Tun wins another round in his battle against his hand-picked successor Finally, the long-awaited meeting between the old strong man and his successor took place on Sunday. If there was any hopes of burying the hatchet between the two, Tun Dr Mahathir with his no-nonsense style, made it abundantly clear that the meeting has not resolved anything and that his outstanding list of grievances remain. It is clear that Tun has pushed the ball in the Prime Minister’s court, by shrewdly talking to reporters for three days in a row, ensuring that all attention will be on Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi’s next move. It is disheartening to note that the Prime Minister has not responded publicly to Tun’s comments; he refused to talk about the meeting at a public function today. If he is thinking of applying his much-ridiculed “elegant silence” approach once again, UMNO members and Malaysians will not take too kindly to it although the public face of the rakyat’s “happiness” will be highlighted in the media. Truly, this is not a time for such a silly notion such as an elegance silence. The King of Thailand does that very effectively but Abdullah is not in the same league - he certainly has not demonstrated any exceptional ability as Malaysia’s leader thus far. Tun revealed that during the two-hour meeting, Abdullah spent most of the time listening and jotting notes. Is that because he needs to consult his spin doctors before making any comments? It is clear that Tun dominated proceeding from the first minute; that is not a good sign of Abdullah’s quality of leadership. At worst, the public will infer from the revelations made by Tun post-meeting that the Prime Minister is indecisive and incapable of making a stand on issues. Perhaps that was what the formidable Tun wished to convey. Already, there is much grumblings about the state of the economy. This eye-opener, offered by Tun, could convince many undecided UMNO members that they are being led by a man not worthy of wearing Tun’s large shoes. The fact that Tun brought up his concerns about the business activities of Abdullah’s son and son-in-law during the two-hour meeting would have also convinced many about the many rumours swirling around in the corporate sector and in the coffee shops across the country.

Even the UMNO dailies like Berita Harian and the New Straits Times, gave much coverage to the words and criticisms of Tun. It is evident that a news blackout is out of the question as that would further dent their credibility, especially amongst the Malay ground and to a smaller extent, the Malay professional class. UMNO can no longer count on giving simplistic answers to their members and expect them to unquestioningly accept it. Dissent within the party is by no means, invisible. Abdullah will not get a easy ride from now till the end of his term. Doubt has been seeded into mainstream Malaysia about his abilities, further compounded by a lack of direction in his handling of the economy and his less than satisfactory handling of several national issues close to our hearts. This meeting, controlled by Tun from the start until he decided to end it two hours later, is a stark warning to Abdullah that the remaining months of his tenure will be under an intense spotlight. Another point about the meeting is that Tun made his way to see Abdullah – from what I have read and known, the Prime Minister will always go and see his predecessor as a mark of respect and not the other way around. I guess when Tun said power has changed Abdullah, I have to agree with this assertion. A few months ago, Abdullah confidently said he was just into the first fifteen minutes of holding power and that he needs times to make contributions, making references about the length of his administration to a 90-minute football match. I find such statements arrogant, for him to think that his grip on power will go on indefinitely in the foreseeable future. If the Prime Minister do not ring in significant changes soon, there is a likelihood that he may be substituted from the playing field sooner than he expects. UMNO has demonstrated in the past that the incumbent Prime Minister can be unseated if the ground wills it.  ¶ 8:09 AM 0 Comments

  Of bargains and prayer Malaysiakini recently published the comments of an indignant Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria who complained to an Agence France Presse reporter about the decidedly unholy behaviour of some Muslims who seem more keen to snap up bargains at the numerous shopping bazaars popping up all across the country during Ramadhan, instead of engaging in pious reflection with their fellow brethrens. While I respect the Mufti’s views on this matter, I am also a firm believer that faith cannot be forced upon an individual. It is after all, a personal relationship between an individual and God. Just as there are a myriad number of believers, there will also be a varying, almost countless number of ways individuals reach out to Him in matters of the spirit that would differ from one person to another.

Even a casual dissection of any religion will reveal a spectrum of differentiation, in virtually all facets of that belief system. In Islam for instance, there are various sects that reaches out to God in differing ways. In Malaysia, the government blacklists many Islamic groups periodically on the basis that the beliefs advocated by these clusters are deviant. It is not just Islam but all religions have teeming sub-terranian life composed of divergent beliefs living contently in the background of the mainstream faith. In Christianity, there are a dizzying number of sects – Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Baptist, Methodist - which in turn give birth to more variations of smaller groups who think their private road to salvation works best for them, while embracing the greater call of the religion. For many others, formal procedures i.e rituals may not be of any use at all to them. Just as there are nonchalant Hindus, Christians, there are also a fair number of dispassionate Muslims. And no amount of cajoling and foot stomping by the good Mufti is going to change that. Our government has fastidiously urged people to up consumer spending. It is thus, no surprise then that during the holy month of Ramadhan, the sumptuous break fast buffets and the bargains are proving to be more attractive to some than pursuits of a religious bent.  ¶ 12:37 AM 0 Comments

  Malaysia falls behind Indonesia A responsible, democratically elected government will sound the alarm bells and a serious, concerted effort will be undertaken to ensure proper steps are taken to effectively stop further bleeding if a United Nations-sanctioned report concludes that foreign direct investment inflow into the country has dipped significantly in a span of just one year, relegating this country into a lowly ranking of six out of a pool of ten countries. If there is a need to compound things further, let's also assume foreign direct investment inflow into this group of ten actually spiked by more than forty percent within the same period. This effectively means that foreign investors still like the Southeast Asia region a great deal. A spike in investments in the region but a blatant dip for Malaysia? This would mean a disturbing trend in my book.

For the record, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's World Investment Report (WIR) 2006 revealed that Malaysia’s FDI inflow contracted by 14.21% to only US$3.97 billion (RM14.63 billion) last year from US$4.62 billion (RM17.02 billion) in 2004. This was a sharp contrast to the overall FDI inflows into Southeast Asia, which jumped 44.7% to US$37.14 billion (RM136.83 billion) last year, mainly driven by mergers and acquisition activities.

Okay, I just made up my first two sentences based on the report’s finding stated above. But not the part of the alarm bells and serious effort. Malaysia of late has not been known to view foreign reports with open arms but instead views them through the prism of “foreign propaganda.” But this time, Indonesia – our favourite source of menial labour – has for the first time upstaged us as far as foreign investment inflows are concerned. Singapore (of course), Thailand and even the Philippines left Malaysia behind. I suppose we can beat our chests with the fact that we still lead over countries like Myanmar and Laos in the area of FDI!

Indonesia’s foreign direct investment inflow jumped nearly five times to more than US$5 billion in 2005 from just under US$2 billion in 2004. Any way you look at it, this is bad news, and the Prime Minister’s spin doctors have a lot of work to do. This drop in FDI cannot be conveniently directed to his predecessor’s doorstep. This happened on Pak Lah’s watch. No new growth areas have really excited investors – local and foreign. Our competitiveness which we have taken for granted for more than a decade, is slowly but surely eroding. No wonder the Minister responsible for foreign direct investment in the sectors of industry and international trade Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz has been pursuing a personal policy of staying out of sight of the media spotlight.

It would earn the government a whole load of goodwill domestically and foreign appeal if it reviews the practice of narrow, race-based policies, to wealth distribution policies which are more class-based. Malaysia must realize that current policies that enrich some UMNO members disproportionately to the detriment of the larger mass of people (Malay, Chinese, Indian) left seething in despair and quiet anger, will make Malaysia weak in the global market. De-politicize the education system and help people who need assistance and a leg up. The evidence of past follies is already reaching the ears of the business decision makers of the world. It is time that our decision makers take courageous decisions now although with current evidence so far, I find that unlikely. Malaysia desperately needs responsible leadership!

It would be amusing to see the politicians who were extremely loud to the point of rudeness, to ridicule the methodologies used by a think-tank to calculate the Bumiputera equity share, to demand the same of the United Nations. Good night.  ¶ 9:47 PM 0 Comments

  A bad case of deja vu In the 1960s, there was an entertaining American TV series called the Twilight Zone. It was groundbreaking science fiction, with imaginative storylines spanning parallel universes and multi-dimensional worlds complete with twists and surprise endings. There were also stories that deal with events repeating themselves and in this series, often ending with dire and frightening consequences. In Malaysia, we also suffer from such an affliction every year arising from the thinking of groups of religious and racist puritans who exacerbate existing divisions in our society. Last time around, there was the Mufti of Perak who lambasted the celebration of Christmas and Chinese New Year, urging Muslims not to attend open houses to fete these Malaysian festivities. Then we had a member of parliament from Kedah who favoured a racist word to describe Indians and who asked all non-Malays to leave the country if they are not happy with the terms and conditions set by UMNO. Of course we have also had the son-in-law of the Prime Minister use not-so-pleasing rhetoric against the Chinese to beef up his position. Never mind that many of his business associates are Chinese.

And most recently, we’ve had the email fiasco from Takaful Malaysia, forbidding Muslim staff from wishing Hindu colleagues and customers a Happy Deepavali, on grounds that “offending” Muslims are booking a one-way ticket to, well … hell. An apology apparently came from Takaful Malaysia, but the damage has been done, as so eloquently put by the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, when he referred to ASLI’s study on bumiputera equity. The man responsible for these religious “instructions” will not be relieved of his job. Imagine if a non-Muslim priest made a statement urging a boycott of the Hari Raya celebrations. The uproar and the loud threats would be deafening. Ketuanan Melayu after all, means never having to say sorry. The next big non-Muslim celebration after Deepavali is Christmas and I can wager a bet another round of instructions will be making its way into people’s emails about the sins of wishing a Christian colleague, customer or neighbour a Merry Christmas. The repetitive sloganeering comes like clockwork. It’s as if I can almost write the script for the next outburst by religious puritans.

Our politicians are so fond of crying out to the world that we are all one united happy family, while at the same happily exploit the race and religious cards to further short-term goals. It should not come as a surprise then that managers of government-linked companies also see it fit to utter similar proclamations. The Minister for Islamic Affairs was quick off the blocks to distance the government from this man’s statements, adding that he is not qualified to say such things and that the email does not amount to a fatwa. Shouldn’t the Minister get the offender dismissed, so that no more rips are willfully made to the fragile social fabric that is multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia? Malaysians are getting tired of being trapped in the Twilight Zone.  ¶ 9:18 PM 0 Comments

  Bangladesh is one up on us Several years there was a sudden urgency within the bowels of government to produce a Nobel Prize winner by 2020, no doubt intended as a delicious cap to our expected attainment of developed-nation status by that magical year. What glory it would be, if we can produce one “individual” who could stand heads and shoulders above his peers and bring home the prized Nobel Prize in a scientific field within the next 14 years. Of course, the inevitable process of setting up committees and planning teams were announced to the media with a flourish, with Ministers no less, jockeying for opportunities to get the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed to endorse this campaign.

Talk of nurturing and producing a scientific mind capable of making astonishing breakthroughs in the fields of chemistry, biology and physics was the rage. Never mind our universities and our research facilities are mere shells, rigidly administered by politically-sanctioned managers who believed, with a zeal, that the individual thought process amongst young men and women, must be left at the doorstep when they step into a class room. Never mind that Malaysia was making no headway in trying to attract Malaysian scientists who fled a sterile and stifling environment at home to make great personal and academic strides in countries like Singapore (yes ,Singapore), Australia, The United States and Europe. What mattered, you see, is if you can shout “Malaysia Boleh” within a earshot of the political masters and get some publicity in the newspapers about our noble plan to win the Noble prize.

But just like a comet rising majestically in the skyline, illuminating the earth for just an instance with all its incandescence before disappearing from view, our noble Nobel Prize campaign seems to have gone that way. A new Prime Minister is in power now and priorities change. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was all for technological advancement; his successor is more interested in more mundane matter such as agricultural pursuits. True, the Prime Minister had loudly proclaimed his interest in advancing the biotechnology sector but his boys does not seem to have made any headway there as well. But that is a matter to be discussed at a later time. Talk of Noble Prizes is no longer even whispered about. It remains part of the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed baggage which needs to be consigned to the dusty confines of some dark and dingy recesses of Putrajaya.

I was compelled to write about this when I read how Bangladesh - a country that sends thousands of manual workers to Malaysia so that we may have some service at the gas pumps, get our cars washed, our roads repaired and factories functioning – erupted into joy when one of their own was just announced as the winner for the Nobel Peace Prize. I think there is no need for me to elaborate really about the state of our education system which is in the clutches of UMNO. I do hope that a Malaysian-born scientist will one day be able to win that award of awards one day. I would not be surprised if such a delightful scenario becomes a reality. It would really be amusing to see how Malaysia would react if a former Malaysian wins it for Singapore. What an irony that would be!  ¶ 7:17 PM 0 Comments

  Let Pak Leh live out his remaining years in freedom Malaysia’s longest serving prisoner Mohd Salleh Talib, who spent 30 years behind bars, was released two weeks ago and our newspapers have dedicated a significant amount of space and ink to tell his story. Indeed, it’s a story that tells readers that the human spirit, in this case blemished under the weight of youthful miscalculations, can be rehabilitated. Forgiveness is a noble human trait rarely exercised in the Malaysian penal system. But a man like Salleh, who found religion in prison and equally as important, his humanity, surely deserves his freedom back, after serving 30 years for armed robbery in which he hurt no one. He lost his youth in a moment of rashness and it is fitting that he be able to spend what is left of his life in the real world and taste the sweetness of freedom.

Newspapers have elevated him to a persona akin to a national hero. This perplexes me, as he surely does not deserve such an accolade. He even got an audience with Perak royalty upon his release. Salleh is a man, simply put, who can only put “bank robber” as his occupation in any official form. But we all love a happy ending and old man Salleh (also known as Pak Leh) feeds this need of ours. Natural life sentences are no longer meted out but the number of prisoners sentenced to serve multiple life sentences have increased in recent years. I believe this year alone there were several cases where convicted rapists-cum-murderers have been given multiple life sentences which effectively mean they will die behind bars despite any sentence reduction for good behaviour. I don’t believe any right-thinking Malaysians who may wholeheartedly agree to Salleh’s pardon, would have any pity for these repulsive monsters of today. There will be no pardons coming their way.

When Salleh committed armed robbery in 1976, Malaysia was still relatively untainted by heinous crimes such unprovoked murders, armed robberies, snatch thievery and rape. The Malaysia of today is seeing an increasing number of men losing their youths and sometimes, their whole lives behind iron bars and high walls. Armed robbery involving a payroll truck is not very uncommon nowadays; in 1976, it was an daring act and an affront to civil society, and Salleh paid a severe price. Perhaps we are all looking wistfully at simpler age long gone when we read about Pak Leh’s life story. It’s a fair bet that more accounts of how he is adjusting in the real world will be written in the coming months.  ¶ 2:25 PM 0 Comments

  Mat Rempits still in the news Last month, I had posted my comments on why members of the dominant political party UMNO wanted to co-opt thousands of youths who engage in illegal motorcycle races under the guise of looking after their welfare and channeling their energies into more useful activities. When news of the so-called UMNO Putera, the junior wing of the UMNO Youth, going on a media blitz to talk up its “noble” efforts to round up these “stray” sheep into the folds of the community, I smelled a rotten fish head. In a society like Malaysia where politics have seeped into the very fabric of our consciousness, there had to be more to this development than what meets the eye. I was reminded of the Brown Shirts patrolling the streets of Berlin in the early 1930s. They were also the “eyes and ears” of the Reich government, remarkably similar to what UMNO Putera chief Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has in mind for these Mat Rempits.

These boys are already a menace on the roads with no care for other motorists. I am very wary when I see a group of them zooming past me. A grazing of engines and I could be involved in a serious altercation, which really, may not end in a happy ending. Even the Malay tabloids and dailies are getting into the act of condemning some of the unsavory antics of these Mat Rempits. A clash between two different groups which resulted in one dead, was also played up in all the dailies, further complicating the efforts of some politicians to silently summon a large group of youths who could prove useful to UMNO when it wishes to organize its often favored tactic of holding demonstrations. I recall the infamous 1999 demonstration led by UMNO Youth firebrands who threatened to burn down the Chinese Assembly Building in Jalan Maharajalela. And of course, who can forget the storming of the APCET conference in 1999 in Kuala Lumpur? I could illustrate more recent examples such as the demonstrations to drown the voice of concerned Malaysians for dialogue with the government after the Moorthy fiasco. So I say, looking at the situation from the UMNO Youth perspective, young men with a surplus of energy and a dislike for authority, used to moving around like mobs on motorcycles .. … well, they could be an asset by people adept at playing puppet master.

But it seems when it comes to Mat Rempits, even the police are finding their voice to turn down requests from UMNO Putera to provide crowd control assistance for a grand gathering of illegal motorcyclists in Bukit Jalil scheduled for January. The police would be best positioned to know of the extent of trouble these youths have been causing the public. When we hear of the problems these guys are causing i.e intimidating other motorists, smashing up parked cars, drunken behaviour, that is just a small sampling of a serious social problem we are all facing. What we read in the newspapers is just a small representation of the real story. I can say this with conviction because I was a journalist once for a mainstream newspaper and a lot of things remain untold when the newspapers hit the stands.  ¶ 2:46 PM 0 Comments

  The NEP is a Malaysian issue, not a Malay issue Hi David, thanks for your comment. I think we all need to move away from racial compartmentalisations when it comes to issues affecting this country. NEP will one day be re-engineered, modified, to better adresss the imbalances between the races, and malays and non-malays who have raised this issue in a logical, sober manner, will all have played a role. What I wanted to highlight in my last posting is that there is the voice of the Malays which has been silent for so long in regards to the NEP, is finally being communicated. I don't consider the NEP as a malay issue but a Malaysian issue. Indeed, it is the global market that will decide the policy's death or modification which better closes the wealth gap between the rich and the poor.

I think beyond the rhetoric of PAS, that has softened in recent months, with younger, more media-savvy leaders coming to the fore, the party, if it ever comes to power, will take steps to reduce the propensity of certain groups to abuse the NEP. The PAS that will stand for the next general elections will not be the PAS of 2004. It will be a PAS of action and not just mere words. I think their political strategists are playing a smart waiting game and let Malay and non-Malay discontentment over many current issues boil over and scald the ruling party. Personally, I do not see the NEP (in its current form) being around until the magical 2020 number.  ¶ 12:06 PM 0 Comments

  My observations about the NEP banter Of late, more and more Malaysians have been talking about the National Economy Policy. The NEP impacts all spheres of Malaysian life and it is only right that all Malaysians who pay their fair share of taxes and has a stake in this country, be able to discuss the for-and-against argument for the continuation of this policy in a rational and sober manner. I do not wish to dwell on my thoughts about the tenability of the NEP this time but for the record, I believe it is time for Malaysia to seriously study the long-term impact this policy is having on her people. The government continues to insist that the NEP will remain in force until 2020 without effectively rebutting the increasingly well-thought out calls for the policy to be re-examined in light of the fast changing domestic and external environment.

The non-Malay critics of the NEP can easily be dismissed and ignored by UMNO by resorting to the excuse that Malays need to be protected and nurtured in isolation. Never mind that this argument is increasingly at odds with real life which projects a Darwinian world view where the fittest will survive.

But of late, interestingly enough, opponents of the way NEP is implemented are popping up within the Malay domain. Former UMNO strongman Anwar Ibrahim has slammed the way the NEP is being used to enrich the top end of UMNO leaders at the expense of the correcting the income imbalance amongst the Malays themselves. Recent developments hint that the wealth gap within the Malay community has widened considerably in recent years and compares unfavourably with the same divide within the non-Malay communities. Is the NEP a factor that gave birth to this unsavoury development? Another former captain of industry Datuk Khalid Ibrahim who is not an UMNO member, has warned that the continuation of the NEP in its current form, could jeopardize the long-term economic survival of Malays. Another non-governmental organization which purportedly looks after Malay interests called TERAS has also raised the issue of a substantial number of Malays in the country still living precariously amidst a fine balance between poverty and just making do. It is plausible that these parties are stating their views on this matter primarily because they detect a groundswell of dissatisfaction in their community.

What is interesting is that UMNO is no longer seen as the de-facto voice of the Malays, and this makes it harder for it to keep defending the NEP in its current form. This proclamation has already been weakened by the rise of PAS which has been gaining in political strength. Add to this equation, a rising class of Malay professionals enveloped with a world view not limited to our borders, which sees UMNO as a party of privileges and patronage, and you get an environment that is seeing the birth of diverse opinions within the Malays on the ground. It would seem that a de-linking of UMNO being synonymous with the Malay mood is slowly taking place.  ¶ 1:36 PM 1 Comments

  LKY's words do resonate in Malaysia There were two long articles in the New Sunday Times dated October 1st, with both writers zeroing in on Lee Kuan Yew’s remarks about the “marginalized Chinese” in Malaysia and Indonesia. It was ironic to see a Malaysian corporate figure (and sometimes journalist), well-known for his links to Singapore, taking a swipe at Lee in his Sunday column. Two pages later, another prominent piece written by a long-time resident of Malaysia - a person of Caucasian descent roped in to help convince the world that all is well in Malaysia - takes Lee to task.

That there is a burning need for Malaysia to counter Lee’s remarks, widely carried by the world’s media organizations, is of no surprise. But I do not understand why people on this side of the border wish to continue harping on this perceived slight from Singapore. Lee made those provocative statements two weeks ago. If all is well with Malaysian race relations, then I do not see the need to continue putting this issue in the limelight. Any right thinking person could not be faulted if he or she thinks that Malaysia is adopting a defensive posture over this issue. I think the master Singapore politician had struck a raw nerve in UMNO which may have been contemplating general elections early next year. UMNO’s incensed response to Lee gives credence to such a possibility. Looking at past trends, the ruling coalition adopts an overly sweet approach towards the Chinese before a run-up towards a general election. Junior Barisan Nasional members – MCA in particular – are co-opted to help spread the message that only UMNO can provide a conducive environment for the Chinese to live and work in Malaysia. Lee’s statements make the task of garnering votes harder.

Both these writers in the Sunday Times – the corporate figure and the long-time resident – outlined several examples to illustrate their argument that Lee is wrong about the Chinese being marginalized in Malaysia. These examples range from the fact that there are Chinese language schools in Malaysia, the only country in Southeast Asia to have them, to ministers of Chinese descent in Cabinet. But these reasons will not be stand up to close scrutiny; no new Chinese vernacular schools have been built for several years, an issue that has angered Chinese educationist groups and generated unease among the Chinese and Indians as a whole. As for non-Malay ministers, they are seen as having no influence and merely follow UMNO’s lead in all policy decisions for the country. One incident this year stands out in my mind that clearly exemplified UMNO’s dominance – when an incensed UMNO demanded that non-Muslim ministers retract a memorandum to the Prime Minister, expressing support for non-Muslim groups disturbed by the fact that a non-Muslim woman was denied all outlets of the civil courts when she wanted to contest the religious conversion of her dead husband. UMNO barked and the junior Ministers folded and withdrew the memorandum.

And of late, there have been issues that can be deemed as sensitive to Malaysian Chinese and Indians, cropping up. School textbooks have eliminated the contribution of non-Malays in the history of the country. State agencies like Biro Tata Negara are preaching to university students that Chinese student groups are on the payroll of “Jewish” groups. The young generation of Malaysian Chinese will logically see such acts as engineered with the blessing of the UMNO-run government especially when high-ranking government officials defends these acts. The Chinese Penang Chief Minister has also been politically bludgeoned by UMNO’s top leaders – a development which has taken on an overtly racial tone. And on the topic of education, no new Chinese schools to be built during the 9th Malaysian Plan. These developments are closely followed by the Chinese; newspapers like the MCA-controlled Star Publications, has seen it fit to briefly mention (Wong Chun Wai’s column, Sunday Star October 1) that the community has been aggrieved by the actions of some UMNO politicians. Open talk of the ketuanan Melayu agenda also seem to confirm the fears and suspicions of non-Malays that the government indeed intends to marginalize or subjugate them, even if such perceptions are far from the truth.

I believe these are the issues – ignored by these writers in the New Sunday Times - that provide the oil to feed the flickering flames of distrust and suspicion that leads many non-Malays to believe a foreigner’s words and not their own leaders.  ¶ 10:56 AM 0 Comments