“Malaysia is at the crosssroads.” – 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme Road Map (January 2010).
“Malaysia has reached a defining moment on its development path.” – New Economic Model (March 2010).
“We need to see the reality for what it is: we are on a burning platform” – Tenth Malaysia Plan (June 2010).
However, the year 2010, which also marks 21 months of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s premiership, has not been distinguished by any conviction or sense of urgency that Malaysia is “on a burning platform”, “at the crossroads” or “a defining moment” – that the country has no choice but to forge ahead with a paradigm shift in national economic strategy and public policy.
It is the exact reverse. Despite the 21 months of Najib’s premiership, based on his signature theme of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”, multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia has suffered greater racial and religious polarization and loss of social cohesion, with the concepts of unity in diversity and inclusiveness, social justice, excellence, integrity and our international competitiveness receiving one setback after another.
The bad old days of “the government knows best” are back with a vengeance, as illustrated by the raft of developments in the closing days and weeks of 2010, eg:
• Catholic church officials told to remove crucifixes and to avoid hymns being sung when Prime Minister Najib Razak attended the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur’s Christmas tea party last Saturday.
• Controversy over Cabinet decision to make history a compulsory-pass subject for SPM from 2013 when the history text books are antithetical to the principles of unity in diversity and inclusiveness reflective of Malaysia’s plural society.
• The appointment of Tan Sri Isa Samad, who had to relinquish his previous post as Cabinet Minister because of UMNO “money politics”, as the new Felda Chairman, rubbishing the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and National Key Result Action (NKRA) on fighting corruption.
• The ordeal of businessman Chia Buang Hin who alleged that he was beaten and robbed by police over the expired road tax of his wife’s car that he was driving which re-opened anew the question of the efficiency, incorruptibility and professionalism of the police to keep crime low and be the protector of the rights of Malaysians and the crying need for the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as proposed by the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission in 2005.
• The brewing constitutional crisis in Selangor over the appointment of the State Secretary, stemming from the refusal of the Barisan Nasional-controlled Federal Government to respect the democratic rights of the voters of Selangor to elect a Pakatan Rakyat state government of their choice.
• The unchecked racist and inflammatory incitement by irresponsible media like Umno’s Utusan Malaysia such as the targeting of DAP MP for Serdang Teo Nie Ching.
These developments are all inimical to the 1Malaysia concept of unity in diversity and inclusiveness propounded by Najib and not calculated to enhance public confidence in good governance and our international competitiveness.
The Talent Corporation is to start operation tomorrow to carry out a more effective brain-gain strategy to attract talented Malaysians and non-Malaysians to contribute to Malaysia’s knowledge-based economy.
But the Talent Corporation is set to become another expensive failure as how could it convince the return of the talented from the Malaysian diaspora when the present government is incapable to arrest the unchecked brain drain from the country.
Have more Malaysians migrated abroad in the 21 months of Najib’s premiership than the previous 21 months?
It is not that Najib does not have the answer. The New Economic Model had pinpointed the problem and the solution when it said:
“We are not developing talent and what we have is leaving. The human capital situation in Malaysia is reaching a critical stage. The rate of outward migration of skilled Malaysians is rising rapidly.” (p.6)
“Globalisation has created a fierce competition for talent, forcing companies and government to recognize that people are the most valuable assets. To compete on a regional and global scale, Malaysia must retain and attract talent. Malaysia must be seen by its people and others as a land of equal opportunity to earn a good living and provide a secure, happy life for each individual and family.” (p.8)
The Talent Corporation is incapable of giving such an assurance – that Malaysia is “a land of equal opportunity to earn a good living and provide a secure, happy life for each individual and the family”.
In fact, the developments of the past 21 months, and in particular in the closing days of 2010,which are completely detrimental to the 1Malaysia concepts of unity in diversity, inclusiveness and social justice, will destroy whatever chances of success the Talent Corporation might have.
Only a Malaysian government, with unwavering leadership and political will, can give such an assurance.
This is the national challenge for Malaysians in the new year 2011 – to unite and demand a government and leadership with the political will to convince Malaysians that they enjoy equal opportunity to earn a good living and provide a secure, happy life for each individual and family life.
Wishing all Malaysians a Happy New Year.
Oh dear. Holo tv is expected to hit the mass consumer market in about 5-7 yrs time and jib is still talking about high income by 2020 and is wishy washy about bringing home local experts and talents.
Najib is not sincere in tackling brain drain. On the one hand he set up the Talent Corporation to lure Malaysian professionals working overseas to return to contribute to the nation’s development, but on the other hand he allowed extremist groups, such as Perkasa and Utusan Malaysia, to propagate ketuanan Melayu to aggravate the brain drain problem.
Najib lacks the moral authority to do anything!!
Call for a General Election pronto!
Happy 2011. Take care.
WELCOME 2011.
WISHING ALL OF YOU A GREAT YEAR AHEAD.
AND MAY UMNO LOSE ITS PANTS IN GE13 2011.
///But the Talent Corporation is set to become another expensive failure as how could it convince the return of the talented from the Malaysian diaspora when the present government is incapable to arrest the unchecked brain drain from the country.///-Kit
The Talent Corporation will certainly fail to bring back talented non-Malays. The government knows it, and they do not intend to encourage non-Malays to return. Brain drain has gone on since NEP, and like Razak said it was good riddance. Najib is a chip of the old block, and he is as Malay as his father.
UMNO claims that they fight for Malays but Malays know who they fight for. Malays trained with government funds now choose to stay away, and that might have affected Malay families who want their children to return. So instead of making UMNO a party for Malays rather than for UMNOputras, Najib chose this Talent Corporation to encourage Malays to return so that they are not overseas to badmouth UMNO.
Talent Corporation is not intended to bring back non-Malays, and so to Najib it would be a huge success when it is misread that he cares for talents. How could Najib care for talents since NEP grew out of national envy programme? Some time ago a bright Malay student was beaten to death by his classmates, for being too smart for them.
Forget about Talent Corporation. Malaysai will soon be sending maids to Israel.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/israel-strikes-gold-with-gas-find/story-e6frg6so-1225978976226
This is the national challenge for Malaysians in the new year 2011 – to unite and demand a government and leadership with the political will to convince Malaysians that they enjoy equal opportunity to earn a good living and provide a secure, happy life for each individual and family life. – End of quote
Uncle Lim, what is there to demand a government and leadership………….
The PR should put itself in the leadership in Putrajaya.
Don’t ever talk about demanding anything from the BN!!
What is there to demand anymore?
1. I wish that PR win the GE and take over the government
2. I wish that the new government under PR will jail all the corrupt BN/UMNO leaders
3. I wish that all the illegal immigrants in Sabah are send back to their respective countries.
i wish klingons would zap umno and its bn cohorts to oblivion with their laser cannons.
I can safely presume the electorate are pretty united and only have one aim…to rid UMNO! It is the parties in the PR Alliance should heed this advise. United we will win, Disunity, will only see disaster!
So PR pull your socks up…if you failed to take Puterajaya, it is not the rakyat who failed you, you brought it upon yourself.
My wish for the New Year: Those below 35, please register yourselves so that you can take care of your future. Those older are in the minority and they may have been stung so long that they might have forgotten what to do as a group. Among them many might have taken the jolly good time of the past 30 years to scrap the crumbs generated by the wanton spending of the Gomen of the day. With any form of continuity of such programme we will noot much different from the majority of the Western nations but they have reached a level where they could take some beating. Malaysia do not have that luxury, another term or two, we will definitely compete in the bottom half of the Asean parade.
So the future is yours to decide; don;t think that you have time to make changes when we hit the bottom. By then other nations WILL not behave like us as a nation, they will keep the gained momentum going and indeed the choice could be sitting under the rambutan trees or working like what the Indonesian and the Filipinos are doing today. In spite of all the fears in Vietnam, she received nearly us$10 billion in FDI. What did we get?
By the way, it was reported that Thailand had agreed to get China to build their Kereta Api all the way to Bukit Kayu Hitam by 2014 at a speed of 200 km/hr. My only hope is KTM will complete its double tracking by then; otherwise our REAL NATIONAL MARUAH is affected! Even then, we would not resolve the poor management issue of KTM unless the false pride can be brushed aside with the introduction of letting the most efficient operator runs the show!
Happy New Year to All Sincre Malaysians! May the FORCE be with you in the coming GE!!!!
FIGHT SMARTLY.
Most of Malaysians have done one mistake by not knowing that the government do not own the country, they are appointed by Malaysian voters.
They do not know they MALAYSIANS are the owners of the country.
Hope someone want to help Malaysians awake, publish a book with cartoon picture drawing explain in detail how the Malaysian governments work, why we all need to vote to appoint government administrators, how the constitution works, how the government works.
Let them know what power they are holding so their vote would not simply buy by $50-250 dollars.
Malaysians need to wake up from sleep not knowing about their voting power to choose, to appoint the people to serve them not the other around Malaysians to server the appointee by their vote.
FIGHT SMARTLY MAKE ALL MALAYSIANS KNOW THE GOVERNMENT DO NOT OWN THE COUNTRY, THEY ARE APPOINTED BY MALAYSIANS TO SERVER MALAYSIANS ADMINISTRATING THEIR(MALAYSIAN) COUNTRY.
MALAYSIANS NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHY THEY NEED TO VOTE.
WHAT ARE THE FUNCTION OF VOTING ELECTION?
WAKE THEM UP FROM THEIR SLEEP NOT KNOWING THE MEANING ABOUT VOTE AND ELECTION.
One of the greatest Muslim that ever lived was the late General Arafat..of Palestine who never failed to attend Christmas masses with true love for Jesus…as a great Messiah.
Here…Najib must impose no cross..nor hymns to be sung…that got Teresa Kok exposed his “1Malaysia” ….bunkum.
The rest written by LKS and explained shows what a sickening double headed PM we have..trying so hard to keep fooling Malaysians.
Yes… after 12th GE…we are seeing and witnessing so much that we cannot dream to see or know.. .had the result be with a 2/3 majority for Najib.
Lets finish them off …in the 13th GE.
IIRC Arafat’s wife was Christian or maybe I am mistaking him for another ME leader like a Lebanon PM who was interviewed on TV.
The guy told the journalist re a question on religion:
“Yes my wife is Christian and we allow our children to decide what religion they want to practise when they grow up”
To me that is a very sensible attitude as far as religion is concerned. No wrangling, kidnapping and court battles over the religion of children as seen in Malaysia. Just imagine all that monies being put to more productive work for other Malaysians who don’t indulge in religious rivalry.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone – may we all grow a little wiser in 2011!
There is no support and protection for individual entrepreneur….government corporations and MNCs controlled the economy.
Small to medium size businesses are constantly being destroyed by big businesses with political connection and/or huge financial resources.
///One of the greatest Muslim that ever lived was the late General Arafat..of Palestine/// – monsterball.
My nomination would be Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938).
On March 3, 1924, whn Ataturk presented a Bill to the Ntional Assembly to usher in Turkey as an independent republic, he declared to the nation of 95% Muslim population: “At all costs, the Republic must be maintained…The Ottoman Empire was a crazy structure based upon broken religious foundations. The Khalifa and the remains of the House of Usman must go. The antiquated religious courts and codes must be replaced by modern scientific civil law. The schools of the priests must give way to secular Government schools. State and religion must be separated. The Republic of Turkey must finally become a secular state”.
After his death the Turks erected Atatuk’s the mausoleum in Ankara. He is revered by many in Turkey even today. They pay their respects to him, put up his portrait in shops and in some cases houses in spite of 70 years elapsed after his death. His mausoleum in Ankara is even grander and more lavish than that the Chinese erected for Mao Zedong’s in Tian’anmen Square, Beijing.
Happy 2011 to all here.
maybe that is why Turkey has remained a relatively stable democratic country compared to other ME states.
Of course separatist movements like the Kurds problem remain.
His celebrated quote: “A ruler who needs religion to help him rule is a weakling. No weakling should rule..” – Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
At the age of 12, he was so successful academically that one of his teachers bestowed upon him the name ‘Kemal’, which means in Arabic, “perfection.”
(He was from a poor family. His father died when he was 7 years old leaving his mother to bring him up. His mother, Zubaida, was a devout believer and a pious Muslim. With her deep religious convictions, Zubaida wanted Ataturk to become a pious scholar. He had other ideas. He became President/paramount leader of his country and dubbed father of modern Turkey.
1 Jan 2010 gives hope for 2010 and so does 1 Jan 2011 gives hope for 2011.
31 Dec 2010 documents the plight and failures of 2010 and I hope 31 Dec 2011 does not follow in the results of 2010.
Between BN and PR, who would be a better Federal government? May the one delivers better benefits governs.
So far, a lot of slogans but little tangible tactical actions to differentiate PR from BN. May 2011 show the difference of PR.
Honestly, if the challenge is to unite in order to get what Malaysian want, its hopeless. The truth is unity in our country was an opportunity squandered. While there is still opportunity, its not something that Malaysians are capable of overcoming on their own. The character of most developing citizentry is not independent including us. Because of the dependency nature of citizentry, its they rise only under certain circumstances not when circumstances is needed.
So the question really is 2011 have any opportunity for citizens to unite and sadly, not likely..2011 is going to be a year of contentious forces fighting it out and reflect the nature of who we are – unfortunately..
Najib tells all Malaysians that “now is not the time to experiment”. Now is exactly the time to experiment. You don’t experiment when the country has gone belly-up. You don’t experiment when all funds have been frittered away. You don’t experiment when all hope is gone.
2011 is the time to experiment.
///On March 3, 1924, whn Ataturk presented a Bill to the Ntional Assembly to usher in Turkey as an independent republic, he declared to the nation of 95% Muslim population: “At all costs, the Republic must be maintained///–Jeffrey
That was why UMNO has the policy of one people, one religion. they were waiting for Muslims in Malaysia to reach 95% to declare Malaysia a secular state. Meanwhile they need to use religion to classify race to promote racist policies to stay in power.
Jeffery…..we are talking about modern times of our present situations and conditions…..not history.
monsterball, I take it from your words #14 – “One of the greatest Muslim that ever lived”, the meaning of “ever” in th dictionary being “at any time; at any period or point of time”.
You are right Jeffery.
But if you want to talk the ever lasting story of Islamic heroes…there are plenty more…including Saladdin the Great….and Constantinople…who was a Muslim…but converted to be a Christain ….out of political reasons.
Anyway…Jeffrey..your knowledge about Islamic history is impressive.
Take care. God bless.
And we can even go back to Prophet Mohammad…the greatest Muslim warrior of all times….NO?
yes greatest as “warrior” just like Saladin the Great if the measurement is based on contribution to spread and propagate the faith.
On the other hand to those whose measurement is in terms of jihad against Americans whom they consider imperialists interfering with muslim affairs in muslim lands, then Osama bin Ladin or the pilots who drove the planes into World Trade Center will be nominated “greatest”.
If my measurement is in terms of liberal live and let live attitude – reconciling Islam with secular modernism, which is important to achieve progress, then my nomination will go to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
If your measurement is efforts to create peace between Israel and Arab neighbours, then it may be Yasir Arafat who was awarded Nobel Peace Award jointly with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.
If the measurement is sincere simplicity of living, financial humility and austerity due to piety, then some (Kelantese) here (at least) will nominate Tok Guru Nik Aziz as compared (say) Yasif Arafat.
An investigation conducted by the General Accounting Office reported that Arafat and the PLO held over $10 billion in assets even at the time when he was publicly claiming bankruptcy.[107]
Although Arafat tried to show he lived a modest lifestyle, Dennis Ross, former Middle East negotiator for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, stated that Arafat’s “walking-around money” financed a vast patronage system known as neopatrimonialism.An investigation conducted by the General Accounting Office (an audit investigative legislative office of US) reported that Arafat and the PLO held over $10 billion in assets even at the time when Arafat was publicly claiming bankruptcy.
If one’s measurement is the scientific inventions then Muslim inventor Abbas ibn Firnas in 9th century Spain reputedly designed a flying machine — hundreds of years before Italy’s Leonardo da Vinci drew plans of his own…
So on the question of who is the greatest muslim, it depends on which yardstick of measurement the evaluator uses to make his nomination. In this sense its subjective – there being no objective criteria upon which all could agree and use to make the determination. There is no reason for comparison on who is correct for iot depends on what is the starting point to determine.
And by the way Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is considered sufficiently “contemporary” as he lived and died in 1938 last century rather than centuries ago as compared to Yasir Araft, this century on 25 October 2004 – a difference of 66 years, a blip in the span of Islamic history & civilisation.