Monday, January 15, 2007
The rot is taking root ... fast.
I love my country. I may be a non-Malay, a small entity within a minority population group, but I still love my country. It is sad that in this day and age, when the world is getting flatter by the day as so eloquently put by Thomas Friedman, I have to reassert my allegiance to my country. Friedman's book is a frightening read. Malaysia should be afraid but there is no urgency at all at any sphere of government. We continue to deliberately ignore the danger signs right in front of our eyes. Our education system is in shambles, divided by race and religion, fed by an inadequate curriculum. We have yet to know what will be our growth drivers for the 21st century. On some days, it is biotechnology, on others, it's manufacturing. Then we make half-hearted announcements about new measures to stimulate the stock exchange, which by the way is already one of the worst performing exchanges in Asia. In any case, the stock market is no indicator of true economic value generation.
What is lacking is a focused strategy explaining how Malaysia will move from point A to point B, in firm, deliberate steps up the value chain. One only needs to look at Singapore and understand immediately why this small tiny red dot is so successful. The little country is all about picking the right strategies and flawless execution. And they do something else different - they practice meritocracy. We are governed by Darwinian rules, whether we like or not - the fittest survive, the weak will fall to the wayside. The National Economic Policy was never meant to help the strong get stronger and push the weak into a more precarious situation. 50 years after independence, we are still grappling with major race relations issues which can potentially tear this country apart.
We remained cocooned in our shells which no longer seem as sturdy as they were once. The world is looking at our nakedness while politicians continue to play the dangerous race card of bumiputera-ism and the "others". There are already murmurs that the country is facing a cash problem - one look at comments by government complaining about the high cost of rehabilitating the desolate water-logged lands of Johor is hint enough for me that we are not exactly flush with cash and continued prosperity which many UMNO politicians seem to take for granted. Is that any wonder when as a trading nation, we are not pulling in much foreign money to our shores. Indonesia has already granted their Chinese citizens full status as "pribumi" equivalent to the bumiputera status in Malaysia. That means everyone is equal, with no special privileges. Malaysia on the other hand, continues to look at half its population with suspicion. How can a rot not take root? ¶ 10:47 PM
What is lacking is a focused strategy explaining how Malaysia will move from point A to point B, in firm, deliberate steps up the value chain. One only needs to look at Singapore and understand immediately why this small tiny red dot is so successful. The little country is all about picking the right strategies and flawless execution. And they do something else different - they practice meritocracy. We are governed by Darwinian rules, whether we like or not - the fittest survive, the weak will fall to the wayside. The National Economic Policy was never meant to help the strong get stronger and push the weak into a more precarious situation. 50 years after independence, we are still grappling with major race relations issues which can potentially tear this country apart.
We remained cocooned in our shells which no longer seem as sturdy as they were once. The world is looking at our nakedness while politicians continue to play the dangerous race card of bumiputera-ism and the "others". There are already murmurs that the country is facing a cash problem - one look at comments by government complaining about the high cost of rehabilitating the desolate water-logged lands of Johor is hint enough for me that we are not exactly flush with cash and continued prosperity which many UMNO politicians seem to take for granted. Is that any wonder when as a trading nation, we are not pulling in much foreign money to our shores. Indonesia has already granted their Chinese citizens full status as "pribumi" equivalent to the bumiputera status in Malaysia. That means everyone is equal, with no special privileges. Malaysia on the other hand, continues to look at half its population with suspicion. How can a rot not take root? ¶ 10:47 PM
