by Hussein Hamid
At what stage in his tenure as Prime Minister did Mahathir decided that the end justifies the means? When he did that he threw away accountability and responsibility of his actions to the people. It is one thing for a businessman to take chances in making his business decisions because the consequences of his actions, good or bad, will be for him and him alone to bear – and another when the consequences of your actions affects the nation. There must have come a time when Mahathir had some self doubts as to the rightness of his decision making process – he was wrong with Musa, with Anwar, with Pak Lah. He was wrong with Eric Cheah, Abdullah Ang, Tajuddin Ramli. He was wrong about Privatization…or if you want to be tedious – the implementation of it was flawed. But what I would want to pin him to is that he was the one who brought the culture of materialism into the UMNO physce and in so doing, into the Malay consciousness – and by default, into the minds of the people. When you decide that the acquisition of material wealth is the path you want to take in your life, then whatever you do from then on, will reflect the importance of that choice in your life…and that my friend has been the undoing of UMNO and the many other things that is now wrong with our country. No longer will decency, family values, religion, honour, duty to country and all those values that hold together the fabric of society be considered important. Look at Khir Toyo – what need is there for him to acquire and flaunt such trappings of wealth with his new found wealth (while he was MB) with such haste. Did it ever occur to him that there would be questions asked or has the actions of other leaders that went before him precluded the need to hide his ill gotten gains? Greed is good? Yes Proton, KLCC, KLIA, the many many Highways that were built, and so many mega projects etc etc all these are Mahathir’s legacies…but the actual costs to the nation is too much for us to bear. When we sit at the kedai kopi we talk about how we could get our hands on some AP’s, how to secure that ‘negotiated’ tender for the mega project, how the brother of a certain political secretary could have got himself two Brabus. The list is endless but always the underlying factor is the acquisition of material wealth…and for that Mahathir we hold you responsible. The end does not justifies the means – not when it is ultimately the majority of the people who will pay for the excesses of a few. Now who will have the task of making things right?
I sat down with me, myself and I to ponder this. We need to look beyond Mahyudin. Najib is already PM – a fait accompli. Mahuyuddin will want his time as PM too – but beyond that is still open season. I said that maybe further down the line, a Chinese might become the PM. Myself said that if Obama is President of the US of A then why not a non Bumi as our PM?….but Me said that it was not constitutionally possible for that to happen – but he could not come up with specifics. Then we looked at each other and realized what we were saying. “A Chinese or Indian as PM of Malaysia? Where got Jalan?” Yes we have begun to think the impossible. Yes my friends we need to start thinking about things we have never thought before if we are to enter into the 21st Century. The world is changing around us – we want and need what is best for our country. We need the best in our country to lead us – we deserve nothing less.
“Yes my friends we need to start thinking about things we have never thought before if we were to enter into the 21st century.”Hussein Hamid.
You are sport on there Hussein Hamid but then again you are not the mover and shaker in UMNO circle who are hell bent in keeping the rural Malays as ignorant as they can so as to cling on to power.For Malaysia to enter the 21st century we need to wait for quite a few rural folks to come to the realization that these scumbags,the UMNOPUTRAS are using racism,religion and NEP advance their own self interest.
HUSSEIN, you have hit the nail on the head by pointing ten fingers at Tun M for his sick, scurrilous and senseless legacy in Malaysia.
As Tun Ling said: “The fish rots from the head.” So it is with Tun M. It began then, anyway.
Now his legacy lives on in Najib. This is a tale of a lost coutry.
It was certainly Mahathir who brought materialism into the psyche of the Malays, in particular and into psyche of Malaysians in general.
With this he injected the incidious disease of materialism-above-all-things-else into the fabric of the Malaysian society..Our finer values are suppressed and gredd is giveb a free rein.
This is the ill he has created … this is his legacy !!!
///“A Chinese or Indian as PM of Malaysia? Where got Jalan?”///– Hussein Hamid
An Indian actually became PM in 1981 but he chose to call himself Malay. If he had stopped racist policy in 1981, and accepted that as Mamak, he was equally entitled to be PM since there is no prohibition as to the race of the person eligible to be PM of Malaysia, the country might have been on the route to the vision of Onn Jaafar, the first president of UMNO. The mamak chose to exorcise his Indian blood, and severed his ties with Kerela. Feeling only being the few that sold their ancestors, he wanted non-Malays to follow his example of severing their ties with the ancestry, or be condemned as second class citizens.
Mahathir was the first non-tulen Malay to talk about the wealth of the community, as though Malays pull their resources together for living. Suddenly he felt that there must be rich Malays through the use of public coffers and he made that an objective of NEP, as though Razak had overlooked that requirement. When he could play money-God, he created history by making millions of Malaysian foot the bill so that one AP king was created, the NAZA motor empire. Najib declared that he would continue with the good work to make Naza, or Malay tycoon of similar level of wealth, into the class of Bill Gates.
Mahathir said that since he saw Malay drivers employed by Chinese tycoons, and hence NEP objective had not been achieved. By that statement, Mahathir considered that there were certain occupations such as driver which is beneath the dignity of Malays, especially when they drive for Chinese. He despises those who undertake certain job functions. He felt that Malays should not be employed by Chinese, out of pride.
Mahathir introduced the system of discount of house prices for Malay purchasers. That has nothing to do with disassociation of economic function and race. But the policy of different selling prices for houses selling to different races was decided in the name of NEP. Tengku Razaleigh declared recently that NEP had no racial agenda, but NEP has been the basis of racist discrimination as carried out by Mahathir over his 22 years reign. It is unconstitutional too. Yet the government continues to discriminate against non-Malays, and was happy to publicize it too.
The NEWMalay are more racist than Melayu tulen. When government does not treat different races fairly, the racial origin of the PM becomes an issue. That might be why AAB had to go along with the purer Malays in UMNO, including Mamaks. AAB might rank lower than Mamak. Those who live by the sword die by the sword, and the racists meet the same fate too.
There is nothing wrong being taught the end of pursuing material success.
Aren’t successful societies built on that? Aren’t Singapore, Hong Kong or even the US chasing a culture of material wealth to the hilt?
Name me a society that we consider successful if their people are not pursuing material goals but spiritual goals? Bhutan?
What is wrong is being taught not to earn material success by one’s own strenuous exertion but on the back of the strenuous exertion of others classified as otherwise having less rights.
When one talks of people’s attention being distracted/diverted from their empty pockets to mega projects – to feel vicariously proud that these projects represent symbols of their wealth when their pockets are still empty – when those connected/powerful behind the mega projects lined up their own pockets, one is not just talking of a culture of materialism : it is a culture of hypocrisy and deception!
When the end justified the means? You have got to be kidding… May 13, 1969 when they lied and continued lying until now..
When you see anyone wearing this, you know what to do with your middle finger.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_POEjTUihojQ/SmCpuy2X6KI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/ILj0EK1XU3E/s1600-h/Suruhanjaya+Pencegah+Rasuah+Malaysia+Logo+copy.jpg
Jeffrey, what nonsense are you talking about? Who is talking about seeking wealth is bad. It is seeking wealth without conscience and seeking wealth with mega corruption that we are talking about. You know and I know that Mahathir was responsible for inculcating a third world national ethos that is morally and intellectually corrupt. How dare you say Singapore is in the same category? Come on, how much are they paying you? Still haven’t got any instruction yet from your paymaster with regard to Teoh Beng Hock’s case. You are pathetic.
Mahathir was disaster to this country….we are all guilty in not putting a stop to him much earlier…..
Malaysians will always be subservient….
We are not Iranians, Indonesians, Uighurs, Tibetans, Tamils, Thais….we Malaysians are just plain dead scared to stare down that tank’s barrel…
And for that my friend…there is a price to pay….and that price is your nation and freedom..
“Aren’t Singapore, Hong Kong or even the US chasing a culture of material wealth to the hilt?” (Jeffrey)
Jeffrey,
God never forbids chasing a culture of material wealth to the hilt, so long as the material wealth is to be amassed for useful purpose in consistence with the will of God. This is the reason why most wealthy men are encouraged to contribute part of his financial resources for charity purpose.
As for the nation as a whole, the national wealth must be redistributed through imposing taxes on the high income earners and subsidizing the low income group, the handicappeds and the underprivilegeds, disregard the ethnic backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, language backgrounds and religious backgrounds of the citizens. Therefore, it is advisable to have some welfare systems being operated by the governments, whether at the local level, the state level or the Federal level.
For the past 52 years, many Umnoputras had been blessed with the good opportunity to get rich quick in Malaysia. However, many of them had also failed to keep their wealth for too long because they failed to see their missions which God required them to fulfill. That could be the reason why we saw many KLSE-listed companies had been classified with PN4 or PN17 status right even at their infant stage of company growth and were forced to wind up ultimately due to financial insolvency and bankruptcy. Many Umnoputras failed because they did not know how to handle wealth in accordance with the will of God!
Jeffery:
There is nothing wrong with wealth. You have missed the point of this posting. What the writer is trying to say is that the end of justifying anything will in the end be detrimental. Please read carefully before jumping to conclusion.
Raven77,
Not only Malaysians are just plain dead scared to stare down that tank’s barrel,Malaysians are just too divided based on race and religion to put up a united stand.
Perhaps we prefer evolution rather than revolution.
by Jeffrey: Name me a society that we consider successful if their people are not pursuing material goals but spiritual goals?
I was going to say ‘Vatican City’, but you’d just ROFL.
I think successful societies are made from dreams, and most people have simple dreams. I had this argument recently with a friend about fairy tales where the handsome prince lived happily ever after with the beautiful princess, when in reality it’s only a small fraction of the population that ever really manages this. His argument, which I was persuaded by, is that (most) people need aspirations and simple structures. Fairy Tales, Celebrity and ‘Millionaire Lifestyle’ fill that need. Perhaps once it was religion that filled that need, but a promise of heaven in reward for a life of misery probably seemed a better deal when a life of misery was what most people were guaranteed.
I think to get the most out of a nation’s people, you have to give them all access to the greatest rewards the nation has to offer. To achieve unity, you have to grant them all equal opportunity to compete for those rewards.
On the other hand(!), you have to ensure that nobody is left behind in the pursuit of a better life. If a large enough number of them decide they have no advantage in taking part, they won’t feel obliged to ‘play by the rules’.
By all means open the competition up, but there must be rules, they must be strictly enforced, and they must not implement a simple positive feedback mechanism that ensures the gap between rich and poor is anywhere near as large as it currently is in Malaysia.
vsp,
I may have missed the point of this posting but
I was referring to the writer’s statement – “But what I would want to pin him to is that he was the one who brought the culture of materialism into the UMNO physce and in so doing, into the Malay consciousness – and by default, into the minds of the people. When you decide that the acquisition of material wealth is the path you want to take in your life, then whatever you do from then on, will reflect the importance of that choice in your life…and that my friend has been the undoing of UMNO and the many other things that is now wrong with our country”.
To be fair writer did mention “No longer will decency, family values, religion, honour, duty to country and all those values that hold together the fabric of society be considered important”.
I don’t have the impression he meant culture of materialism should be pursued in balance against these other values.
What Writer says is that there is a problem with UMNO “Psyche”. He blames that on TDM “who brought the culture of materialism into the UMNO physce and in so doing, into the Malay consciousness – and by default, into the minds of the people.”
Can this problem of UMNO “Psyche” be so simply explained?
Mr Sun Yat Sen of China used to comment about the economic problems of Chinese Ching Dynasty by saying that “Scarcity of national wealth is not too much a big worry in regard of the national economic problems. What is much more worrisome is the problem of the unequal distribution of wealth among the people!” Therefore, Mr Sun encouraged the Chinese Government to focus on the national development through the three-prong approaches, namely,
1) Nationalism
2) Democracy
3) Socialism.
Umnoputras failed to promote Nationalism because they adopted a very narrow-minded definition of Nationalism by inputting the racist concept of “Ketuanan Melayu” (The Malay Supremacy) as the main agenda of nation-building and blocking the minority ethnic groups from joining the mainstream political development of the Malaysian Nation.
Umnoputras also failed to promote Democracy because the only means they trusted as a vote-winning assurance all along the way of their joining politics is to resort to Dirty Money Politics such as practicing vote buying with cash disbursement, giving out contract project award, giving out State Lands and timber concessions, and allocating Government Procurement Contract without transparency and public open tender system.
Umnoputras failed in inputting the beneficial ideology of Socialism into the Government Economic Policy. As a consequence, social justice had never been given adequate attention in comparison with economic justice.
Dr Mahathir’s insistence on adopting the strategy of creating a few rich Umnoputras first before taking care of others was indeed, as borrowed the words of Jeffrey, the promotion of the problematic culture of hypocrisy and deception. As a result of Dr Mahathir’s economic policy, the income gaps between the haves and the have-nots of Malaysian people had been further widening, ironically in contrast to the original noble intents of eradicating poverty disregard of races and of narrowing the income gaps among the citizens, which were stressly stipulated in the foreword of the formulation of the late Tun Abdul Razak’s New Economic Policy (NEP).
It is time now for Najib to take the required actions in order to revise the diverted implementation of the NEP and to turn back to reveal the true meaning of NEP. Najib should strive hard to shape up a New Malaysia of Equal Opportunities for all People as originally intended by his late father, through the viable means of appropriate power sharing with Pakatan Rakyat State Governments!
//Still haven’t got any instruction yet from your paymaster with regard to Teoh Beng Hock’s case. You are pathetic// – LimKaput.
I thought I earlier already reported that, according to my paymaster’s instructions, I should not waste my time responding those in this blog caught between delusions of adequacy and deep seated feelings of inadequacy who would try resolve that dilemma by seeking vicarious attention from provoking a reaction from me. I thought you understood simple English than to ask again.
Aisehman even Deng Xiaoping said that “To Get Rich Is Glorious”. There is nothing wrong in getting rich but when our elected representative makes the acquisition of material wealth as the be all and end all of their purpose on earth then they do not do their job properly….these things should be done in moderation. Go to steadyaku47 if you want to debate this further with me…but be warned, I take no prisoners.
Surely there was no mistake over the Material in the ‘Malay consciousness’ before Independence. If there was no consciousness of the Material, how did the quotas and reserves enter the Constitution?
Realising that something wrong is often the first step to making it right. Blaming someone else is a common second step, even if it’s not exactly in the right direction.
Realising that something is … hahaha I’m an idiot. See? That’s the 2nd step right there.
“There is nothing wrong in getting rich but when our elected representative makes the acquisition of material wealth as the be all and end all of their purpose on earth then they do not do their job properly….” (husseinhamid)
Getting rich is the blessing from God. Those who are already blessed with material wealth should do God a favour by performing the will of God on earth such as doing charity work and encouraging people to have faith in God and to shun themselves from the evil deeds. Greed is the greatest evil most people will encounter once in a while. All of us must learn to discipline ourselves in accordance with the standards of God and strive hard to resist the tempting evil of Greed, which always disguises itself in the form of gambling and betting and in the form of spending the unearned income through mortgages, collaterals, and Credit Cards Swift. Don’t ever deceive ourselves again by asking for additional bank borrowings in order to finance our luxurious lifestyle beyond our personal means because it is against the will of God!
///It is time now for Najib to take the required actions in order to revise the diverted implementation of the NEP and to turn back to reveal the true meaning of NEP.///– Onlooker politics
NEP was a misadventure even during Razak’s lifetime. It has gotten worse over time, with new slogans like ketuanan melayu to justify their action, and Bangsa Malaysia and 1Malaysia to give hope that one day race would not be important when only master race remains in Malaysia.
When race is the denominator to measure whether one group equals to the others, collectively, policy decision would always be based on race. When NEP is the basis of policy decision, race would be involved. Government services were linked to Malays since the days before NEP, the percentage of Malays in government has actually increased rather than reduced if the government acted in accordance to the objective of NEP.
The government should just govern without taking race into consideration. It is clear that after 52 years of abuse non-Malays would now require affirmation action to catch up with Malays judging by the ways they have been marginalised in all fields. Except perhaps there might be 10 or more Chinese and Indian tycoons put together who are wealthier than some Malay tycoons.
Non-Malays do not ask for affirmative action for them. They only want equal opportunity and no discrimination. Najib should ask his statisticians to tell him the truth rather than to lie with statistics to continue with the divide and rule.
NEP fails because race is the denominator of its policy objective. Period.
“NEP fails because race is the denominator of its policy objective.” (Loh)
Loh,
NEP fails not because of the inappropriateness of policy objective. NEP’s policy objective never says that only Malays are permitted to get rich and other minority ethnic groups have to live in poverty.
However, Umnoputras were making use of the excuse that the Malays are relatively poor in order to rationalize the prejudiced administrative corrective measures which said that “therefore the Malays are entitled 30% of the wealth of the Non-Malays”. It is time now to abolish and abandone all the non-productive and people-divisive Bumiputera Affirmative Action Programmes and let the racist policies be scrapped permanently and be replaced with an All-People New Deal of Economy, as proposed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
Majority are leeches and vultures with retarded brains and sucking the economy dry. The rinngit barometer will soon show US $1 = RM 1,000,000
Johnny Pok :
“The rinngit barometer will soon show US $1 = RM 1,000,000”.
Wow, is there a probability of this happening? If so, wouldn’t Malaysia be like Zimbabwe – a billion Z$ for a slice of bread!
Better empty my pillow cases quickly-lah.
we still have hope with these moderate intellectuals
Tengku Razaleigh said that NEP had no racial agenda nonetheless it intends to make sure that no race dominates in any sector. Because of the intention to monitor progress based on race, it gives the government, particularly the civil servants to make use of race as a measure to effect change. So it becomes legitimate for them to decide for example participation in certain programme to meet racial quotas, to balance things up. Thus, race becomes an overriding criterion at the discretion of the officers concerned. Consequently the little napoleons are free to play God. That is why over time, Malays would take NEP as the addition to article 153, and any mention of removal of NEP would appear to be against Malay interest.
What good is a policy objective when that provides a convenient excuse for misuse? The government should not play God to decide how the people of various races should lead their live. The government should just provide the environment for the people to seek their happiness, and let them decide how they want to balance spiritual and material wealth, and to decide whether they choose to take on blue or white collar jobs. Malaysia was never so polarised before it came out with the noble objectives coenvisaged in NEP. And now we know that all the ills of the country are linked to NEP. Moreover of all the UMNO politicians only Ku LI spelt it out that NEP had no racial agenda. The million plus civil servants do not accept Ku Li’s interpretation. Instead of making them change their mind, it would be easier for the government to remove the policy that caused confusion.
…my dear Senglang..I am neither moderate (i am passionate enough about the future of our country to put pen to paper and write what i feel inside me) and neither am I an intellectual – all I have are A levels. In these times that are a changing we are all needed to do what we can to further our cause – a fair and just society. I write.
steadyaku47
What are said in the following article did not happen in Malaysia before NEP.
QUOTE
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/24586/84/ : by RPK
I have tried to explain this in the past but it has fallen on deaf ears. Some even think I may be seeing ghosts in the shadows. But I have attended enough Umno gatherings in my lifetime and have enough Umno friends in high places to know what I am talking about. Nevertheless, most of those who disagree with my views are those who comment from the comfort and safety of their homes and offices and would most likely not be at the Kelana Jaya stadium today. This means, basically, they do not really have their ears to the ground and comment without the benefit of having their fingers on the pulse.
Let me put this to you in plain words and as clearly as I can. Umno considers the government machinery as a Malay vehicle. The government machinery — whether it be the Election Commission (SPR), police, the anti-corruption agency (MACC), the Information Ministry (that controls the mainstream media and radio and television stations), institutions of learning (from kindergartens right up to universities), etc. — are there to serve Malay interests. And make no mistake about this.
There is a government propaganda outfit called Biro Tata Negara (BTN) whose job is to conduct courses and deliver lectures around the clock to government officers and students before and after they enter university. BTN’s main focus is to indoctrinate Malays with the idea that Malaysia is a Malay country. The Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ are immigrants. After allowing them citizenship status these Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ now demonstrate ingratitude and start demanding all sorts of unreasonable things such as equal rights — forgetting that they are mere guests in this country and are therefore second-class and not first-class citizens.
The army is Malay. The police is Malay. The universities and all institutions of higher learning are Malay. In fact, you name it and it is Malay. There are no two ways about it. And if the Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ refuse to accept this then they should leave this country and go back to the country where they originally came from — be it China, India, or wherever.
Okay, you may argue that today’s Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ were all born in Malaysia. None were born in China, India, or wherever. Their grandparents or great grandparents may have been born in China, India, or wherever. But almost all the Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ were born here in Malaysia. So that automatically makes them citizens and not immigrants although they may be descendants of immigrants.
I mean, every single US citizen (other than the native Indian) is a descendant of immigrants even if they themselves may have been born in the US and did not migrate to America. So, grandchildren or great grandchildren of immigrants are not called immigrants but are called US citizens. And all US citizens are regarded equal. No US citizen has more rights than another US citizens based on which country his or her forefathers came from.
But that is in the US. That does not apply to Malaysia. In Malaysia, the descendants of the immigrants who came from one of the Indonesian islands have more rights than the descendants of the immigrants who came from China, India or any territory that is not part of the Indonesian islands. That is how it works in Malaysia.
And the Malays are constantly reminded about this. And all those descendants of immigrants not from one of the Indonesian islands will also be constantly reminded that they are guests in this country, do not have equal rights, and are classified as second-class citizens akin to an immigrant.
And that is why Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ are treated more brutally when arrested or detained. They not only suffer verbal abuse and racial slurs but will be physically abused as well. And that is why the death under detention rate for those who are not descendants of immigrants from one of the Indonesian islands is very high. Most, however, die ‘sudden deaths’ or collapse and die for no apparent reason other than medically related ‘natural causes’.
Let me make it clear, again. The Malaysian government is a Malay government. The government’s job is to serve the Malays and protect Malay interests. Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister said so in case anyone may have forgotten this. And this will remain so as long as Barisan Nasional stays in office. Umno has promised the people this.
And any Malay who wants to change this arrangement is a traitor to his race. His or her citizenship should be withdrawn and he or she should be expelled from the country. This, Umno has made very clear more than once.
The descendants of immigrants from China, India or any territory not within the Indonesian islands have no problem with this though. They accept the fact that they are second-class citizens under the classification of pendatang. And that is why they are members of Barisan Nasional. And the job of these 13 non-Malay members of Barisan Nasional is to ensure that Umno stays in power although Umno has less than half the seats in Parliament. On its own Umno is out of office. With the 13 other non-Malay members giving Umno the mandate it can stay in office.
The Chinese call these people running dogs. I would not call them that though. I think it is not right to call them running dogs. I love dogs. I think dogs are lovely creatures. Why should we honour these 13 non-Malay members of Barisan Nasional by calling them running dogs?
UNQUOTE
Not taking issue here with general tenor of what Loh commented above. However there was an earlier allegation by an Umno Maran division committee member Halimi Kamaruzzaman that MACC interrogators abused him.
I always thought the method of BN of practicing racial preferencial treatment is based off a fascist concept known as class collaboration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_collaboration
Essentially, the idea is to split up the working class so that they are too weak to fight for their rights. This is done by treating one race better than the other, creating antagonism between the races. The poor Malays are encouraged to vote UMNO and support a rich Malay businessman for the sake of his race and rewarded (cheaper houses etc. etc.)- thus creating a collaboration between a working class Malay and a businessman Malay. The same thing can be said of the other races. The chinese businessman rewards the chinese worker so the chinese worker wouldn’t launch any form of class struggle with his malay counterpart. The businessman rubs shoulders and say something like “Come on lah..we Chinese, we should help each other…”. Of course, some of these could have been reaction because of the other side started it first, I don’t know, but whatever it is, this is what BN exploits.
So this system is self reinforcing until one day, the Chinese population began to dwindle.
Nature’s Law is that Big fish eat small fish and the population of small fish has to exceed that of the big fish otherwise it is not sustainable. Had the population of the exploited class in this case I will use the Chinese (but it applies to all the minority races) been large, then the Chinese could be depended upon to be the small fish which the system exploits.
Unfortunately, the Chinese population began to dwindle and so Malays are now required to become the new small fish to sustain this system. And they rebel. This is one of the factors that leads to more popularity for the opposition in recent years.
AS for Mahathir, I don’t think he really did that much. Let’s take a look at some stats:
The economy situation in around 1980, GDP per capita world ranking when Mahathir became PM:
41. Singapore
66. Malaysia
68. South Korea
100. Thailand…. Read More
The economy situation in around 2002 when Mahathir stepped down:
22. Singapore
32. South Korea
56. Malaysia
66. Thailand
Compared to the other nations like Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, Malaysia made very marginal improvement in its GDP. You can say that Mahathir pretty much just rode the bullish wave of Asia in the 80s and 90s. He has no magic hands and his legacies are a testament to that. Our KLSE index is pretty much at the same level as it was in 1994. Many Malaysian history textbooks record him as being defiant against IMF and soros in 98 etc. etc. but there is nothing concrete to show. Korea that took IMF aid its stock market is still way above its 1994 level. So is Singapore. Most are 2X to 3X above the 1994 level despite the current economic crisis.
Yeah … our police think they are like CIA covert ops agents. Have you not seen our under cover cops. They need to dress in a certain manner. Guess they love Rambo, Mission Impossible etc. Its their mentality. They think they are 007.