Chinese getting straight As are not allowed into universities. Not allowed civil service jobs. That is blatant discrimination.
Why do you support such discrimination?
Chinese Malaysians have built very successful businesses, hence they have the wealth that they have. This is not greed. They worked for what they now own.
Why do you envy what does not belong to you? Is this not greed?
It is quite untrue that business offers are conducted on the basis of race. Starting any business is very very hard work, but the malays did not have a hard working tradition to persevere. This is a cultural change the malays need in order to conduct businesses successfully.
Armed with this knowledge, do you still insist that Chinese Malaysians are greedy, and therefore it is right for malays to take what does not belong to them?
Your perception of business in Malaysia has got to be wrong.
Most goods and services can be conducted in open markets, and there is no particular reason to single out malays so that Chinese businessmen should swindle them. There are lots of swindlers in business so it is not just malays who get swindled.
Successful businessmen depend on providing real benefits to customers and partners so that it is worthwhile for them to do business again and again to both parties benefit. It is only when customers also get rich that businesses can grow.
The discrimination against Chinese, Indians and other peoples cannot be tolerated in the modern world. Countries that do this will face long-term decline.
Hard working people are not greedy as you accuse them. They are hard working because they have a mission in life to prosper, to give offspring a good chance in life to live to the full, to contribute their talents to the betterment of society……….
This is not greed.
Whereas, envy of others wealth and taking what they have not worked for is greed.
I would put is stronger. It is robbery and corruption. You talk like a Mafia extortionist when you said that worse could happen to the Chinese, so be thankful because there are more malays than Chinese, and therefore they can take even more from the Chinese if they want to.
You have to be joking to believe that your greed and prejudices are the wonderful things about Malaysia. Well, may be you do.
Malaysia as describe it is a country based on racism, lack of a conscience, and greed (taking from hard working foreigners).
Meritocracy is denounced. Robbing the wealthy is promoted.
How can there be a good future for such a country?
Looking from outside of Malaysia, it is easy to see that the malay-controlled government is enforcing a wealth-robbing programme from the Chinese who earned their wealth through hard works.
By barring bright well-qualified Chinese Malaysians from entering Malaysian universities, Malaysia is pursuing a discriminatory policy based on race.
This is not tolerated in civilised countries. It is a policy that gives Malaysia a very bad reputation and deprives itself of its most talented.
It is a policy which tells the malays that robbing from the rich is not greed because being rich, being educated is the same as being greedy.
This is moral corruption and self-contradiction which Malaysia will pay a very heavy price.
We have never experienced any racial discrimination in any form whatsoever the many years I have been in Canada. A Vietnamese sushi chef here I know was once a refugee at Pulau Betong. He, like many others, I know has prospered and his children have all gone through university.
Malaysia's loss of talent to other countries is the result of the pervasive special rights now entrenched in the constitution.
It was meant to last for 25 years to allow - in the words of the first prime minister - "the malays to catch up with the Chinese". It is now 47 years later.
In foreign countries such as Canada, it is the majority that has to take care of minority rights be it the gays, the natives, the women and whatever groups there are. We pay heavy taxes but these go for the poor and low-income people irrespective of race, colour or creed.
So the malay, you may keep your rights and perpetuate them. Such things are archaic. Who loses in the end? Your country, which should have been a first world one by today.
The Proton adviser must have been miffed to see that after 20 years of government protection, the national car cannot compete with foreign models which have a better quality and a cheaper price.
Take note that Hyundai, now a respected name in Asian car manufacturers, started making its first cars, the Hyundai Pony, around the same time as Proton, and was also ably assisted by Mitsubishi during its early years.
Compare what this Korean upstart has achieved in the same time as Proton was allowed to lay languid behind protectionist taxation policies that priced the competition out of its market. Hyundai is already producing not one, but two engines of its own design, has a model line-up that any manufacturer would be proud of and sells its cars successfully in the largest car market in the world - the USA.
Brand name, like respect, has to be earned.
Our former premier Dr Mahathir has gone against strong criticisms to push through the national car project. The idea was commendable but the eagerness to show the world our capability as soon as possible proved to be short sighted.
We seemed to be more interested in form rather than substance in most of our endeavours, like tallest buildings (even if one is empty), more graduates (even if they still need lessons in English and other employable skills), a Formula One race track (even when we did not have a driver yet) and so on.
We cannot escape from the fact that the brain drain stemming from the lack of meritocracy is a factor to where we are today.
While I digress, our policy of luring Malaysian scientists back seems like a big joke. Time and again, for over 30 years, we overlooked Malaysians with potential because of the ugly race factor. After they made their name overseas, we want them back, offering extraordinary packages.
At times, I felt wrongly treated but gradually, I've taken it as fact of life. Over the years, I felt sorry for my father, a blacksmith for financially supporting my education through his hard work.
I wish to take the courage to voice out this is our 'tanah air' too. We have the right to be treated fairly regardless our skin color, religion or belief. When I studied in secondary school, I gave tuition classes to children from a rich family. I could easily tell them even with my young mind, that wealth has nothing to do with your origin.
During my work experience in Singapore, I found out that every employee in our company came from Malaysia, including our CEO. They had found a place where they could compete on equal grounds.
The real culprit for our foreign labour problem is productivity. Without higher productivity, there is no way one can start to move away from cheap labour. A more productive general economy in specific sectors cannot only afford but also demand higher wages for services including for menial jobs.
However, without higher productivity in general, demand would be lacking and increasing wages would only lead to economic stagnation or destruction of those sectors.
NEP is the biggest drag on productivity in this country. It is the core of problem with subsidies, low labour productivity, low investment in higher productivity activities, addiction to cheap capital and its overemphasis on capital investment.
If you want to go to the crux of it, then the real truth is that our politicians are incapable of solving our productivity problem because of their politics. What that means is that the racial equation of our economy is a drag on its productivity.
Without that productivity, there is no way to end the addiction to foreign labour and the longer the drag is there, the worst the situation becomes just to keep the economy going.
My friend used to say this: Malaysia and China are equally corrupted. The only difference is……….if one gets caught in China, he or she is dead.
But back in Malaysia, you cannot get caught unless you have lost favour with the powers that be. Somehow you can escape and move to rake in more……….and more.
I agree. What happens to the so-called 18 sharks mentioned by the Pak Lah?
In the West, corruption means embarrassment, it means downfall. In Malaysia, corruption means prosperity.
No wonder our public projects are crack here and crack there.
How can we fight corruption if the top leaders are corrupted?
Politics exist all over the world. It is how we manage it. USA, UK, and other developed countries do practice some kind or a form of corruption, however they managed it quite well.
I don't understand, after 22 years in power, Dr M doesn't seem to get it under control? Or maybe he does but the bunch of swine under him do not know the value of pearls thrown or given to them.
What was he trying to do for 22 years as PM? Trying to start a new religion? Trying to introduce a new culture or to change one was not his remit was it? He was supposed to run the country without corruption and if there was anyone who was corrupted then it was for him to sack the guy, arrest him and to put him in prison.
After 22 years of milk and honey, and now are complaining after 1 year of misery! What nonsense! Arresting a problem after ignoring it for 22 years is stupid.
I find it all a joke. You left behind good legacies for the rakyat but it is just take one mistake that people will always remember you! The negative elements will always have a lasting impression on people's mind.
Malaysia is already under economic siege. From one end, it is being squeezed out by low-cost mainland Chinese manufacturing that is getting better everyday. From the other hand - countries that used to be peers like Taiwan and South Korea are climbing so far up the value-added ladder in electronics that we now have little hope of catching up.
Then for Malaysia's slow decline in manufacturing is Penang.
This is why I blame the NEP. Some economists have called university education a 'signaling' tool to employers. In other words, an employer doesn't give a hoot about what a graduate has really learnt at university. The degree is seen as a 'signal' that the graduate is a person of higher quality than a person without a degree.
When the government, in its aspiration to make the bumis more competitive in the job market, forces universities to 'manufacture' a targeted number of graduates from a certain race, the whole 'signaling' mechanism breaks down.
Employers now cannot tell if a bumi university graduate is really of quality or if they were just the lucky by product of a quota system.
So, no wonder there are accusations that certain employers are 'racist' - they hire non-bumi grads more than bumi grads. But of course - those non-bumi grads are the only high-quality people that an employer can be sure of.
In the end, the education quota policy hurts the bumis more than the non-bumis. Bumis who would have gone on to university even if there were no quota system are now 'tainted' with the impression that they never deserved it in the first place.
Bumis who would not have gone had there not been the quota system still can't find a job after they graduate. In the meantime, these people have spent so much time and money only to be told they should work as overpaid maids or construction workers.
If we really want to let market forces run, then let meritocracy decide who should get places in our local universities. Everyone and his grandmother has an opinion for or against meritocracy, but here is an example of how non-meritocracy has actually hurt the people it was supposed to help.
The biggest economic threat to Malaysia in the next 20 years is not the rise of China and India. It is the NEP.
Let us see how Badawi positions himself in this case - that is if he is going to take a stand at all.
Otherwise he may go down as the prime minister who started with the most popular vote and ended up as the most unpopular PM.
Now if you followed speech about a new agenda to help bumis. So this is the way to create towering malays - just give them more handouts.
All talk was about helping, read enriching the malays. No one had the balls to talk about the Malaysian agenda. If this is what our future leaders spew, then I shed tears for my beloved country.
Much of so-called leakages of bumis allocation has not gone to other bumis but merely lost. Look at the ringgit depreciation, the loss of Proton, the debt of Perwaja, the bank write offs etc, and you get an idea where they have gone. The non-bumis benefit is marginal compared to the larger loses.
Just look at how many of the Menteri Besar and Chief Ministers reap profit from their position for personal gain, compared to few did not do it. They must be using the same pretext of some noble cause like NEP. But at the end the one benefiting is their closet cronies.
What left to Malaysians is the exorbitant car prices, high toll rate, no viable alternative public transport in cities, ever increasing water tariff etc. Who is suffering at the end? Isn't it the "rakyat" at large and bumis forming the largest portion?
Have they not considered why previous implementations failed? In fact one needs not look far to find the answers - CORRUPPTION and ABUSE of POWER leading to cronyism and nepotism.
A simple solution is to implement an independent judiciary, answerable to parliament and freedom of the press as a starter.
Instead, Umno is asking for more privileges. Who are the main beneficiaries? So long as Malaysia's resources are plentiful, the non-bumis as scapegoats, the use of religious fear factor works on the rakyat, Umno will continue to call the shot.
Unfortunately there is not enough resources to satisfy the greed of Umno, the rakyat will remain poorer while the rich get richer.
For non-bumis, their ultimate aim is going abroad. Those left behind, well, the left over will join the poor including the bumis in Malaysia. Thus denying Malaysia the skill and wealth of the emigrating Malaysians.
Don't forget the call for more help, enriching the malays are actually for Umno, selected few and cronies! Not all the malays!
Do read them carefully and not counting it as every malay or Malaysian! Because of this nature of speech don't count it as 'for all malays' and a case for you to bombast the innocent malays!
With all the multibillions and hundreds of millions of ringgit contracts going to the Umno bumis and crony companies, with all the Approved Permits (APs) going to the bumis (almost), with all the banking licences going to the bumis (almost), with all the big Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) coming under the control of the bumis, with all the government jobs (almost) going to the bumis, with all the petrol stations, transport licenses going to the bumis, etc, etc.
Perhaps one reason that Umno Youth perceived that the bumis are not faring too well in the economic field is that the wealth that is now in their hands is not well shared out, and is concentrated in the hands of a small number of elite and crony bumis.
If you look at the number of government contracts going out to bumis is really discriminating against the non-malays.
Until now, I have not heard of one malay who has the courage to admit, that about 90% of the government projects and assistance that went to help the malays has gone to waste - Huge squandering and wastage.
It is the reason why they are not being respected by other races.
That is their huge weakness. No matter how much monetary assistance you give to the malays, somehow or rather it doesn't improve their character and attitude towards work. It doesn't improve their knowledge on any business they are in.
Their business ethic is the lowest among Malaysians. Their wealth will never improve. Later down the road, they will be spending most of their money if not all on material gain rather than on building values, skills and knowledge.
That is why, 90% of the student scholarships, or 90% of the government projects goes to them, has gone to waste. They didn't take the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, skills but merely for material gain.
They have no confidence in themselves after so many years of independence. No confidence and faith in themselves to do their best and compete in the world. None at all.
Because most of the time, they spend their money and time on politics, and material gain. I would say malays place more importance on the form rather than on the substance.
Look at the amount of protocol they have to follow in their daily life. Most of it is not practical at all.
In short, we are stuck in medieval concept of balance of conflicting interest rather than those about moving forward to be become one.
So long as we are stuck in such medieval thinking, so long as we will be paralyzed by our fears and insecurities, and honestly second-rate as a nation.
Sad but true. After almost 48 years of independence, our nation is still governed by the divide-and-rule principal and race-oriented policies, actively promulgated by the ruling racially based political parties.
Many experienced and patriotic Malaysians, including those who have worked for many years overseas, want to contribute their knowledge and expertise to the progress and welfare of the nation by applying to work with various government or government-related organisations and agencies.
Why is it that many civil servants who are empowered to employ staff feel that it is alright for them to ignore the applications of fellow citizens who are suitably qualified and who want to contribute because they are of a different ethnic group? Such wanton and deliberate waste has been happening over the last 30 years.
Hence, besides palm oil, petroleum, and other products, Malaysia generously exports trained citizens; citizens that the nation had spent a lot for their education, be it primary, secondary, or tertiary. Citizens prized by other nations but intentionally discarded by our own motherland.
In a way, we are a good neighbour to many countries because we diligently practise 'prosper neighbour' policy by directly or indirectly encouraging many of our talented citizens to leave the country to serve other nations.
While we are losing talent, we are also experiencing another national disaster that compounds the competitiveness of our nation. Unfortunately for all of us, there are among us who believe in: 'My fellow Malaysians, ask not what your country can offer you, ask not what you can do for your country; ask what and how much you can squeeze from your country'.
These are Malaysians who have insatiable greed. Many of them, who might hail from impoverished households, have benefited from the generous race-biased policy that has paid for their education and enabled them to have well-paid, cozy jobs and subsidised houses. In principle, this is alright as fellow Malaysians who need help to improve their social standing should be assisted.
They want easy access to wealth (for example, by having Approved Permits to import cars) to become richer and richer, at the expense of the nation. Pray tell me, how long can our motherland sustain this unending hemorrhage of national wealth?
Some have claimed that the bumis dominate the banking industry, I would agree. And dominate the automobile industry in Malaysia.
Out of the 10 anchor banks in Malaysia, only Hong Leong Bank, Public Bank Bhd and Southern Bank are controlled by non-bumis.
Again, after Oriental Holding Bhd lost it franchise and dealership of Honda. Hyundai franchise has been acquired by Sime Darby. Only Tan Chong which holds distributorship of Nissan remain under non-bumis.
Actually, it is ridiculous to excluded Government Link company (GLC) on it calculation on 18% ownership. If included GLC, bumis control more than 50% of Malaysia economy. All GLCs are head by bumis and majority of its staff comprises bumis plus it has the bumis culture.
Other than the two industries highlighted, they fail to include plantation industry. With the GLC control of Sime Darby, Guthrie and Golden Hope, bumis actually control the majority of the plantation land in Malaysia.
It just that it yield of the company unable to compete with those control by non-bumis like IOI Group, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and PPB Oil Palms Bhd. Thus, it's time to improve efficiency and competitiveness rather than improve percentage of ownership.
All the plantation company also has a property development arm to capitalize on the landbank like Sime UEP, I&P and Gutherie Land.
Bumis also control all the free to air TV via Media Prima Bhd. Holding company of TV3.
At one point of time, bumis control the whole Kuala Lumpur transport system via IntraKota and Park May Bhd. However, both have been acquired by the government due to inefficiency and unable to pay its debts. Again, this is a question of efficiency and not a question of ownership percentage.
I have several remarks to make on Vision 2020. However, with the present state of mind in the country in which alternative views are seen with deep antagonism, I doubt we can make it. We cannot have sound advice and have prejudice in its implementation. Our stumbling block is our prejudices, racial or otherwise.
To talk about the NEP and achieving a 30 percent share of the wealth sounds myopic to me. If the third-rate politicians are allowed to continue with this propaganda to get elected, the electorates deserve what they get. By continually shouting these slogans, they actually give the bumis a sense of inferiority complex.
We are only less than half a percent of the world population. Why don't we open our eyes and look at the other 99 percent of the world market instead of looking just at the wealth of the non-malays in Malaysia.
The solution lies with the politicians and the people.
Edmund Terence Gomez says it who owns corporate Malaysia, and he is absolutely correct in observing that the Chinese Malaysian entrepreneurs have not managed to develop brand names or move up the technological ladder as a result of the NEP.
And I am glad to read that the likes of executive director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) agrees that another NEP policy like the kind that we have had before is not a wise move.
If not for the NEP, one would argue that by now, Malaysia would already have produced super companies and super brand names like Samsung and Sony.
Instead, Malaysia continues to drive her most gifted Malaysians such as engineers, entrepreneurs, managers, researchers, scientists, etc out of the country to work for other world-class companies.
If the whole idea of another NEP policy is still to try to get the bumis to own 30 percent of corporate Malaysia, then we'd have missed the big picture altogether.
Because there is a bigger pie out there and corporate Malaysia has to get serious about competing globally rather than to still try and decide how to divide our own little pie amongst ourselves.
I fully agree that the NEP, as it has been implemented over these years, is the root cause of the unfavourable economic and racial unhappiness that exists in the country today.
It was supposed to improve the economic status of the bumi and thereby restructure society with every community benefiting.
But has this aim been achieved? Definitely not.
Instead, what we have achieved is a high rate of corruption, an inefficient and arrogant civil service, a failing education system plus racism and a feeling of despair among the minority communities. There is so much favouritism that those really deserving are not given their dues.
The NEP has also resulted in severe mistrust and jealousy among the races in the country. Unless the NEP is abolished and replaced with a policy of fairer distribution, this unfavourable climate will continue with the future looking bleak.
The NEP has to be done away with, especially so in an era of globalisation where all citizens regardless of race should be given an equal opportunity to allow them to give their best towards national development.
UM can become a top university once again as it was in the 60s and 70s. In addition to good facilities, this would require a dynamic and capable university administration, good faculty members and with English as a key medium of instruction.
USM also has an obsession with increasing its graduate student population. The trade-off has been the lowering of standards of admission. As a result, admissions of foreign students, especially ones with the means to pay, have gone up. Lecturers are given the impossible task of passing some of these students, who are not even qualified to do any graduate work in the first place.
The answer to the deterioration lies from within. Why be extravagant about hiring a foreign consultant? Isn't this itself telling of the lack of faith in the products of your own system? We do not have to wait for the annual THES ranking to know that our higher education system is long in need of a change.
We need courageous people to do this, not political party-hacks who masquerade as half-baked academics and shallow thinkers.
For all this to happen, the NEP would have to be sacrificed. Is the government prepared to do this? The recruitment of a significant number of capable non-bumis as administrators, faculty members would be required.
There is abundant talent and capability in the Malaysian population which remains to be tapped in the interest of Malaysian public universities. It would be imprudent to ignore such a large pool of resources when one wants to achieve excellence.
Putting it another way, it is in the interest of the Malaysian public universities (and their large malay student population) to engage the non-bumi talent and exploit their capabilities in all aspects and dimensions.
The non-bumis would also benefit from such an exercise, but the far greater beneficiary would be the bumi students and Malaysia as a whole. It is simple logic.
Malaysia has the misfortune of being ruled by Muslims, hence their intolerant attitude to you non-malays.
It was the Chinese and Indian minorities that have begun to lift Malaysia out of third world poverty, and those malay bastards should be grateful to them for this but like I said before, that is too much to ask from a Muslim.
Malaysia is a xenophobic country - the bitter truth is that malays are afraid of competition from other races - they are indeed lazy and want everything for free.
If Malaysia is to divide into two countries with malays taking the east and the west to the Chinese and the Indians - watch the malays starting to migrate to the west illegally for a better future.
It is no wonder Singapore is a country which is 50 years ahead of Malaysia. Malays are fool racists indeed.
The writer reader should know that most of non-malay community realised what the government have done to them is unforgiven.
If we still depending on government we won't be in top positions in overseas, for example (76% in NASA is Indians), two-thirds of the community of practicing doctors in Singapore is Malaysian Chinese.
We (non-malay community) have been proven our intelligence around the world but not in Malaysia. So what we have do just emigrate or use Malaysia as an investment base.
Actually we (non-malays) should know that government will never change their policies unless there is a protest, here we don't do that……….That is the problem - anything the government says we just simply raise the Barisan flag.
It will be good idea if we emigrate, like one say in English, 'Where is a will, there is a way.'
But always remember the 'will' for non-malays is not in Malaysia.
10 comments:
Chinese getting straight As are not allowed into universities. Not allowed civil service jobs. That is blatant discrimination.
Why do you support such discrimination?
Chinese Malaysians have built very successful businesses, hence they have the wealth that they have. This is not greed. They worked for what they now own.
Why do you envy what does not belong to you? Is this not greed?
It is quite untrue that business offers are conducted on the basis of race. Starting any business is very very hard work, but the malays did not have a hard working tradition to persevere. This is a cultural change the malays need in order to conduct businesses successfully.
Armed with this knowledge, do you still insist that Chinese Malaysians are greedy, and therefore it is right for malays to take what does not belong to them?
Your perception of business in Malaysia has got to be wrong.
Most goods and services can be conducted in open markets, and there is no particular reason to single out malays so that Chinese businessmen should swindle them. There are lots of swindlers in business so it is not just malays who get swindled.
Successful businessmen depend on providing real benefits to customers and partners so that it is worthwhile for them to do business again and again to both parties benefit. It is only when customers also get rich that businesses can grow.
The discrimination against Chinese, Indians and other peoples cannot be tolerated in the modern world. Countries that do this will face long-term decline.
Hard working people are not greedy as you accuse them. They are hard working because they have a mission in life to prosper, to give offspring a good chance in life to live to the full, to contribute their talents to the betterment of society……….
This is not greed.
Whereas, envy of others wealth and taking what they have not worked for is greed.
I would put is stronger. It is robbery and corruption. You talk like a Mafia extortionist when you said that worse could happen to the Chinese, so be thankful because there are more malays than Chinese, and therefore they can take even more from the Chinese if they want to.
You have to be joking to believe that your greed and prejudices are the wonderful things about Malaysia. Well, may be you do.
Malaysia as describe it is a country based on racism, lack of a conscience, and greed (taking from hard working foreigners).
Meritocracy is denounced. Robbing the wealthy is promoted.
How can there be a good future for such a country?
Looking from outside of Malaysia, it is easy to see that the malay-controlled government is enforcing a wealth-robbing programme from the Chinese who earned their wealth through hard works.
By barring bright well-qualified Chinese Malaysians from entering Malaysian universities, Malaysia is pursuing a discriminatory policy based on race.
This is not tolerated in civilised countries. It is a policy that gives Malaysia a very bad reputation and deprives itself of its most talented.
It is a policy which tells the malays that robbing from the rich is not greed because being rich, being educated is the same as being greedy.
This is moral corruption and self-contradiction which Malaysia will pay a very heavy price.
We have never experienced any racial discrimination in any form whatsoever the many years I have been in Canada. A Vietnamese sushi chef here I know was once a refugee at Pulau Betong. He, like many others, I know has prospered and his children have all gone through university.
Malaysia's loss of talent to other countries is the result of the pervasive special rights now entrenched in the constitution.
It was meant to last for 25 years to allow - in the words of the first prime minister - "the malays to catch up with the Chinese". It is now 47 years later.
In foreign countries such as Canada, it is the majority that has to take care of minority rights be it the gays, the natives, the women and whatever groups there are. We pay heavy taxes but these go for the poor and low-income people irrespective of race, colour or creed.
So the malay, you may keep your rights and perpetuate them. Such things are archaic. Who loses in the end? Your country, which should have been a first world one by today.
The Proton adviser must have been miffed to see that after 20 years of government protection, the national car cannot compete with foreign models which have a better quality and a cheaper price.
Take note that Hyundai, now a respected name in Asian car manufacturers, started making its first cars, the Hyundai Pony, around the same time as Proton, and was also ably assisted by Mitsubishi during its early years.
Compare what this Korean upstart has achieved in the same time as Proton was allowed to lay languid behind protectionist taxation policies that priced the competition out of its market. Hyundai is already producing not one, but two engines of its own design, has a model line-up that any manufacturer would be proud of and sells its cars successfully in the largest car market in the world - the USA.
Brand name, like respect, has to be earned.
Our former premier Dr Mahathir has gone against strong criticisms to push through the national car project. The idea was commendable but the eagerness to show the world our capability as soon as possible proved to be short sighted.
We seemed to be more interested in form rather than substance in most of our endeavours, like tallest buildings (even if one is empty), more graduates (even if they still need lessons in English and other employable skills), a Formula One race track (even when we did not have a driver yet) and so on.
We cannot escape from the fact that the brain drain stemming from the lack of meritocracy is a factor to where we are today.
While I digress, our policy of luring Malaysian scientists back seems like a big joke. Time and again, for over 30 years, we overlooked Malaysians with potential because of the ugly race factor. After they made their name overseas, we want them back, offering extraordinary packages.
At times, I felt wrongly treated but gradually, I've taken it as fact of life. Over the years, I felt sorry for my father, a blacksmith for financially supporting my education through his hard work.
I wish to take the courage to voice out this is our 'tanah air' too. We have the right to be treated fairly regardless our skin color, religion or belief. When I studied in secondary school, I gave tuition classes to children from a rich family. I could easily tell them even with my young mind, that wealth has nothing to do with your origin.
During my work experience in Singapore, I found out that every employee in our company came from Malaysia, including our CEO. They had found a place where they could compete on equal grounds.
The real culprit for our foreign labour problem is productivity. Without higher productivity, there is no way one can start to move away from cheap labour. A more productive general economy in specific sectors cannot only afford but also demand higher wages for services including for menial jobs.
However, without higher productivity in general, demand would be lacking and increasing wages would only lead to economic stagnation or destruction of those sectors.
NEP is the biggest drag on productivity in this country. It is the core of problem with subsidies, low labour productivity, low investment in higher productivity activities, addiction to cheap capital and its overemphasis on capital investment.
If you want to go to the crux of it, then the real truth is that our politicians are incapable of solving our productivity problem because of their politics. What that means is that the racial equation of our economy is a drag on its productivity.
Without that productivity, there is no way to end the addiction to foreign labour and the longer the drag is there, the worst the situation becomes just to keep the economy going.
My friend used to say this: Malaysia and China are equally corrupted. The only difference is……….if one gets caught in China, he or she is dead.
But back in Malaysia, you cannot get caught unless you have lost favour with the powers that be. Somehow you can escape and move to rake in more……….and more.
I agree. What happens to the so-called 18 sharks mentioned by the Pak Lah?
In the West, corruption means embarrassment, it means downfall. In Malaysia, corruption means prosperity.
No wonder our public projects are crack here and crack there.
How can we fight corruption if the top leaders are corrupted?
Politics exist all over the world. It is how we manage it. USA, UK, and other developed countries do practice some kind or a form of corruption, however they managed it quite well.
I don't understand, after 22 years in power, Dr M doesn't seem to get it under control? Or maybe he does but the bunch of swine under him do not know the value of pearls thrown or given to them.
What was he trying to do for 22 years as PM? Trying to start a new religion? Trying to introduce a new culture or to change one was not his remit was it? He was supposed to run the country without corruption and if there was anyone who was corrupted then it was for him to sack the guy, arrest him and to put him in prison.
After 22 years of milk and honey, and now are complaining after 1 year of misery! What nonsense! Arresting a problem after ignoring it for 22 years is stupid.
I find it all a joke. You left behind good legacies for the rakyat but it is just take one mistake that people will always remember you! The negative elements will always have a lasting impression on people's mind.
Malaysia is already under economic siege. From one end, it is being squeezed out by low-cost mainland Chinese manufacturing that is getting better everyday. From the other hand - countries that used to be peers like Taiwan and South Korea are climbing so far up the value-added ladder in electronics that we now have little hope of catching up.
Then for Malaysia's slow decline in manufacturing is Penang.
This is why I blame the NEP. Some economists have called university education a 'signaling' tool to employers. In other words, an employer doesn't give a hoot about what a graduate has really learnt at university. The degree is seen as a 'signal' that the graduate is a person of higher quality than a person without a degree.
When the government, in its aspiration to make the bumis more competitive in the job market, forces universities to 'manufacture' a targeted number of graduates from a certain race, the whole 'signaling' mechanism breaks down.
Employers now cannot tell if a bumi university graduate is really of quality or if they were just the lucky by product of a quota system.
So, no wonder there are accusations that certain employers are 'racist' - they hire non-bumi grads more than bumi grads. But of course - those non-bumi grads are the only high-quality people that an employer can be sure of.
In the end, the education quota policy hurts the bumis more than the non-bumis. Bumis who would have gone on to university even if there were no quota system are now 'tainted' with the impression that they never deserved it in the first place.
Bumis who would not have gone had there not been the quota system still can't find a job after they graduate. In the meantime, these people have spent so much time and money only to be told they should work as overpaid maids or construction workers.
If we really want to let market forces run, then let meritocracy decide who should get places in our local universities. Everyone and his grandmother has an opinion for or against meritocracy, but here is an example of how non-meritocracy has actually hurt the people it was supposed to help.
The biggest economic threat to Malaysia in the next 20 years is not the rise of China and India. It is the NEP.
Let us see how Badawi positions himself in this case - that is if he is going to take a stand at all.
Otherwise he may go down as the prime minister who started with the most popular vote and ended up as the most unpopular PM.
Now if you followed speech about a new agenda to help bumis. So this is the way to create towering malays - just give them more handouts.
All talk was about helping, read enriching the malays. No one had the balls to talk about the Malaysian agenda. If this is what our future leaders spew, then I shed tears for my beloved country.
Much of so-called leakages of bumis allocation has not gone to other bumis but merely lost. Look at the ringgit depreciation, the loss of Proton, the debt of Perwaja, the bank write offs etc, and you get an idea where they have gone. The non-bumis benefit is marginal compared to the larger loses.
Just look at how many of the Menteri Besar and Chief Ministers reap profit from their position for personal gain, compared to few did not do it. They must be using the same pretext of some noble cause like NEP. But at the end the one benefiting is their closet cronies.
What left to Malaysians is the exorbitant car prices, high toll rate, no viable alternative public transport in cities, ever increasing water tariff etc. Who is suffering at the end? Isn't it the "rakyat" at large and bumis forming the largest portion?
Have they not considered why previous implementations failed? In fact one needs not look far to find the answers - CORRUPPTION and ABUSE of POWER leading to cronyism and nepotism.
A simple solution is to implement an independent judiciary, answerable to parliament and freedom of the press as a starter.
Instead, Umno is asking for more privileges. Who are the main beneficiaries? So long as Malaysia's resources are plentiful, the non-bumis as scapegoats, the use of religious fear factor works on the rakyat, Umno will continue to call the shot.
Unfortunately there is not enough resources to satisfy the greed of Umno, the rakyat will remain poorer while the rich get richer.
For non-bumis, their ultimate aim is going abroad. Those left behind, well, the left over will join the poor including the bumis in Malaysia. Thus denying Malaysia the skill and wealth of the emigrating Malaysians.
Don't forget the call for more help, enriching the malays are actually for Umno, selected few and cronies! Not all the malays!
Do read them carefully and not counting it as every malay or Malaysian! Because of this nature of speech don't count it as 'for all malays' and a case for you to bombast the innocent malays!
With all the multibillions and hundreds of millions of ringgit contracts going to the Umno bumis and crony companies, with all the Approved Permits (APs) going to the bumis (almost), with all the banking licences going to the bumis (almost), with all the big Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) coming under the control of the bumis, with all the government jobs (almost) going to the bumis, with all the petrol stations, transport licenses going to the bumis, etc, etc.
Perhaps one reason that Umno Youth perceived that the bumis are not faring too well in the economic field is that the wealth that is now in their hands is not well shared out, and is concentrated in the hands of a small number of elite and crony bumis.
If you look at the number of government contracts going out to bumis is really discriminating against the non-malays.
Until now, I have not heard of one malay who has the courage to admit, that about 90% of the government projects and assistance that went to help the malays has gone to waste - Huge squandering and wastage.
It is the reason why they are not being respected by other races.
That is their huge weakness. No matter how much monetary assistance you give to the malays, somehow or rather it doesn't improve their character and attitude towards work. It doesn't improve their knowledge on any business they are in.
Their business ethic is the lowest among Malaysians. Their wealth will never improve. Later down the road, they will be spending most of their money if not all on material gain rather than on building values, skills and knowledge.
That is why, 90% of the student scholarships, or 90% of the government projects goes to them, has gone to waste. They didn't take the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, skills but merely for material gain.
They have no confidence in themselves after so many years of independence. No confidence and faith in themselves to do their best and compete in the world. None at all.
Because most of the time, they spend their money and time on politics, and material gain. I would say malays place more importance on the form rather than on the substance.
Look at the amount of protocol they have to follow in their daily life. Most of it is not practical at all.
In short, we are stuck in medieval concept of balance of conflicting interest rather than those about moving forward to be become one.
So long as we are stuck in such medieval thinking, so long as we will be paralyzed by our fears and insecurities, and honestly second-rate as a nation.
Sad but true. After almost 48 years of independence, our nation is still governed by the divide-and-rule principal and race-oriented policies, actively promulgated by the ruling racially based political parties.
Many experienced and patriotic Malaysians, including those who have worked for many years overseas, want to contribute their knowledge and expertise to the progress and welfare of the nation by applying to work with various government or government-related organisations and agencies.
Why is it that many civil servants who are empowered to employ staff feel that it is alright for them to ignore the applications of fellow citizens who are suitably qualified and who want to contribute because they are of a different ethnic group? Such wanton and deliberate waste has been happening over the last 30 years.
Hence, besides palm oil, petroleum, and other products, Malaysia generously exports trained citizens; citizens that the nation had spent a lot for their education, be it primary, secondary, or tertiary. Citizens prized by other nations but intentionally discarded by our own motherland.
In a way, we are a good neighbour to many countries because we diligently practise 'prosper neighbour' policy by directly or indirectly encouraging many of our talented citizens to leave the country to serve other nations.
While we are losing talent, we are also experiencing another national disaster that compounds the competitiveness of our nation. Unfortunately for all of us, there are among us who believe in: 'My fellow Malaysians, ask not what your country can offer you, ask not what you can do for your country; ask what and how much you can squeeze from your country'.
These are Malaysians who have insatiable greed. Many of them, who might hail from impoverished households, have benefited from the generous race-biased policy that has paid for their education and enabled them to have well-paid, cozy jobs and subsidised houses. In principle, this is alright as fellow Malaysians who need help to improve their social standing should be assisted.
They want easy access to wealth (for example, by having Approved Permits to import cars) to become richer and richer, at the expense of the nation. Pray tell me, how long can our motherland sustain this unending hemorrhage of national wealth?
By right, it should now be pay back time.
Some have claimed that the bumis dominate the banking industry, I would agree. And dominate the automobile industry in Malaysia.
Out of the 10 anchor banks in Malaysia, only Hong Leong Bank, Public Bank Bhd and Southern Bank are controlled by non-bumis.
Again, after Oriental Holding Bhd lost it franchise and dealership of Honda. Hyundai franchise has been acquired by Sime Darby. Only Tan Chong which holds distributorship of Nissan remain under non-bumis.
Actually, it is ridiculous to excluded Government Link company (GLC) on it calculation on 18% ownership. If included GLC, bumis control more than 50% of Malaysia economy. All GLCs are head by bumis and majority of its staff comprises bumis plus it has the bumis culture.
Other than the two industries highlighted, they fail to include plantation industry. With the GLC control of Sime Darby, Guthrie and Golden Hope, bumis actually control the majority of the plantation land in Malaysia.
It just that it yield of the company unable to compete with those control by non-bumis like IOI Group, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and PPB Oil Palms Bhd. Thus, it's time to improve efficiency and competitiveness rather than improve percentage of ownership.
All the plantation company also has a property development arm to capitalize on the landbank like Sime UEP, I&P and Gutherie Land.
Bumis also control all the free to air TV via Media Prima Bhd. Holding company of TV3.
At one point of time, bumis control the whole Kuala Lumpur transport system via IntraKota and Park May Bhd. However, both have been acquired by the government due to inefficiency and unable to pay its debts. Again, this is a question of efficiency and not a question of ownership percentage.
I have several remarks to make on Vision 2020. However, with the present state of mind in the country in which alternative views are seen with deep antagonism, I doubt we can make it. We cannot have sound advice and have prejudice in its implementation. Our stumbling block is our prejudices, racial or otherwise.
To talk about the NEP and achieving a 30 percent share of the wealth sounds myopic to me. If the third-rate politicians are allowed to continue with this propaganda to get elected, the electorates deserve what they get. By continually shouting these slogans, they actually give the bumis a sense of inferiority complex.
We are only less than half a percent of the world population. Why don't we open our eyes and look at the other 99 percent of the world market instead of looking just at the wealth of the non-malays in Malaysia.
The solution lies with the politicians and the people.
Edmund Terence Gomez says it who owns corporate Malaysia, and he is absolutely correct in observing that the Chinese Malaysian entrepreneurs have not managed to develop brand names or move up the technological ladder as a result of the NEP.
And I am glad to read that the likes of executive director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) agrees that another NEP policy like the kind that we have had before is not a wise move.
If not for the NEP, one would argue that by now, Malaysia would already have produced super companies and super brand names like Samsung and Sony.
Instead, Malaysia continues to drive her most gifted Malaysians such as engineers, entrepreneurs, managers, researchers, scientists, etc out of the country to work for other world-class companies.
If the whole idea of another NEP policy is still to try to get the bumis to own 30 percent of corporate Malaysia, then we'd have missed the big picture altogether.
Because there is a bigger pie out there and corporate Malaysia has to get serious about competing globally rather than to still try and decide how to divide our own little pie amongst ourselves.
I fully agree that the NEP, as it has been implemented over these years, is the root cause of the unfavourable economic and racial unhappiness that exists in the country today.
It was supposed to improve the economic status of the bumi and thereby restructure society with every community benefiting.
But has this aim been achieved? Definitely not.
Instead, what we have achieved is a high rate of corruption, an inefficient and arrogant civil service, a failing education system plus racism and a feeling of despair among the minority communities. There is so much favouritism that those really deserving are not given their dues.
The NEP has also resulted in severe mistrust and jealousy among the races in the country. Unless the NEP is abolished and replaced with a policy of fairer distribution, this unfavourable climate will continue with the future looking bleak.
The NEP has to be done away with, especially so in an era of globalisation where all citizens regardless of race should be given an equal opportunity to allow them to give their best towards national development.
UM can become a top university once again as it was in the 60s and 70s. In addition to good facilities, this would require a dynamic and capable university administration, good faculty members and with English as a key medium of instruction.
USM also has an obsession with increasing its graduate student population. The trade-off has been the lowering of standards of admission. As a result, admissions of foreign students, especially ones with the means to pay, have gone up. Lecturers are given the impossible task of passing some of these students, who are not even qualified to do any graduate work in the first place.
The answer to the deterioration lies from within. Why be extravagant about hiring a foreign consultant? Isn't this itself telling of the lack of faith in the products of your own system? We do not have to wait for the annual THES ranking to know that our higher education system is long in need of a change.
We need courageous people to do this, not political party-hacks who masquerade as half-baked academics and shallow thinkers.
For all this to happen, the NEP would have to be sacrificed. Is the government prepared to do this? The recruitment of a significant number of capable non-bumis as administrators, faculty members would be required.
There is abundant talent and capability in the Malaysian population which remains to be tapped in the interest of Malaysian public universities. It would be imprudent to ignore such a large pool of resources when one wants to achieve excellence.
Putting it another way, it is in the interest of the Malaysian public universities (and their large malay student population) to engage the non-bumi talent and exploit their capabilities in all aspects and dimensions.
The non-bumis would also benefit from such an exercise, but the far greater beneficiary would be the bumi students and Malaysia as a whole. It is simple logic.
Malaysia has the misfortune of being ruled by Muslims, hence their intolerant attitude to you non-malays.
It was the Chinese and Indian minorities that have begun to lift Malaysia out of third world poverty, and those malay bastards should be grateful to them for this but like I said before, that is too much to ask from a Muslim.
Malaysia is a xenophobic country - the bitter truth is that malays are afraid of competition from other races - they are indeed lazy and want everything for free.
If Malaysia is to divide into two countries with malays taking the east and the west to the Chinese and the Indians - watch the malays starting to migrate to the west illegally for a better future.
It is no wonder Singapore is a country which is 50 years ahead of Malaysia. Malays are fool racists indeed.
The writer reader should know that most of non-malay community realised what the government have done to them is unforgiven.
If we still depending on government we won't be in top positions in overseas, for example (76% in NASA is Indians), two-thirds of the community of practicing doctors in Singapore is Malaysian Chinese.
We (non-malay community) have been proven our intelligence around the world but not in Malaysia. So what we have do just emigrate or use Malaysia as an investment base.
Actually we (non-malays) should know that government will never change their policies unless there is a protest, here we don't do that……….That is the problem - anything the government says we just simply raise the Barisan flag.
It will be good idea if we emigrate, like one say in English, 'Where is a will, there is a way.'
But always remember the 'will' for non-malays is not in Malaysia.
Post a Comment