapan gave them hope. What I am saying is this: Harapan should learn to take “yes” for an answer.

Malaysians gave us an adequate majority on May 9

There is no need to worry about our parliamentary majority (which is adequate to govern). Unless some quarters have some political calculations to undermine the Harapan consensus.

Image result for dr syed husin ali

As I have said many times before, a two-thirds majority is sometimes more trouble than it is worth.

It is only moral and just that constitutional amendments—when they become necessary—be done via a bipartisan consensus, by talking and working with the Opposition and civil society.

Harapan should roll up our sleeves and get down to the business of governing the country. And “governing”, means reforming our economy and making it work for all Malaysians.

Malays will benefit from progressive politics

Part of this involves winning over the Malays to the idea that progressive politics and governance is in their interest. And it is.

Who makes up the majority of the urban poor? The Malays.

Who makes up the majority of low-wage earners? The Malays.

Who makes up the majority of the petty traders struggling to earn a living? The Malays.

Whose families are the majority of those struggling to service high household debts? The Malays.

Who are the majority of smallholders struggling from low commodity prices and delays in government payments? The Malays.

Delivering an economy that solves the plight of these segments of society, even in a non-racial manner, will do more to win over Malay voters than trying to outflank UMNO and PAS on the right – or luring opposition crossovers.

The voters in these constituencies did not vote for Harapan. They knowingly chose the vision that BN and PAS had for Malaysia. Their MPs moving over to Harapan will not likely make them feel any differently.

Instead, solving the bread-and-butter-issues of the voters will go a long way in addressing their racial and religious insecurities.

Harapan should trust our defend our Constitution

We must also learn to trust our Constitution and our system of governance, even as we repair both from decades of abuse.

Setting up the latest incarnation of the National Economic Action Council (NEAC) is the Prime Minister’s prerogative and so is its composition — although there were some interesting omissions.

The members who were selected are distinguished and respected in their several fields — one wishes them every success.

But the NEAC’s emergence has — fairly or unfairly — led to speculation over the performance of the Cabinet. There are perceptions — again, fairly or unfairly —that attempts are being made to circumvent the normal process of Cabinet-based governance in the management of Malaysia’s economy.

It is easy to dismiss these criticisms as grouses, but they have a real impact on how voters view this current Pakatan Harapan government.

If we lead, the people will follow

I hope this is something that the leaders of our government and alliance will take into account moving forward, especially when dealing with defectors and in how the administration’s agenda is to be executed.

The ends do not justify the means. Like it or not, processes sometimes matter as much as outcomes.

Malaysia needs solutions that work for the many, not the few. We need policies for these day and age. Too often we seem to be indicating of going back to the economic prescriptions of Old Malaysia.

Sticking to the spirit of Buku Harapan is the way forward.

This will go a long way towards winning over Malay fence sitters and not side-line our non-Malay and politically liberal supporters.

While UMNO and PAS embark on a journey rightwards, we should not dance to their tune.

But we must allow them the space to be a functioning Opposition that keeps us in check.

That is what leadership is. Pakatan doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Let’s be sure of who we are, what we want to do and where we want to go. If we are sincere, the people — including the Malays — will follow.

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad is the MP for Setiawangsa.

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

Can planet Earth survive Asia’s economic drive?

The Sustainable State is Hong Kong-based environmentalist and author Chandran Nair’s second book, following  Consumptionomics, published in 2011. Both call for urgent recognition of the looming ecological disaster for humanity. The book launch in Hong Kong’s trendy Lan Kwai Fong district on Nov. 13 was billed as a conversation between Nair, and Zoher Abdool Karim, the recently retired TIME Asia editor. Nair’s manifesto dominated. A bemused Zoher was the smiling prop. The audience could have gained more from meaningful interlocution.

Image result for The Challenge of Climate Change Change

Chandran Nair has been the town crier on environmental disaster for 20 years. He faults industrialization, capitalism, free enterprise and liberal economics, for destroying the ecosystems of rivers, forests, air and water on so vast a scale, that life itself is the price paid by the poorest across the developing world. Malnutrition, starvation, and lack of access to potable water, plagues many societies at subsistence level.

Resource curse

The developed world prospered from early industrialization to capture vast resources via conquest and colonization of Asia, Africa and Latin America, he writes. The poorest societies hold the richest deposits of minerals, fossil fuels and land for plantations of rubber, palm oil, tea and coffee. Pesticides and insecticides from Monsanto and others destroy their soils and ruin their water systems. They have also been too frequently run by kleptocrats.

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What he calls the “externalities” of capitalist trade – environmental degradation, pollution, social dislocation, disease and malnutrition, impact the poorest disproportionately. Therein lies the supreme irony. Nair wants these externalities of economic activity priced and charged directly to corporations. He also wants individual accountability for wasteful consumption computed for carbon footprints and taxed to discourage waste.

Responsible development and consumer habits need to be enforced, if we are to survive our collective unwisdom. How the corporations and individuals would agree to these principles, and the respective methods to calculate the amounts to pay, are undefined. Nair does not expect the culprits to volunteer. By the legal trick of defining corporations as ‘persons,’ companies can argue rights protecting individual citizens, under national Constitutions.

Migration to cities in Europe progressed over an extended period, without too much social disruption. Rural migration to cities in the developing economies is too rapid, within a compressed time-frame. Slum populations struggle without sanitation, proper housing, access to fresh water, electricity, or schooling for children, in too many cities across the developing world. This hollowing-out of rural populations is wasteful.

Rethink development

Image result for The Challenge of Climate Change Change

A whole new raft of public policies needs to evolve for ecological balance. Development plans to retain rural manpower and incentivize agricultural food security, are absent. Urban dwellers have to pay higher prices for natural produce, instead of buying packaged food in supermarkets. Efficient public transport systems have to be built to prevent city traffic gridlock. Electric vehicles have to replace fossil fuel engines.

Nair’s nightmare is the adoption by developing countries of the Western model for economic growth. India and China will constitute 30 percent of the global 10 billion by 2050. Add Africa, Latin America, and the rest of developing Asia to that, and the consequences of feckless industrialization, along with wasteful urban consumption, are too obvious. Nair advocates a radical overhaul of the development mindset.

Prescriptions from the developed world peddled by the World Bank and the IMF, in Nair’s mind, exceed Planet Earth’s healing capacity. Natural resource depletion and poisoning of the earth, water and air, must be stopped now. Hurricanes and typhoons destroying habitats and flooding societies, are increasing in frequency and ferocity. The consequences are all too real for climate change deniers.

The weight of floating plastic in the oceans will soon exceed that of the global fish stock. This poison has entered our food chain, killing us slowly while choking sea life. Human overpopulation, food cultivation and de-forestation, wipes out wildlife at the rate of 30,000 species per year, according to Harvard biologist E O Wilson. Now our collective irresponsibility will kill the oceans too.

Prioritize social equity

If replicating the Western growth model is madness, what are the alternatives? Nair moves into contentious territory on this. He calls for strong government and a revised development agenda. Rather than Hollywood-movie lifestyles, he suggests inclusive policies for all citizens to ensure clean water, electricity, sanitation, universal education and gainful employment as minimal benchmarks. Modest prosperity benefits all.

Social equity, well-being and protection of nature cannot be achieved without political legitimacy and effective rulership. Governance has been hijacked by Big Biz and sponsor politicians. Lobby groups target lawmakers. PR companies spin fakery for corporations and politicians. The mass media is co-opted through advertising and ownership. All at the expense of gullible citizens, led to believe they have some say every five years.

Strong state works

Nair contrasts the dysfunctions of India with the success of China. He skates on thin ice where individual rights and freedoms can be ignored, for the collective good. He says only a “strong” state has the mass mobilization capacity to marshal people, resources and investment, for sustainable development. To Nair, Hong Kong is a weak state unable to address basic public housing. He jests that a boss imposed by Beijing can fix that.

The European Union is a strong authority able to mandate socially responsible policy across its constituent members. Britain and the US are weak states floundering for effective governance, polarized by divisive populist politics. Nair is less interested in ideologies of the Left or Right, than in the State as effective authority for the common good. He wants the institutions of good governance strengthened at every level.

Oddly, Nair dismisses world governance as the solution. The United Nations, overly compromised by funding dependency and too timid to upset powerful voting blocs, is not his answer. Where then will the needed global course-correction come from? The issues Nair raises are urgent. Are we doomed to self-destruct by default anyway? If he has an answer, Nair has not articulated it in his books, or his public campaigns. Perhaps there might be a third book for that.

Malay anxiety, exclusion, and national unity

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September 21,2018

Malay anxiety, exclusion, and national unity

A fragmented Malay society is making ‘Malay unity’ more urgent for those defeated by GE-14.

by Hew Wai Weng

http://www.newmandala.org

Image result for Rais Yatim

On 29 July 2018, about 1,500 people gathered at the historic Padang Kelab Sultan Sulaiman in Kuala Lumpur, rallying to defend the status of ‘Malay Muslim rights’ under the theme of ‘Himpunan Kebangkitan Ummah’ (Ummah Awakening Gathering). The rally was intended to stimulate a siege mentality and anxiety among Malay Muslim, as they are facing multiple ‘threats’ from so-called minorities, ranging from the LBGT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community, Chinese-language education groups, Hindu pressure groups, Shia, and ‘liberal Muslims’ as well.

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The habitual hand kissing Dr. Rais Yatim cum Grasshopper ex-UMNO Minister

With UMNO Youth chief and former minister Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan, Bersatu member and former veteran minister Rais Yatim (pic,above) as well as representatives from NGOs such as ISMA (Malaysian Muslim Solidarity), ABIM (Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement) and GAPENA (Gabungan Persatuan Penulis Nasional) attending, this rally hoped for broader Malay audiences beyond the conventional Islamist-minded groups. Yet as I observed at the rally, the participants were mainly PAS supporters, and some were mobilised by ISMA. There was no mobilisation of the crowd by UMNO, ABIM, and Malay-language groups such as GAPENA.

While using an Islamic-inflected theme, ‘Himpunan Kebangkitan Ummah’, the key issue was not a religious one at the rally but a language one. It was about rejecting the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s proposed recognition of the United Examination Certificate (UEC), a standardised test for the independent Chinese high school sector in Malaysia. Besides the UEC, the rally also made issues of LGBT visibility and their rights, the polemics surrounding controversial Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik, as well as the perceived dominant role of the DAP in the PH government.

To some extent, the UEC is to Malaysian Chinese as the Hudud issue is to Malay Muslims. Many Malaysians Chinese support or at least will not object to the UEC’s recognition, but few have gone through such a system. Malaysian Chinese support for independent Chinese high schools is not just about an endorsement of such school curriculums, just as Malay Muslim support of Hudud laws is not always about agreement to enforce Hudud punishments.

In the past, PAS has used the call for stricter implementation of Islamic laws as a weapon to ‘out-Islamise’ UMNO. Today, the contestation in political Islam is much more complicated with UMNO, PAS and Amanah (to a lesser extent, Keadilan, Bersatu dan Islamic NGOs) competing against each other. The recognition of the UEC has been always raised by DAP to attack MCA for not being able to campaign Chinese issues. Hudud and the UEC entail identity politics over who can best represent the interests of ‘Malay Muslims’ and ‘Chinese communities’.

The strong anti-UEC stand taken by PAS has fed the perception that the Islamist party has become increasingly ‘Malay-oriented’, helping pave ways for the party to work more closely with UMNO. Newly-elected UMNO youth chief Asyraf Wajdi supported PAS leader Hadi Awang’s controversial ‘Hudud Bill’ when he was the Deputy Minister in charge of religious affairs during the Najib era. ISMA, one of the key players in the Ummah rally, is like a combination of UMNO and PAS, campaigning for both Malay supremacy and an Islamist agenda at the same time.

A potential alliance of UMNO-PAS-ISMA is in the making, yet it is uncertain whether such cooperation will be further consolidated, as there are different opinions within each of them, as well as the ongoing hostile relations between UMNO and PAS members.

The speakers at the rally spoke on different issues with different tones, and not all of them are outright racists nor narrow Islamists. Bersatu’s Rais Yatim, the veteran former senior Mahathir minister, as well as representatives from ABIM and GAPENA, focused on the UEC. They were not necessarily supporting PAS, UMNO or ISMA, but they joined the rally to express their disagreement on the UEC.

Indeed, the ABIM leader was the most ‘moderate’ speaker at the day – he did not raise any issue to stir Malay Muslim insecurities. He also reaffirmed his support for vernacular primary schools in Mandarin and Tamil, yet he objected to UEC recognition, seeing such recognition as undermining national language policy and the status of the Malay language. IKRAM, another important Islamic organisation, was absent from the rally – it had given its qualified support for UEC recognition, with a list of conditions. Unlike ISMA, both ABIM and IKRAM (Malaysian IKRAM Association) are PH-friendly Muslim NGOs.

The leaders from PAS and its student wing, GAMIS (Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Se-Malaysia), besides harping on the UEC, also took up other issues related to the LGBT, Shia, and liberal Muslim communities to attack the new coalition’s leadership. For example, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq was attacked for being ‘hedonist’ and ‘pro-liberal’, while Education Minister Dr. Maszlee Malik was too ‘apologetic’ and “pro-DAP”. The new Religious Affairs Minister Mujahid Rawa was criticised for “not defending Zakir Naik” and for having “compromised on LGBT issues”. PAS leaders tried through these criticisms to portray a more ‘Islamic’ image compared with Pakatan’s Muslim leaders.

 

ISMA leaders set a more exclusionary tone, in speeches such as “if Pakatan Harapan is dominated by DAP, we will bring down PH (Pakatan Harapan), as how we fought the British colonial power”. Such statements indirectly portrayed Malaysian Chinese as “foreigners” who were trying to take power from the “native” Malays. Most of the attention-grabbing placards with slogans such as ‘Pertahan Identiti Negara’ (Defend the Identity of our State), ‘Islam dan Melayu, Identiti Negara’ (Islam and Malay, Identity of our State) and ‘Malaysia Tanah Melayu’ (Malaysia, Malay Land) were prepared and held up at the rally by ISMA members. Some PAS participants felt uneasy with such ultra-exclusionary messages.

Very few Malay Muslims in Malaysia are outright racists or narrow Islamists. But a significant portion of them view Islam as their core identity (whatever this implied).  And some worry that the increasing usage of the Chinese language might challenge the status of Malay as the national language.

Similarly, some fear that the LGBT community’s allegedly increased visibility might undermine the role of Islam as Malaysia’s official religion. The more Muslims openly support LGBT rights and the more Malays speak Mandarin, the more some Malay Muslims want to more strictly define what constitutes Malayness and Islamness.

In other words, the increasingly political fragmentation and cultural diversification of Malay Muslims have led some of them to create a sense of ‘Malay unity’ by drawing stricter boundaries between what they perceive as ‘Islamic’ and ‘un-Islamic’ and between who they see as ‘Malay’ and ‘non-Malay’.

The makings of religious, sexual and racial others (for example, liberal Muslims, LGBT and Malaysian Chinese) are central for them to consolidate ‘Malay Muslim identity’, and to create a sense of certainty amidst uncertainties. Hence, it is insufficient to analyse Malay anxiety as only a result of political competition or religious conservatism, without looking into the rapid socio-cultural changes experienced by Malay Muslims.

Instead of addressing various socio-economic issues faced by Malay Muslims, some politically-motivated groups stir up Malay anxiety, creating a perception that they are representing ‘Malay Muslims’ and manipulating public opinions for their political interests. Such patterns are similar to “Aksi Bela Islam” (Defending Islam Action) in Indonesia, using the banner of “defending Islam” to mobilise political support. Such political mobilisations have forced both Malaysian and Indonesian governments to contain them.

In Malaysia, some PH leaders are containing its critics by taking a conservative stand, as shown in the government handling of LGBT-related issues. In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo has selected a conservative cleric as his running-mate for next year’s presidential election, to counter Islamist mobilisation of his opponents. Such containments could prevent the more exclusionary parties from taking political power, yet at the same time might sustain the ‘conservative turn’ and potentially alienate some minority groups.