malaysiakini: A nation of failed economic development plans... by AB Sulaiman

A nation of failed economic development plans

AB Sulaiman
Sep 20, 10
1:45pm

COMMENT The world can be a nasty place especially in terms of planning, where your best and well intentioned plans can produce the worst unintended results. The country's numerous development plans is a perfect example of this.

Since Independence we have always strived to be a country with strong social, economic and political credentials: a strong healthy and united people, public safety and security, great infrastructure, mature democracy, clean human rights record, good education system, governed under rule of law, and of course, a justice-minded judiciary.

To top them all off we are to enjoy a per capita income equal to the peoples in advanced economies. We wish to be an advanced country in our own right.

The current realities are anything but. The people are fragmented while some are migrating to friendlier lands, our infrastructure while adequate is wasteful, our democracy is an ugly disguise for authoritarianism, our education system produces non-thinking graduates, the rule of law has become the rule by law, and the judiciary is an international laughing stock.

The latest world indices would confirm this. There are many but I'd mention just two. First, the 2009 figures for FDI showing an 81 percent fall from US$7.32 billion to US$1.38 billion. At this paltry level we now have joined investment-unattractive countries like Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Timor–Leste.

Not only that, apparently the FDI into Thailand and Indonesia have overtaken that coming into Malaysia, once the darling of international investors.

Two, as for per capita income we are at about US$7,000 while the advanced countries we wish to join are at US$30,000 and above. We are less than a quarter of the way to our self-proclaimed goal.

On looking back, we started well in the arena of economic development, but somewhere along the line we faltered and very badly.

Faltered from the start

I reckon we faltered beginning 1970 when we introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP). This was when we began propounding and experimenting economic development plans beyond the parameters of sound economic principles.

Specifically we made plans and projections not in the interest of the country, but in the interest of a segment of the population, namely the Malays.

Now this might be an explosive statement to make so I have to make my stand clear.

The fact of the matter is that the factors of production in an economic set-up are land, labour, capital, entrepreneurship, and in an increasingly knowledge-based world economy, on the ability to access and utilise knowledge. I 'borrow' these factors as principles for economic development.

For an economy to expand therefore, all scarce resources must be optimally channelled for the development of these principles.

I'd reiterate: develop land, inject capital optimally for investment, encourage entrepreneurship, enhance the level of knowledge through smart education. Only then can the economy expand and achieve sustainability.

This last element of sustainability is important – the developing economy must reach a level when it can sustain or regenerate itself without anymore support from any planning agency.
Anything less than this and we can see an economy not going anywhere, and could in fact regress, like our current situation. Lim Kit Siang sums it well – the economy would be a 'work in regress'.

What has gone wrong with our string of development plans? In my view there are several, and I mention them here despite being aware that many commentators have mentioned them constantly. Perhaps there can be some wisdom in saying the same things again, hoping somewhere along the line the decision makers can begin to listen.

Several hundred billion USD wasted

First, after 1970 we seem to divert the elementary formula for economic development mentioned above, into some non-optimal channels resulting in massive wastage. Our planners channelled land development mainly to the Malays. We made development plans for sectarian, not for national interests.

In this way the Malays gain comparatively easy access to scarce capital they cannot fruitfully use because of their lack in entrepreneurial skill and spirit. Their lack in education and knowledge have rendered their productivity level below that of their non-Malay counterparts.

I am aware of course that this resource misallocation was for a special reason and thereby meant to be implemented only for twenty years. But when this time was up the authorities would merely forget this proviso.

As events turn out, such allocations have proven to be below optimum level; even wasteful of scarce resources. External observers have noted that the NEP wasted several hundred billion US dollars!

Favouring race over economics

When the leaders saw that the Malays could not cope and the non-Malays restive they use race and religion to both spur the Malay on and to push away any non-Malay disgruntlement. In other words the leaders dismissed the traditional economic factors of national asset creation in favour of Malay racism and cultural hegemony under the banner of Ketuanan Melayu; and of Islam.

I might be out of academics but I have never known racism and religion to substitute economic factors in any country's asset creation efforts. Surely the planners have not forgotten that this new formula was experimental in nature and to last only for twenty years.

In any case, here we see the early unintended results of the NEP. On the part of the Malays we see a community of people developing a false sense of confidence that they have progressed ahead on the platform of race and religion; whereas in actuality they have not.

On the part of the non-Malays they see the wastefulness of the country's allocation of scarce resources in the interest of racism and religion as the sure way towards non-sustainability and regression.

And yet the authorities would prevent the citizens to even debate the issue.

No post mortem conducted

Come 1990 and the NEP report card had shown the recklessness of this development programme. Malay achievements were nowhere in sight.

Would there be some form of post-mortem analysis to see the good and bad points? To see whether the country should progress ahead in the same race-and-religion principles?

There has been no such effort, not to my knowledge anyway. It has been more of the same: more racism, more religion. And here we see the continuation of a string of failed development programmes.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) announced the Vision 2020 stating that the country would join advanced nations by this magical year. It was well-intended perhaps, but with the economic principles remaining unchanged, that is in favour not of the country but of the Malays, the country began its slide downwards.

When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took the reins of power, many people had thought that he might just do the right thing to put the country back on the right track again. But he used religious motives (remember Islam Hadhari) to lead the people forward – there was no change there either.

Now we have Najib Razak leading the nation out of the dangerous zone of falling into the steep precipice of a failed state. He has his own plans of course, and its called 1Malaysia: people first, performance now. Will he make any headway?

I just say this to him for whatever it is worth. Go ahead with your development plans based on the proven factors of production as mentioned severally above.

But do not be distracted by sectarian interests, nor for religious considerations. Go for optimum scarce resource allocation and economic sustainability.

AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world. He hopes to provide some understanding to the issues at hand and wherever possible, suggest some solutions. He holds a Bachelor in Social Sciences (Leicester, UK) and a Diploma in Public Administration, Universiti Malaya.

Malaysiakini-Josh Hong: Fight for nation's soul continues

March 8: Fight for nation's soul continues

Josh Hong
malaysiakini, Mar 5, 2010
12:17pm

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." - PJ O'Rourke

What a difference two years can make. To appreciate the ramifications brought on by the rapid successions of events, one need only look at Malaysia since March 8 general election two years ago.

Anwar Ibrahim, flanked by his entourage of lawmakers, was beaming with ecstasy and hopes. 

Boosted by the unexpected wins in several states, he threw down the gauntlet by engineering defections from Barisan Nasional (BN) and securing his former parliamentary seat with an increased majority.

But the failure to cause the downfall of one of the world's longest surviving coalitions and the exit of the utterly ineffective Abdullah Badawi - whose ability to mess things up was legendary - signaled a drastic turn in BN's fortunes. 

With Najib Abdul Razak in charge, things seem to have moved into the right direction for Umno, though not for its increasingly irrelevant partners.

Among the latterly formed Pakatan Rakyat parties, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is the one that Umno has its sights firmly on. Founded by Anwaristas in the late 1990s, PKR's 'original sin' lies in its stated aim to end Umno's long rule by those who know the Malay party best. After all, a large segment of PKR membership comes from ex-Umno members.

Given the limited time and the prospects of a protracted economic gloom, Najib and his lieutenants are acutely aware they may not be able to swing enough non-Malay votes in the next election, which makes regaining the Malay ground vitally important.

While Umno had attempted to up the ante with the controversy over the usage of Allah by non-Muslims, it backfired terribly, with PAS emerging as a moderate Islamic party looked upon rather favourably by many.

It is very clear by now that Umno under Najib, while making earnest efforts to revive the faltering economy, has not lost sight of simultaneously wreaking havoc on PR and weakening its administrations in Penang and Selangor, especially through defection. 

Since PAS members are seemingly God-fearing, and DAP lawmakers are generally of stronger credentials, Najib has no option but to concentrate his offensive on PKR.

PKR's 'curse'

PKR itself is a paradox: it represents the best hope for multiracial politics in Malaysia, led by arguably the most charismatic and politically savvy politician in the country. 

Unlike PAS and DAP, it has an unsettled political constituency and therefore the biggest potential to grow beyond its current shape. But all this has also become a curse for the party.

Thanks to PAS' firm control of Kelantan and relatively strong showing in Kedah, Umno is unable to project the Islamists as subservient to DAP. 

Hence, in furtherance of the objective of de-stabilising Pakatan's Malay base, Najib must go all out to portray PKR as a party that has betrayed the Malay cause. 

Unexpected wins

I personally know of quite a few people who had turned down the offer to stand on PKR tickets simply because they saw no realistic chances of winning those seats. It does not take a genius to understand why some of them have since been quietly lamenting the missed opportunity.

When I chanced upon Donald Lim Siang Chai the other day, I addressed him as my "bekas YB". He was not in the least amused, for he too was puzzled at his defeat by a rookie by nearly 6,000 votes!

Many also thought PKR would be lucky if it could wrestle a few parliamentary seats from BN to keep its reformist agenda going. It would also ensure Anwar's (diminished) role to some extent.

So, when the smartest and the brightest people shun PKR, not to mention business "leaders" who were seasoned enough to stay above the fray although they knew the country's economy was going downhill, all that the party could get was a mixed bag of everything: from genuine reformists, pseudo-religionists to shameless opportunists, many of whom have now turned out to be PKR's underbelly.

While I concede too much politicking on both sides of the political divide has undermined public confidence considerably, there is still no denial that Umno has been relentless in persecuting PR leaders. 

Anwar's failed attempt to entice BN lawmakers to cross over may have been reckless, the way Umno is going for the jugular - from merciless media offensive to blatant misuse of state institutions - is shameless, effectively denying the opposition time and space needed to concretise policies.

Still, we must not overlook the positive developments since March 8, Pakatan's current shambles notwithstanding. Its stand on a host of critical issues is crystal clear: weeding out corruption, reforming the state institutions (especially the police), restoring judicial independence, ensuring freedom of speech and the press, abolition of the Internal Security Act, adhering to retributive justice in terms of economics etc..

In Selangor, the fact that more and more public office bearers are made to account for their words and deeds by means of open hearing is epochal, and one must not forget this would not have become a reality if the Khir Toyo government had not been routed.

Of greater interest to us all is that a large number of Malay leaders Pakatan are now openly in favour of affirmative action for those who need it most, regardless of race, creed and religion.

This new political milieu has compelled Najib to adopt an inclusive and liberal image, although he is still shackled by Umno's racist structure. Najib understands PKR's strength in pulling various communities together, and now seeks to emulate some of its ideals. There would not have been this propagandistic myth called 1Malaysia without March 8 in the first place.

Be so as it may, Najib's endeavor to transform BN into a multiracial grouping could be transient, depending on how Pakatan, and PKR in particular, performs come next election. 

As long as PKR has not abandoned its moderate stance and multiracial platform, it deserves our support to keep Umno, PAS and even DAP in check.

There are many curses, but one should learn to count the blessings too.

To move Malaysian politics forward and beyond the crass manipulation of race and religion, PKR and all other political parties aspiring for change must firm up their respective ideologies. Even if some of them may be unpalatable to others, the public has the right to know and ponder on them.

In view of the fluctuating chaos over the last two years, it is not surprising that the faint-hearted begin to miss the 'good old days', when politics were relatively stable and predictable. But there is always a price to pay for greater freedom and democracy. It is either for Malaysians to continue the fight for reform and a better future, or slip back to past false sense of security that has proven most damaging to the nation.

After five decades of totalitarian rule, Malaysia has lost its soul. Now that March 8 has given us a rare chance to recover it, only we can decide if our politics will ever be the same again.

Malaysian Insider: The ideal of a united Malaysia is under strain

The ideal of a united Malaysia is under strain

Malaysian Insider, Canberra, Feb 7 — What’s happening with Malaysia? The country has long been viewed in Australia as not only an especially friendly Southeast Asian neighbour — the “recalcitrant” Mahathir Mohammad excepted, though he’s been retired six years — but also a model of middle-class success and tolerance in that region.

Today, however, the country is having a hard time holding things together, in the face of religious and ethnic divides, political battles, and economic challenges.

Michael Danby, who chairs Australia’s foreign affairs subcommittee, told parliament last Tuesday night that “fellow democrats around Asia are flabbergasted at events unfolding in Kuala Lumpur.”
He was referring to the second trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy.

“For the second time,” Danby said, “the Malaysian legal system is being manipulated by supporters of the incumbent government to drive Malaysia’s best-known leader, Anwar Ibrahim, out of national politics.

“For the second time, documents are being forged, witnesses are being coerced, and evidence is being fabricated. This trial, like the first trial, is a disgrace to Malaysia, a country that aspires to democratic norms.”

Danby said it was long past time that Malaysia repealed these British colonial laws, which could not then be used for such political purposes.

“In the second place, everyone in Malaysia, and everyone in the international legal community, knows that Anwar is innocent of these charges.”

The underlying problem is that Anwar, leader of the People’s Justice Party, is the first charismatic Malay opposition politician with sufficient appeal for Malay voters to pose a real threat to Umno’s 52-year hold on power.

This episode indicates that it’s also long past time Umno took a spell in opposition, as Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party is doing.

Declared a middle-income country by the World Bank several years ago, Malaysia has grown accustomed to patronising its giant neighbour Indonesia — even though it still rankles that Malaysia itself continues to be patronised by its tiny neighbour Singapore.

Now, though, it is Indonesia — the raucous democracy with a rapidly acquired capacity to change leaders and governments peaceably, the world’s largest Muslim country renowned for its moderation and pluralism — that is receiving international praise, with US President Barack Obama flying across the world to visit (with a side-trip to Australia).

In 2008, last year and — as estimated by IMA Asia — this year, Malaysia’s economic growth figures are 4.6 per cent, -2.8 per cent, and 4 per cent. Indonesia’s are 6.1 per cent, 4.5 per cent and 5.6 per cent.

Since taking office last April, Prime Minister Najib Razak has started to dismantle the 40-year-old New Economic Policy, Sydney-based business consulting firm IMA notes.

It says: “While the NEP did little for ordinary Malays, its supposed beneficiaries, it enriched a handful of businessmen and contributed to corruption in Umno.”

Najib also has to tackle the over-reliance on oil money — for more than 40 per cent of government revenues — while just 2.3 million of the 28 million population pay income tax. And he needs to open more sectors of the economy to foreign investors.

That’s hard to do, while at the same time grappling with the plethora of problems resulting from Malaysia’s restrictive religious laws, reflecting Islam’s role as the state religion.

Queensland University political scientist David Martin Jones, currently working in Malaysia, says: “There is now an interesting collection of scandals dating from the first Anwar case in 1998 that coincides with the fragmentation of Umno-controlled politics.”

One such scandal comprised the tragic case of Lina Joy, aged 45, who was born into a Muslim family but began attending a church in 1990 and was baptised in 1998, and naturally wished to marry her Christian fiance. But marriage between Muslim women and non-Muslim men is forbidden under Malaysian law, and after years of battling the authorities in the courts, in 2007 she was refused permission to convert formally.

This year, Malaysia has seen its simmering religious and racial conflicts boil over after a ruling of the High Court that the Malay language pages of the Catholic Church’s weekly newspaper, the Herald, could use the term “Allah” as a translation for “God”.

Malaysian Christians say they have used “Allah” for God for centuries.

The government is appealing the decision. But in the meantime, it has triggered violent protests from Muslim Malays who comprise 60 per cent of the population, and who claim exclusive rights over the Arabic word “Allah”. Christians comprise just 9 per cent of Malaysians.

Eleven churches, a Sikh temple and two Muslim prayer rooms have been attacked so far, as a result of the row, and the severed heads of three wild boars — considered unclean by Muslims — with their mouths stuffed with bank notes, in plastic bags, were found outside two mosques.

The High Court last April sentenced to death two policemen who were assigned to the office of Najib Razak, the then deputy prime minister and defence minister. They were found guilty of murdering a Mongolian woman who had had a relationship with Abdul Razak Baginda, a defence analyst for a think tank, and had translated for him on a deal to buy submarines from France.

Abdul Razak, arrested for abetting the murder, was acquitted. But the motives for the policemen to have killed Atlantuyaa — by explosives — remain murky.

Martin Jones says: “Malay political scandals and the cynicism they engender, together with the bitter debate over the ‘Allah affair’, are seriously fragmenting the Malay community, whilst minority communities are increasingly rejecting the Umno model of Satu Malaysia (1 Malaysia). I suspect this portends some trouble ahead for the Malay political process.”

Razak has launched a multimedia 1 Malaysia campaign to promote the virtues of “perseverance, a culture of excellence, acceptance, loyalty, education, humility, integrity, and meritocracy.”

This looks to be a hurdle too high for a political establishment whose credibility is too low, for an economy that for two years has suffered net outflows of foreign investment, and for a culture suffering some confusion.

Jones points out: “It’s somewhat ironic that an ostensibly puritanical political culture that won’t contemplate a Beyonce concert seems to lap up details of Anwar’s alleged penetration of his aide.”

The singer Beyonce last October cancelled a second planned concert in Malaysia after accusations by Islamic conservatives that her show was immoral. She scored a huge hit when she flew instead to a Muslim neighbour with less stringent rules on dress or behaviour: Indonesia. — The Australian

52 years on, and still Mistrust and Communalism reigns...

This year, I greeted Merdeka amidst deep feelings of disquiet and uneasy anguish. It has become a recurrent theme of my melancholy.

31st August has come around again -- Hari Kemerdekaan, Independence Day.

Before I go on, I want to state that I am not politically-affiliated and do not belong to any political party. I consider myself a liberal Malaysian, and have always been advocating a kindlier, more sensible, more cohesive, more efficient and less corrupt Malaysia. I am passionately inclined to supporting a radical yet peaceful change for a better Malaysia.

I begin this way, knowing that in Malaysia these days, everyone is now a potentially vocal commentator with no holds barred to their freedom to express themselves!

Still, I continue to hope that more common sense and reason will prevail. I am an unabashed believer in more constructive if idealistic rational discourse and less rhetoric.

I was born two years before the Malayan liberation, too young to understand the significance of what 'Merdeka' meant. But later, my late father (one who was ever so apolitical) would remind me that it was one of those life-defining moments of epiphany, with the nationwide rousing shouts of pride of "Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka!..."

Now 52 years on, this shibboleth appears somewhat hollow, too meaningless, too unfelt. Was it truly freedom to decide our own fate, our own lives, our destinies? Have we really been liberated?

Or has this been replaced with an even more destructive social disintegration, political uncertainty and perhaps a growing sense of hopelessness? I wonder.

But as Malaysians, we seem to have forgotten that we did have some success, as many people around the world would gladly attest. We were among the better, more stable newly independent states, which had progressed with a decent clip of development, fairly good administration, a workable semblance of political freedom and democracy. But perhaps only just, as dictated by the reality of the times, then...

I am not sure if our history could have been much different given the circumstances, the ethnic composition, the political awareness, the communal tensions, the talents and the leaders that we have had. But then again, I am not sure if we had learnt anything at all from our unique history.

To be sure, we will all have our own passionate beliefs that our past leaders had led us down the garden path of corrupt destruction and wasted opportunities. As a whole, this would be a true reflection for many of us.

Many have lamented the fact that the mainstream establishment had been guilty of glossing over the splintering jaggedness of our incompatible perhaps ineradicable differences. Deep-seated communal bigotry and irrational ethno-religious bullheadedness continue to jar our carefully crafted Vision 2020, and the more recent if much maligned facade of 1 Malaysia.

Sadly, these tensions just refuse to go away, only to be stoked incessantly by morally-bankrupt politicians...

We clearly could not all have hoped to be taking the singular path of breakaway Singapore in 1965... Like it or not, Singapore's political reality, resource-poor island status, and their ethnic composition then, made it a particular experience at nation building, which perhaps could only have happened once in a rare while, much like the serendipitous bountiful arrows of earth's evolution, and our magnificent diversity, to paraphrase the late paleo-zoologist Professor Stephen Jay Gould.

With our greater numbers and more diverse peoples, it was unlikely that Malaysia would have achieved that identical status that is Singapore today. Yes, it is true that Singapore's economic strides: GDP growth, living standards and appreciating dollar, appear to have left us quite far behind...

Yet again perhaps, (and with due apologies to my Singaporean friends!) many Malaysians would baulk at that idea of becoming another successful if somewhat soulless and straitjacketed nation, across the Causeway -- that "little red dot", bright and lustrous as it sometimes seems...

But, it is good to imagine what might have been, if we had chosen paths of greater ethnic, religious tolerance and acceptance, 'real' unity and accommodation, greater efficiency, lesser corruptibility, less political manipulation and even less seething if undisguised polarisation.

It is increasingly difficult to be jubilant, enthusiastic, yes, even nationalistically proud when we celebrate our National Day, our independence from our long history of colonial past. 52 years now from whence we were cobbled together, in a mishmash political entity called Persekutuan Tanah Melayu and then later in 1963, Malaysia.

From colonial expediencies where the colonial masters commanded all the "divide and rule" puissance, to deviously subdue local inhabitants, e.g. Malays, Ibans, Kadazans; indenture Indians into planting and then tapping the sprawling rubber plantations, and crudely importing chain gangs of Chinese coolies to mine tin and other minerals, we were expected to arrive at a semblance of an amalgamated whole. Perhaps, this was a tall order, too tall to succeed...

Despite more than half a century of this social experiment and so-called nation-building, it appears that socio-ethno-religious fracture lines have never been truly mended, much less fused. Latterly, this frangible social contract seems to have been sundered further apart with vengeance!

Political meekness and tongue-tied obeisance on the part of the secondary parties within Barisan National, were punished by increasingly loud and resurgent anti-establishment voices, which crescendoed in the March 8 electoral gains by oppositionists.

Yet, instead of greater democratic space and hoped for change, this last year and a half, have been fraught with political uncertainties, ridiculously crude and partisan chicanery, and a rising tempo of communal and religious tensions! Every day seems consumed in politicking and more politicking!

There is great social schism in our rakyat, mounting mistrust, and a seemingly unbridgeable chasm of non-accommodation on both sides. Anything espoused by either side is quickly dismissed as inherently self-serving, misleading, wrong, devious or inept.

Oppositionists have been labeled as disloyal crypto-racists, anti-royalty, and even more viciously anti-Malay, which must be furthest from reality. Unfortunately, events of late have made this feeling even more entrenched: selective prosecution/persecution of oppositionist supporters, peace or anti-ISA demonstrators including candle-light vigil participants; Machiavellian takeover of the Perak state government; custodial deaths and torture (with the latest Teoh Beng Hock's 'falling death' from the 14th floor of the MACC building); perceived and blatantly biased actions and arrogance of our much maligned Police force; widespread misgivings on the impartiality of our judiciary, etc.

In short, to many of the growing throngs of anti-establishment Malaysians, the current government cannot be trusted, period. And all its civic institutions appear rotten to the core... There's widespread anger, indeed even rousing hatred which fuels its own vicious cycle of anarchic anomie.

The rise of the blogosphere and alternative media though the world wide web, has opened up and exposed that untameable genie in the bottle, never again to be contained. While, this ungovernable cyberspace has fostered unimaginable information traffic, and unlocked many secrets, exposes, and countless exchanges for the better, there is another sinister side which has emerged.

This unleashed genie of free expression too is fraught with disturbing inexactitudes, irrational bigotry and unrestrained viciousness of its own. Personally declared but intolerant righteousness have been spewed behind the facade of perceived anonymity of the Internet. Can anyone believe anything at all in the web? Certainly not everything, but the dilemma is knowing which is which.

Belligerent ad hominem attacks have become the preferred mode of communication for greater share of internet audiences. From rambling disorganised blogs/commentaries to incoherently twittering 'haikus', rantings and ravings have replaced civic discourse or rational dialogue.

Rumours and innuendoes have been elevated to become unchallengeable "facts", aggravated by the overzealously self-censoring main stream media, whose alienating voices are diminishingly soft and perceptibly untrustworthy...

There appears to be very little patience for compromise, for sensible meeting of minds... How do we build a republic of virtue, if we cannot at least try to work together and are almost always bogged down in the quagmire of seething hatred and mutually destructive distrust?

Although some may disagree with the middle ground of academic Azly Rahman ( in Dream of a Sincere Merdeka), I think he represents that enlightened Malaysian intellectual who espouses more dialogue no matter how trenchant the tone: "We spend too much time politicising everything and less time educating. If all that energy is used to design a better system of participatory democracy and philanthropy, and to reach out to other ethnic groups to collaborate in solving the issue of poverty, we, as Malaysians, will become a miracle nation."

I think many alter Malaysians are now so intoxicated by their own anger, hatred and righteousness that many are no longer listening, except to their own voices and other like-minded echoes they surround themselves with. We are no longer thinking about how some of these seemingly implacable problems can be resolved. We just want to see instant results, provoke instant reactions, we behave as if the politics of the land is a playground for the brave and loud. But, what about how to run, really run a government of our choice, of virtue?

An online editor has confided apologetically that: "many commentators basically rant and rave at any one who seems to be in authority... I do wonder if there is a place for genuine discourse. But I guess we live in a country where quite a lot is broken."

Conversely, pro-government politicians, administrators (police, judiciary, MACC, civil servants) and supporters are now all increasingly tainted with that huge tar brush as corrupt, venial, mercenary, totally reliant on political patronage, rent-seekers, and ineffective, without exception -- which again cannot be all the incontrovertible truth.

But the innocents are increasingly marginalised and are being pushed to smaller and smaller corners of despair, which may explain their entrenched attitudes towards some sort of subliminal retaliation. Anger and hatred breeds both ways, it is often forgotten...

Worse than that, we appear to be spiralling down that abyss of ever more provocative racist and religious extremism: the latest being that unforgivably brutish "cow head" protest against the building of a Hindu temple in Shah Alam. After initial outrage, this unspeakable bigotry seems to have receded into receiving no more than knuckle-rapping warnings and an inexplicable deafening silence from that raft of usually "legalistic" UMNO leaders.

Yet on the other side, can we not see that some Muslims and Malays fueled by politically-motivated siege behaviour, may have been 'engineered' and have banded together to fight back, to loudly proclaim their growing sense of 'loss', their perceived grievances? Never the twain shall meet, it seems...

Thus, can anyone be faulted for this sense of national despair, of hopelessness, of more of the same or worse?

But this disturbing sense of intellectual anarchy in our newfangled 'democratic' space keeps growing--our politics get murkier and murkier, with widespread and humongous allegations of bribery, corruption, counter charges of corruption; whispered vote buying of millions to reported billions of Ringgit of corporate mismanagement; shameless personal enrichment and rent-seeking cronyistic patronage and handouts; counter claims of inept, uncaring constantly politicking oppositionist state governments!

Every action appears to have been challenged by more reactions. We have now accumulated mountain piles of legal challenges and counter-challenges that appear to be the only by-product of our hard-fought democratic space.

Countless police reports, counter-reports, statutory declarations, counter-declarations, whether true or false, pointless point-scoring judicial challenges/reviews, spiralling defamation suits (100 to 500 million Ringgit! Is any Malaysian really worth that much?), accusations and counter-accusations now dot our political landscape and news, almost on a daily basis!

We are effectively stalling and stumbling at the starting block, as impasse spasms continue to paralyse our development and progress...

We trust no one, we blame and censure everyone, we continue to let our unleashed rage, our gut-instinctual righteousness, and our unyielding partisanship create this overpowering dark cloud atmosphere of gridlock and paralysis!

There appears to be no hope, the divide seems unbridgeable, the Malaysian schism further separates... So there appears to be one law for supporters and another for the others. So frustrating, so provocative, so hate-fulfilling...

A beleaguered government sensing their dismal disarray into possible irrelevance, corrals upon itself a "fight or flight" mentality, its back against the wall. It necessarily wants to fight back, and it does so with a vehemence that should surprise no one!

There appears to be no willingness to compromise, this is one fight to the 'death' so to speak! Winner takes all! But is this necessarily so?

Can we find a middle ground? Or is the only other way, a revolutionary disassembling, discharge or destruction of the other? Must this confrontational stance rise and rise to that unthinkable crescendo of social dehiscence, which can only threaten to destroy all of us, everyone of us, self-proclaimed 'true' Malaysian patriots?

We could tone down our justifiable outrage, our unforgiving tantrums, our frenzied rantings, because this would help make our arguments a tad more tolerable, even if less exciting to read. True dialogue rather than talking heatedly over each others' heads would be far more productive.

We must learn to think aloud and listen to ourselves, especially if we wish to impart and share our strongest views about others. Even if we believe that by doing so, we can hopefully help create a small glimmer of hope, to help bring about 'change' for the better.

This is not to say that we are climbing down from our precarious perch of righteousness or moral might. This is also not my 'apologist stance on behalf of the establishment'. It is a genuine call for more common sense, and less rhetoric, less posturing. Our strength of conviction will be that levelheaded perspicacity and moral persuasion that serve as the hallmark of modern democratic action.

Perhaps, I am naive, but I sense and fear the growing demise of our social respect for each other to the point of contempt and constant belittling of one another. Once we start thinking of those who disagree with us as less than human, we are really stepping down the slippery slope of dangerous no return.

We must therefore, learn to avoid these sparks of deadly rhetoric which can precipitate ethnic-religious tragedies such as has been experienced in the not too distant past, in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

I know we all think we are contributing to this concept of change which we must begin with each and every one person in Malaysia. I believe this too, passionately, but I too must be aware of the prevailing realities and maintain a step-back patience.

Sometimes, the loudest most strident voice is not necessarily that most listened to; some people would be very quick to switch off immediately, and we would not be listened to at all, except from the already converted. The more serious consequences would be the possible repercussions of retaliatory anger, hatred, vengeance...

We can all help to lessen the tenor and the tempo of recriminations and deep-seated anger and try and temper down the growing ill will that is brewing and boiling over in our blogosphere and possibly also in our civil society!

We stand ready to lose and exclude another huge segment of our society, who are our fellow citizens too, albeit on the other side of the fence. Worse, we may be kindling something more unthinkable, more sinister and terrible! I do hope I am wrong and will be proven so!

Let's help reduce the political tension, while continuing to push our agenda with less animosity but with greater moral suasion!

God help us! Have a thoughtful Merdeka!

This article has been published in The Malaysian Insider, 06 September 2009
Also in Malaysian Mirror, 06 September 2009
Appears as a brief letter in malaysiakini Sinister side of the web, 08.09.09


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