NY Times: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs .... By GREG SMITH

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

By GREG SMITH

NY Times, Published: March 14, 2012

TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it. 

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.

cont...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all 

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TMI: What will people say? — by M. Bakri Musa

What will people say? — M. Bakri Musa

March 15, 2012

MARCH 15 — When the late Tun Razak moved his family to Sri Taman, the Prime Minister’s official residence at that time, his children pleaded with him to have a swimming pool installed. The Tun, acutely aware of the costs to the public, would have none of it.

“What will people say?” he told his children.

Not that the Tun did not want to indulge his children or that he was being unduly stingy, rather he was conscious of the need to differentiate the personal from the official. Unlike many especially from the Third World, then as well as now, Tun Razak was the rare leader who did not consider the public treasury to be his. Even when there were grey areas, as with the swimming pool, he would err on the side of not burdening the public with the cost.

It could be argued that since Sri Taman was government property, expenditures on improving it as with building the pool should be borne by the public. However, as the pool would benefit essentially only the prime minister’s family and invited guests, he acted with an abundance of prudence and probity in refusing to have the pool installed.

There was another less obvious but more important reason for his not acceding to his children’s wishes. Malaysia of the 1960s was devoid of gleaming skyscrapers and towering condominiums. There were no modern suburbs with luxurious mansions sporting swimming pools in their backyards. Most Malays were still stuck in their kampongs leading subsistence living and sleeping under thatch roofs. Tun Razak was sensitive to that social environment; he after all had served as Minister for Rural Development. To kampong folks, a backyard pool would have been opulence on an especially grand scale. This more than the cost was probably what prompted the late Tun not to have the pool for his children.

“What will people say?” As Muslims we are reminded to have taqwa at all times, an awareness of the presence of Allah. “Closer than your jugular vein,” as the Koran put it. If you have taqwa, aware that Allah is watching you all the time, that does tend to restrain you.

“What will people say?” could be viewed as a secular version of taqwa, an internal compass to keep us along the straight path, away from temptations and ill deeds. For a leader, that would be a path that would meet the approval if not praise from his followers. The expression reflects the power of peer pressure, the universal human need for social approval. Yes, leaders need this too.

There is a cautionary note however, especially for leaders. Pay too much attention to what people say and you reduce your leadership to a wet-finger-in-the-air mode. That is not a recipe for success, much less greatness. For others, as well as leaders, you risk being reduced to a pathetic fool, as per the fable of the old man, the boy, and the donkey.

Leaders who pay too much heed to what their followers say risk pandering to their lowest common denominator, appealing to their baser and uglier instincts. That is the leadership of the Perkasa types, obsessed with “them” taking over “our” Tanah Melayu, and of chauvinistic leaders forever paranoid over losing their culture and language. In America this is demonstrated by the ugly spectacles of the current candidates in the Republican Party primaries.

Backyard Pool, Luxury Condos, Half-Million Ringgit Engagement Party

Our leaders today are a far cry from the calibre, competence, and integrity so publicly and unambiguously displayed by the late Tun Razak. We are being painfully reminded daily of these deficiencies, including and especially with his son, Najib Razak, the current Prime Minister.

It did not escape citizens’ notice that when Tun Razak died, his estate, while not exactly destitute, was definitely not brimming with assets. The same could be said of his immediate predecessor, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and successor, Hussein Onn. Today, our ex-Prime Ministers live in mega mansions and travel the world in private luxury jets. I do not know who foot their bills. At least American ex-presidents make a show of earning their wealth through their exorbitant speaking fees.

This brings me to Rafizi Ramli’s latest revelation: Najib’s recent half-a-million ringgit engagement party for his daughter allegedly paid for by the Prime Minister’s Office, meaning the public. Rafizi, who is Keadilan’s chief strategist, had earlier brought us the National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFC) “cow-gate” scandal.

Thus far Najib had issued only a general denial to Rafizi’s serious allegation. Significantly, Najib did it not through a formal press conference but through his Twitter site. He has yet to address the specifics. Perhaps Najib is waiting to consult his high-priced public relations consultants on how best to spin this.

I agree with Rafizi that Najib has to level up with the Malaysian people. A general denial would not do it; it insults our intelligence. As Rafizi has clearly stated, Najib has to address the eight points raised by the allegation. Even if the lavish engagement party were to be paid for personally, I shudder to think what the actual wedding would cost. Malaysia’s self-styled “first couple” is competing with the Saudi royals with respect to gaudy extravagance and obscene opulence. The audacity and hypocrisy for Najib to then lecture the rakyats on the need to save and be financially prudent!

As Rafizi rightly asserted, Najib has to show incontrovertible proof (as with copies of cancelled cheques) that the funds came out of his personal accounts. That alone would not be enough; he would have to explain how he accumulated such wealth to be able to afford such extravagance. As alluded to earlier, he certainly did not inherit much wealth from his father, and Najib has been getting government paycheques all his adult life except for his brief tenure at Petronas. That too could be considered as a government paycheque.

As for Rosmah, her father, like mine, was a Malay school teacher. And I knew exactly what my father’s wealth was when he died, and he was a man not given to extravagance. Rosmah has to show that she had been a particularly successful entrepreneur to acquire such wealth. Anything less and the rakyats would have a right to assume that those riches had been illicitly acquired.

The sad part is that this obscene extravagance is but the latest show of unbridled rapacious greed in our leaders. Earlier there was that dentist and former Selangor’s Chief Minister with his million-dollar mansion that he bragged to have bought at half price through his “shrewd” bargaining. Then there was the sleepy head, Najib’s immediate predecessor, with his equally opulent mansion in Perth, Western Australia, and another one given to him locally.

Diligent citizens like Rafizi Ramli could not have exposed these shenanigans without the help of honest fellow citizens, especially those on the “inside.” The rash of such recent exposés signals a significant development. Malaysians are now no longer afraid of their leader or the state. When that happens, many wonderful things follow. Look at Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

With such sordid examples at the very top, no wonder lowly ministers and others too are in on the act. At least Women’s Minister Shahrizat had the decency to resign her cabinet post even though as she said, “I really have nothing to do with NFC except that I’m married to the chairman of NFC. But as a responsible member of the government, I feel the right thing for me to do is to step down.” Yes, she did indeed do the right and honorable thing in resigning.

Will Najib do the same? As for the engagement party, it certainly cost much more than the proposed pool at Sri Taman. We will know what people say come the next elections. More important however, is what would Tun Razak say if he were alive today? The unevenness of the tiles at Tun Razak’s mausoleum at the National Mosque was the result of his rolling in his grave. — www.bakrimusa.com

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

TMI: The fall of the Dark Empire — by Sakmongkol AK47

The fall of the Dark Empire — Sakmongkol AK47

March 12, 2012

MARCH 12 — We, those who are opposed to the sons of bitches and bitches who are ruining the country, actually like it when Najib enjoys a personal rating of 69 per cent. What was the population sample taken? And we don’t know the composition of the sample. But if we started off by selecting the population sample on which we want to draw conclusions beforehand, we only arrive as spurious and deceptive conclusions. If we grant the survey the benefit of the doubt and accept the conclusions face value, it serves our purpose really. That means while Najib is enjoying a high, Umno’s reputation travels south. Najib got A++, means Umno gets E++. Then it’s only necessary and strategically opportune for us, to just show Najib’s political infirmities. As to his personal characteristics and moral foibles, I leave that to others. We just need to go after the leader. Once he is destroyed his outfit crumbles. So enjoy.

A long time ago, the overriding ‘ideology ‘ to which Umno committed itself to was Alif Ba Ta — Agama, Bangsa dan Tanah Air. Let us examine what are these and what they should mean.

Agama of course refers to Islam. If Islam is already complete, it requires no further gloss. It needs guardians to ensure it remains pure. We accept this role. We also accept their prescriptive role — suggesting to us, how we should behave and act.

The truer role of the guardians of Islam in Malaysia should be directed at making what kind of Muslims we want to be. Are we going to be the claustrophobic Muslims who rejected the presence of Erykah Badu because, once upon a time she acted in a film which demanded that her body be temporarily tattooed with the names of the Gods worshipped by people of various practices? Her recent photo didn’t show any of those markings.

Yet the rich and the powerful, their sons and daughters and their kept women in tow, crossed over to Jakarta to watch Erykah Badu sing there. So the pristine morality to which they claimed guardianship is for the hoi polloi, the lumpen-proletariat, the underclass — while they, the rich and the powerful and the refined, practise and adopt less strict morality demands.

The poor want bread, so we give them bread. We treat ourselves to scones, cheese and fruit preserves.

If every religious denominations start to impose their sectarian moral values onto a national scale, what results from that behaviour, can only be a divisive state.

Where was the PM during this time? Busy asking Poad Jelani to erase evidence that it was the PMO which arranged the payment for the engagement do of their daughter? I am inclined to believe that it wasn’t the PMO that actually paid for the expenses. Poad Jelani can easily summon some of his benefactors to pay and the money went through him. Maybe the contractor of the aborted crooked bridge? His stupidity was to make it out as though it was the PMO which paid for it. Or perhaps as is the common practice, the PM’s boys, demanded a certain payment and after the usual deductions, paid the required amount. There must be a fee for people who serve as mules, right?

The PM as leader of this country is doing a big disservice to the country by stepping aside and allowing divisive sectarian and religious values undo harmony. In the case of Erykah Badu, the people who wanted to watch her sing here, wasn’t made entirely of Muslims.

The Muslims who did not want to watch should have chosen the more pragmatic step of just staying away. It’s no skin off our noses really if people, including some Muslims want to watch and enjoy Erykah Badu sing. But they should not impose their religious morality onto others by demanding the concert be banned entirely.

But then, stepping aside and doing nothing has always been the personal credo of the PM. I have already said he is a schemer by nature — aligning him with sectarian groups and working to ensure his groups triumph. He knows sectarian and religious clashes will only produce fissures in our society and yet chose to step aside because, divisions and disunity actually serve the purpose of ensuring he stays in power. That is the measure of the man. He is running the country just as he running Umno Pekan. Those below him can slug it out; he watches idly by and aligns with winning groups.

Does the PM actually have the IDEA of a Malaysia?

Are we going to be progressive Muslims, confident and self-assured?

As to the Bangsa, what we should mean is a Malaysian race — consisting of Malaysian Malays, Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians and Malaysian other races. We should morph into a single description of just a Malaysian. Tanah air really means this country of ours to which of all us belong and under whose patronage we enjoy the same laws, assured of the rule of law as opposed to discretionary rule of the rich and powerful aided by leeching judiciary.

In short the overriding ideology is something that the present Umno claims to have a copyright but rarely exhibits in its character. Since Dr Mahathir’s rule, Umno is one big hypocritical party.

Why is Umno (Umno actually fading away, while its president is enjoying much publicity and high personal rating) stalling on the cowgate affair? The business owed by Shahrizat’s famly was given a RM250 million grant for the specific purpose of appointing the funds to businesses related to rearing of cows. How the funds are to be handled are set out by the terms of conditions of the grant/loan agreement.

The terms and conditions are the governing guidelines, not the Memorandum and Articles of association. Whoever justified the use of the funds as justifiable in turn by the terms of the M and A must be an imbecilic. So we give grants to imbecilic and stupids.

Why are we stalling to act against the alleged irregularities committed in the application of the 250 million grant? A long time ago, I have written about the stupidity of Umno (a party to which I once belonged) owning up to the wrongs and misdeeds. In doing so Umno becomes the owner of misdeeds and wrongs committed by its leadership. In doing so Umno adopts the culture of corruption and abuse of power as its ideology. It has abandoned its Ali Ba Ta.

Why should I concern myself with what Umno does if I am no longer a member? The answer is I have an interest to kick out a party claiming copyright over how Malays should behave. Also, because I reject its claim on the ownership of the Malay mind. Umno doesn’t own the monopoly. I am speaking against a party claiming a monopoly on how to define the Malay. Also, because it’s in power at the moment — so we strike at the one in power. This isn’t rocket science.

Nobody can believe that Najib is unaware of what the man Shahrizat goes to bed with does in the NFC scandal. People can now conclude that the institutions which the PM has at his disposal have been deliberately kept weak by politicians and government in power so that they can get away with their misdeeds.

We want those in power to crack the whip on corruption. We want the cases of corruption in the country exposed and disproportionate assets of scores of officials and politicians explained what troubles us, is that the government has not taken appropriate action in any of the cases. The plan to ask ministers give full disclosure about their wealth is met with objections from some ministers. The powers of SPRM seems limited, hence they cannot move court to prosecute the corrupt.

The law has been made by politicians like Najib and gang, so, naturally, no matter how strong an outfit SPRM becomes, the results are not going to be up to the mark. But this does not mean that the SPRM is a useless institution. Give it the power and the institution will definitely deliver.

Najib’s fibbing stand will cause Umno and BN dearly in the coming elections. It will show that this government is in cahoots with offenders when the government refuses to take action against ministers in matters where prima facie a clear case for a prosecution was made out. It would lead to a situation where people in power may break law with impunity, safe in knowledge that they will not be prosecuted as requisite sanction for prosecution will not be granted.

Umno has been ruling the country for over 50 years after independence and takes credit of the development done in the country after 1957, hence the responsibility of corrupting the system also lies with it. So many stings and big scams have taken place in Malaysia, of which all occurred during Umno rule.

What about the so called overriding principles upheld by Umno? Sycophancy rules and individuals have become important than ideologies. Today, winning elections has become the only aim of political parties and in the process, money, mafia, muscle, and masjid have been introduced in the system to influence voters. The political arithmetic to win elections is not about getting majority votes but how to get maximum votes by applying various divisiveness combinations, by fielding dummy candidates, by using muscle to prevent weaker sections from voting, by using money to buy floating votes etc.

We want to save this country from ravenous politicians who have made ‘politics a business’. We want this government to provide as a matter of public record, the total assets of all the MPs. We want to know how ministers can live beyond their means. What are the assets per BN MP? We all know that politicians take vote from people but work for corporate. Is this the best democracy?

The election-centric politics (instead of people-centric) with an aim to grab power at any cost has been then main cause of corruption. Hundreds work for a party but few become MP or ADUN. The rest survive on ‘cuts and commissions’ or by grabbing government contracts. The elections are mostly funded through illegal means. After winning, the office is used to earn several times than investment. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

TMI: Three challenges to Asia’s global ascent — by Tommy Koh

Three challenges to Asia’s global ascent — Tommy Koh

TMI March 12, 2012

MARCH 12 — Asia’s regional experts are exhilarated by the fact that, after several centuries of stagnation, Asia is on the rise. Some have confidently predicted that in less than half a century, Asia will be the world’s most dominant region.

But Asia faces three key challenges that may threaten its rise: the need for inclusive growth, good governance and environmentally sustainable development. It is not enough for Asia to simply achieve higher economic growth. The world will not admire Asia unless its growth is accompanied by equity, unless the balance between development and environmental sustainability is restored, and unless Asia embraces the rule of law and rids itself of corruption.

In 1993, the World Bank published a landmark report, The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy. Eight Asian economies were praised for their sustained and high growth and for their development model of growth with equity. Today, Asia continues to enjoy high growth but with much less equity. The current trend is toward greater social inequality. For example, the gini coefficient in China stands at 0.47, and that in Singapore at 0.48.

Great inequality can lead to social unrest. It threatens social cohesion and harmony. It is fundamentally objectionable because it is contrary to the purpose of development — which is to benefit all citizens, rather than a privileged minority. In order to achieve inclusive growth, Asian governments will have to re-examine their economic model and social compact through economic, tax and social policy reforms.

The second challenge is good governance, and two aspects of good governance in particular: corruption and the rule of law.

Corruption is pervasive and deeply entrenched in most Asian countries. It is a cancer eating at the heart of Asia. Each year, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index publishes ever more dismaying figures. According to the 2011 index, only one Asian country, Singapore, is ranked among the top 10 least corrupt countries and territories of the world. Only two others, Hong Kong and Japan, made it to the top 20. Instead, Asian countries are constantly ranked among the most corrupt in the world. What is amazing is that democratic countries such as India and Indonesia are ranked as more corrupt than China. But corruption is not so deeply entrenched that it cannot be eradicated. The recent examples from the Indian states of Gujarat and Bihar, where significantly improved governance has helped reduce the level of corruption, shows that it can be done.

The rule of law is also weak in Asia. The World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators include a rule-of-law index, in which the maximum score for a country is 100. In 2010, Australia and New Zealand were awarded 95.3 and 98.1 points, respectively. But apart from these two countries, only Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan have had scores in the 90s, while South Korea and Taiwan have reached scores in the 80s. Clearly, there is much scope for improvement in other Asian countries.

The third challenge is environmental sustainability. In the quest for growth, most Asian countries and cities have made the mistake of aiming for growth at the expense of the environment. The result is that, with the exception of Japan, South Korea and Singapore, Asia suffers from air and water pollution, degraded land and contaminated food. Most Asian cities are becoming increasingly dysfunctional and unliveable. The rainforests of Asia are rapidly disappearing and with them biodiversity is lost and ecosystems are endangered. Asian countries are also becoming major emitters of carbon, while Asian fishing fleets are partly responsible for the crisis in the world’s fisheries.

But these trends are incompatible with the quality of life to which most Asians aspire. Asians want to enjoy their environment in the way that Australians and New Zealanders do. They want to be able to breathe the air; drink the water; enjoy good sanitation; eat their food with confidence; swim in their rivers, lakes and seas; and enjoy their gardens, parks and natural habitats. Asians want to live in cities which are well planned and beautiful, with good housing, efficient transportation and good social amenities.

So, while the rise of Asia should be celebrated, the challenges it faces must not be underestimated. It is not enough for Asia to be prosperous — it must also become more equitable, promote good governance, and be able to ensure a high quality of life for all its citizens. — East Asia Forum

* Tommy Koh is Ambassador-At-Large for the Government of Singapore, and is Special Advisor at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.

fmt: Anti brain-drain policies not working.... by Patrick Lee

Anti brain-drain policies not working

Patrick Lee

 | March 9, 2012

Many of the moves designed to bring Malaysians back aren't working, a report said.

PETALING JAYA: Policies aimed at bringing overseas Malaysians back home are not working, an anti-brain drain group said.

According to a report by Wake Up Call Malaysia (WUC-M), many incentives including the introduction of tax breaks and turning the country into a high-income nation were not enough.

Talent Corp’s programmes were also criticised in the report, which the group described as “a challenge” for returning Malaysians.

“(Critieria by these programmes) included returnees having to have a minimum amount of years of work experience overseas before returning.

“The lower (their) education level, the longer a Malaysian (would) have to work overseas to benefit from the incentives given out by the government.

“By then, Malaysians would have settled down overseas and (would be) reluctant to environment and lifestyle (changes),” the report said.

Talent Corp’s Retain Expert Programme, it said, also lacked promotion and publicity.

The report was also accompanied by a survey involving 518 Malaysians, many of whom were currently overseas.

According to them, many of the survey’s respondents did not know about Talent Corp’s programmes, particularly its Retain Expert Programme.

WUC-M also deemed tax breaks for returnees as a temporary solution, as it would not attract people who had enough money to go abroad in the first place.

The Public Service Department’s (PSD) Overseas Degree Programme (PILN) was also criticised.

“The follow-up programme seems ineffective as not all the scholars are ‘tracked’ to get them back. Many scholars were not granted the chance to serve out their bond and (were) released from the contract… a waste of public money spent on the education sector,” it said.

‘Uncertain’ education system

WUC-M also pointed out the gradual increase of people’s incomes parallel to taxes and inflation, warning that it would result in “unreasonable earning power versus expenditure”.

The group also noted the many “ineffective” policies by the Malaysian government, including the “uncertain” national education system (switching from English to Bahasa Malaysia), discriminatory economic policies, preferential race treatment and the continuation of the New Economic Policy (NEP).

WUC-M then proposed a number of solutions to bring Malaysians back home. These included:

• improving local tertiary education to meet international standards;
• recognition of overseas qualifications;
• simplifying the process where foreign spouses and children were nationalised;
• putting PSD scholars in fields where they had studied for;
• dual or diaspora citizenships;
• promotion of meritocracy, transparency and social equality; and
• improving political stability, reducing crime, etc.

fmt: Brain drain still a major problem.... by Patrick Lee

Brain drain still a major problem

Patrick Lee

 | March 9, 2012

Many Malaysians – a majority of whom are Chinese – still prefer to remain overseas, despite Talent Corp's recent efforts to bring them back.

PETALING JAYA: Despite Talent Corp’s efforts to bring Malaysians home, many still prefer to seek their future overseas.

And like the World Bank’s report on the Malaysia’s brain drain last year, the reasons for staying away are still very much the same.

In a survey involving 518 people, social injustice (80%), better career prospects (76%) and more attractive benefits (73%) were the top reasons why these Malaysians preferred not to come back.

Drafted by social group Wake Up Call Malaysia, many of the survey’s respondents would return if the government were to shift from a racial agenda to a needs-based one (76%).

Seventy-four percent of the people surveyed also said that they would come back if they saw evidence of “fundamental and positive change” in the government.

Other factors also highlighted included a positive business environment (57%) and a greater investment in public education (54%).

Most Malaysians surveyed in the report left Malaysia when they had to further their studies (77%), though a smaller number left for work (44%).

The report also added that 90% of the people surveyed found brain drain to be a serious issue, and that 69% of them believed that their professional goals were met after migrating.

Even so, this did not mean that they did not forget home.

Emotional attachment

Sixty-nine percent of the survey’s respondents were either patriotic or still felt a strong emotional attachment to Malaysia, while 57% said that they would return home at one point in their lives.

Twenty-five percent of them, however, were not sure about coming back.

FMT noticed that a large majority of the survey’s respondents were of Chinese descent (81%), with Malays (13%) and Indians (3%) .

The report’s ethnically skewed findings are hardly surprising. A similar result was also noticed in the World Bank’s April 2011 Malaysia Economic Monitor (Brain Drain) report.

More than one million Malaysians living overseas are ethnic Chinese. According to a previous news story, Singapore housed some 385,979 Malaysians in 2010, many of whom are Chinese.

Speaking to FMT, Wake Up Call Malaysia country coordinator Choo Choon Sian admitted that the survey was a “bit biased” towards the Chinese.

This, he reasoned, was because there were more Malaysians of Chinese descent studying overseas than the other races.

“The Chinese (presence) overseas is more significant,” he said, adding that it was also easier to get survey responses from this group.

“We were pushing very hard to circulate our questions among the Malay and Indian connections…We found it quite difficult.”

“Maybe (the others) are not too concerned (with brain drain), or maybe the Chinese are louder in voicing their opinions, especially when it comes to social injustice and inequality,” he said.

THE CHINESE MUST STOP BLAMING THE MALAYS! ... by steadyaku47

THE CHINESE MUST STOP BLAMING THE MALAYS!

steadyaku47

Thursday, March 1, 2012

There has been a significant airing of angst on the social media and in conversation amongst friends by many Malaysian on the ills they face living in Malaysia. The Indians decry the lack of economic progress and increasing poverty amongst their people. The Dayaks and Ibans are becoming more insistence that they will decide their own fate, not Putrajaya. The Orang Asli do not have a voice nor the means to make themselves heard - so we do not hear any of their cry even if they are in dire need of help. Today the rumblings of people who are no longer content to sit quietly and accept their untenable lot is beginning to deafen our ears.

And the most vocal are the Chinese. A significant number of these Chinese have voted with their feet – they have left to look for greener pastures elsewhere. And those that remain are organizing themselves into portent political groupings away from MCA – groupings with the potential to secure real political power in the coming 13th general elections. The Chinese can be a force for good or bad in our movement towards ABU. Good because together with the Malays and the other races, we can make ABU happen. Bad because the animosity between the Chinese and the Malays for perceived wrongs by the latter on the former over the implementation of the policies under the NEP still seethes just below the surface between the two races.
  
I think it is time that we discuss these matters openly and without rancour or prejudice – and ‘these matters’ I am referring to are the Chinese! 

To all you Chinese who resent the manner in which you are being treated – for lack of a better word – as second-class citizens – I want to say this.  

Blame MCA, blame the BN government, blame UMNO, blame the lack of education to make our young understand the need to celebrate our differences and not accentuate it.  Blame anything or anyone you want but do not blame the Malays. 

Yes the Chinese are the favourite bogeyman UMNO loves to blame for all the ills in Malaysia. There are many that will go so far as to say that the Malays too are to be blame for all that is wrong about this nation of ours. The Chinese claim that between UMNO and the Malays they are finding themselves to be the perpetual target for the ills in our nation – racial and religious tensions and the uneven and disproportionate distribution of wealth amongst the people. 

And these Chinese are now asking themselves why is this so! “Why Me?” Why does UMNO and  the Malays want to target a race that has always believed in the virtues of hard work and who pride themselves in their ability to survive and succeed in life through whatever trials and tribulations thrown at them? A race that have contributed more then their fair share towards the economic success of this country. Is it not enough that they have had to compete on an uneven playing field with the Malays in business, faced overwhelming odds when competing with Malays in any tenders and projects from the Government and if that was not enough, have the education of their children and their civil liberties manipulated to favour the Malays? 

I know what you Chinese have faced. Many Malays know this. Many non-Malays know this – but are we not all victims of this travesty that this UMNO led BN government dare to call a ‘Government’? A corrupt and irresponsible government that has chosen to treat the Chinese as their favourite whipping boy?  UMNO has prosecuted, abused and denied the Chinese their rights in almost every which way the Chinese choose to turn. And of course after enduring these abuses for so long the Chinese are now angry that it is so! And they intend to do something about it!

But do not be angry at the Malays. Yes many billions have been spent on the Malays and many opportunities in business and education have been denied to the Chinese in favour of the Malays. You Chinese must be sick of it! 

If the Malays have become better for all these largesse from the UMNO led BN government then the Chinese might not have minded it so much because then as the Malays benefited and become a better people, so would the Chinese and the others become better people. We can all together rise to the higher level in life. But this did not happened. 

Instead the Malays have stagnate and with their stagnation, the other races, especially the Chinese, stagnate with the Malays. And for this the Chinese are angry because they feel that the Malays have held them back.

I want the Chinese to know that we know that they are frustrated. I want the Chinese to know that we know that they have to work twice as hard to earn a decent living when compared to the Malays. We understand that their children have to score many A’s in their exams just so that their parents can spend their life savings to send them overseas to continue their studies while Malays who cannot even speak decent English are sent overseas on scholarships in the hundreds of thousands!           

And we know that what ever and where ever there are opportunities for work, education and business in Malays, these opportunities are not for the Chinese but are reserved for the Malays.

We know all this and yet we are telling the Chinese to not blame the Malays? Why? Because the Malays are also the victims of these ills that is in our country. We are as embarrassed as you are angry at the unfairness of this UMNO led BN government. And we Malays know that without the support of the Chinese and the other races we will never be able to rid ourselves of this unfairness not only to the Chinese and to the other races  - but also to the Malays.

That is why I ask the Chinese to not blame the Malays for the situation that they now find themselves in. If the NEP has not been managed properly to benefit the Malays must you blame the Malays for it? Blame UMNO!

We Malays know what the Chinese and the other races feel about life in Malaysia. You resent the privileges accorded to the Malays. You resent the Bumiputra status. You resent ketuanan Melayu ….but look at the Malays now.

Would you want to be a Malay? 

A Malay that has a Malay led government that is corrupt, arrogant and totally without compassion for its own race? 

Do you want to be a Malay that is constantly bombarded by religious pronouncements that embarrasses you  - and these come not from the Koran but from government appointed religious bodies because this Malay government uses religion to divide and rule its own people?

Do you want to be a Malay whose private life is not theirs to do as they like but is under the control of the same government appointed religious bodies that think that it is their duty to raid houses of ill reputes to save Malay girls from a life of depravity while the same politician that appointed them have lives that would rival Hugh Hefner?

Every ill that now burden our country can be said to be the fault of UMNO – and is not UMNO a Malay political organization? And you have in Malaysia 9 Sultans and one King – all Malays – all the very personification of waste and an example of an institution that does no good to anybody but themselves! All of them Malays!
  
Do you want all this on your shoulders and maybe more, much more, if you are a Malay? 

No my friends…..you do not want to be us. We all have our own cross to bear. Let us not start to blame each other for the ills that we now face in this beloved country of ours. And never must we start hating each other for these ills. Blame the UMNO led BN government. Hate the UMNO led BN government!

That UMNO is a Malay political organization is a cross that I will have to bear until we can rid ourselves of this curse. And we can only do so as one people – so please all you Chinese – do not blame the Malays for your ills. The blame lies with UMNO not with us Malays.