Slower growth and a drain of talented citizens are only the beginning.
By JOHN R. MALOTT
The Wall Street Journal
Feb 8, 2011
OPINION
Malaysia’s national tourism agency promotes the country as “a bubbling, bustling melting pot of races and religions where Malays, Indians, Chinese and many other ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony.” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak echoed this view when he announced his government’s theme, One Malaysia. “What makes Malaysia unique,” Mr. Najib said, “is the diversity of our peoples. One Malaysia’s goal is to preserve and enhance this unity in diversity, which has always been our strength and remains our best hope for the future.”
If Mr. Najib is serious about achieving that goal, a long look in the mirror might be in order first. Despite the government’s new catchphrase, racial and religious tensions are higher today than when Mr. Najib took office in 2009. Indeed, they are worse than at any time since 1969, when at least 200 people died in racial clashes between the majority Malay and minority Chinese communities. The recent deterioration is due to the troubling fact that the country’s leadership is tolerating, and in some cases provoking, ethnic factionalism through words and actions.
For instance, when the Catholic archbishop of Kuala Lumpur invited the prime minister for a Christmas Day open house last December, Hardev Kaur, an aide to Mr. Najib, said Christian crosses would have to be removed. There could be no carols or prayers, so as not to offend the prime minister, who is Muslim. Ms. Kaur later insisted that she “had made it clear that it was a request and not an instruction,” as if any Malaysian could say no to a request from the prime minister’s office.
Similar examples of insensitivity abound. In September 2009, Minister of Home Affairs Hishammuddin Onn met with protesters who had carried the decapitated head of a cow, a sacred animal in the Hindu religion, to an Indian temple. Mr. Hishammuddin then held a press conference defending their actions. Two months later, Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told Parliament that one reason Malaysia’s armed forces are overwhelmingly Malay is that other ethnic groups have a “low spirit of patriotism.” Under public pressure, he later apologized.
The leading Malay language newspaper, Utusan Melayu, prints what opposition leader Lim Kit Siang calls a daily staple of falsehoods that stoke racial hatred. Utusan, which is owned by Mr. Najib’s political party, has claimed that the opposition would make Malaysia a colony of China and abolish the Malay monarchy. It regularly attacks Chinese Malaysian politicians, and even suggested that one of them, parliamentarian Teresa Kok, should be killed.
This steady erosion of tolerance is more than a political challenge. It’s an economic problem as well.
Once one of the developing world’s stars, Malaysia’s economy has underperformed for the past decade. To meet its much-vaunted goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020, Malaysia needs to grow by 8% per year during this decade. That level of growth will require major private investment from both domestic and foreign sources, upgraded human skills, and significant economic reform. Worsening racial and religious tensions stand in the way.
Almost 500,000 Malaysians left the country between 2007 and 2009, more than doubling the number of Malaysian professionals who live overseas. It appears that most were skilled ethnic Chinese and Indian Malaysians, tired of being treated as second-class citizens in their own country and denied the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, whether in education, business, or government. Many of these emigrants, as well as the many Malaysian students who study overseas and never return (again, most of whom are ethnic Chinese and Indian), have the business, engineering, and scientific skills that Malaysia needs for its future. They also have the cultural and linguistic savvy to enhance Malaysia’s economic ties with Asia’s two biggest growing markets, China and India.
Of course, one could argue that discrimination isn’t new for these Chinese and Indians. Malaysia’s affirmative action policies for its Malay majority—which give them preference in everything from stock allocation to housing discounts—have been in place for decades. So what is driving the ethnic minorities away now?
First, these minorities increasingly feel that they have lost a voice in their own government. The Chinese and Indian political parties in the ruling coalition are supposed to protect the interests of their communities, but over the past few years, they have been neutered. They stand largely silent in the face of the growing racial insults hurled by their Malay political partners. Today over 90% of the civil service, police, military, university lecturers, and overseas diplomatic staff are Malay. Even TalentCorp, the government agency created in 2010 that is supposed to encourage overseas Malaysians to return home, is headed by a Malay, with an all-Malay Board of Trustees.
Second, economic reform and adjustments to the government’s affirmative action policies are on hold. Although Mr. Najib held out the hope of change a year ago with his New Economic Model, which promised an “inclusive” affirmative action policy that would be, in Mr. Najib’s words, “market friendly, merit-based, transparent and needs-based,” he has failed to follow through. This is because of opposition from right-wing militant Malay groups such as Perkasa, which believe that a move towards meritocracy and transparency threatens what they call “Malay rights.”
But stalling reform will mean a further loss in competitiveness and slower growth. It also means that the cronyism and no-bid contracts that favor the well-connected will continue. All this sends a discouraging signal to many young Malaysians that no matter how hard they study or work, they will have a hard time getting ahead.
Mr. Najib may not actually believe much of the rhetoric emanating from his party and his government’s officers, but he tolerates it because he needs to shore up his Malay base. It’s politically convenient at a time when his party faces its most serious opposition challenge in recent memory—and especially when the opposition is challenging the government on ethnic policy and its economic consequences. One young opposition leader, parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar, the daughter of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, has proposed a national debate on what she called the alternative visions of Malaysia’s future—whether it should be a Malay nation or a Malaysian nation. For that, she earned the wrath of Perkasa; the government suggested her remark was “seditious.”
Malaysia’s government might find it politically expedient to stir the racial and religious pot, but its opportunism comes with an economic price tag. Its citizens will continue to vote with their feet and take their money and talents with them. And foreign investors, concerned about racial instability and the absence of meaningful economic reform, will continue to look elsewhere to do business.
Mr. Malott was the U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, 1995-1998.
Dear John, Thanks for voicing out for most malaysians. If any of the minorities were to utter these, i bet the authority will come knock at the door and one will be handcuffed and may be, very likely, no where to be seen later on….. missing in action!
Not only racism is at its peak, brutality of certain quarter is beyond a commoner’s imagination. A dead person full of body injuries under the custody of the authority was reported as death due to viral infection of the heart. Huh ???
The price of institutionalised racism is a broken and ultimately bankrupt country.
Russia is buying a 20,000-ton Mistral helicopter carrier from France for €1 billion or about RM4 billion. So why is RM6 billon being wasted on buying 6 measly patrol boats? What sort of power projection can be provided 6 patrol boats?
And where in the world except in KL can one find overhead bridges costing RM70,422 a metre?
As interesting as it is true. All four of my children are currently studying overseas where they will, in all likelyhood, remain once they have got their degrees. Malaysia’s loss. They can’t get ahead in MALAYsia because, although they are bumiputra, they are not Malay but rather from one of the small indigenous tribes in Sarawak. Descended from headhunters they need to leave the country to get ahead and stay ahead.
Decades of race supremacy policy has turned Malaysia into a generous “donor of talent” for other countries such as Singapore, Australia and Britain. This is the price the country has to pay for embracing Malay-ethnocentrism.
If BN and NEP are not removed for good,majority malays will never reform and could compete with others.We have to remove all if not most of the racist,highly corrupted umnoputras and the everlasting relying tongkat to achieve the goal toward an advanced nation.Time waits for no man.Do it in the ballot boxes.We must help to relay useful information or political view to friends,relatives and acquaintance if there are opportunity arose.There are many people don’t even bother to register as a voter or know who their friends and relatives support which political party.Some are reserved to talk for his own known reason??,some don’t have the interest or update themselves in politic.I will normally start with brief and simple discussion with them like the corruption cases,racial discrimination,lop sided judiciary,cops with license to kill ect.It will open up some people’s mind and i managed to get 8 people to register as voters in two weeks.I personally brought them to one of DAP branch.The rest,i just cross my finger that they will register as voter as well.
MCA and MIC can’t play their roles to take care of the minorities yet always project themselves as the protectors of the minorities. My relatives and friends were a group of staunch supporters of CSL, last year, few months back. But NOT anymore now with all the recent drama put up. They might be members of MCA, but u bet they’d rather vote for PR, a vote for Change!
The strife for race supremacy by umno has driven the supreme race to sunset; and soon, to complete darkness. Waking up too late will not do any one of them any good, for it means they would then have to fumble about in darkness. Of course they do not seem to know better.
Now waking them from their slumber before darkness falls would be counted as a needless disturbance; and worse, it would be seen as an attempt to deny their supremacy; and a challenge to their status.
Supremacy. Yes. Jenis umno, it is!
Supremacy? What supremacy? Who in Malaysia has admitted INFERIORITY? Who made these TUANS?
MMK, NR, Moo, UmnoB think they CAN FOOL people all the time with their “we r fair 2 everyone” n “1M’sia” bluff, but they CAN’T even fool 1 John Malott
It is very difficult to educate the majority so that they will accept reform and change.More so with people like the big mouth and recalcitrant mamak day in and day out spreading unfounded fear among the majority that their position and future are being threatened by the chinese.The question is whether the BN government really has the political will to change the already stereotype mindset of the majority.If not,2020 is not the year the country will achieve its developed status but most probably the state of bankruptsy.
///If Mr. Najib is serious about achieving that goal, a long look in the mirror might be in order first. Despite the government’s new catchphrase, racial and religious tensions are higher today than when Mr. Najib took office in 2009. Indeed, they are worse than at any time since 1969, when at least 200 people died in racial clashes between the majority Malay and minority Chinese communities. The recent deterioration is due to the troubling fact that the country’s leadership is tolerating, and in some cases provoking, ethnic factionalism through words and actions./// John Malott
Najib should realize that he cannot fool all the people all the time. NEM was intended to attract non-Malay votes, and Perkasa ensures that Najib does not lose Malay votes. It is the vote that counts. The votes allow UMNOputras to continue to steal. Of course the person who overstayed his welcome, in this world, played a part too.
Well, SHIOK SENDIRI is not coined for fun, it is coined with a mission; at least to ensure that the sloganeers could believe in themselves after say, another 50 years of the same message!; provided the rest of the world stands still! Only a magician thinks he can achieve 2 opposing objectives at the same time!
As I see it there are only two ways Malaysia can go. If Pakatan cannot take over the Federal Government in the next election there will only be one left. The pain or hunger will have to be so great that the kampong folks themselves wake up to demonstrate on the streets for change like in Egypt. Hunger pangs are the only language they understand. It will just be like another failed states in Africa. The able minority groups who can offer any hope of salvation are long gone leaving behind an illiterate and ignorant lot with nothing and no place to go. Only then do they realise those of their own kind whom they have entrusted or voted for have robbed them for years are of course enjoying themselves with their illgotten gains.. elsewhere.
This will happen when the oil runs out or the country reserves has been completely siphoned off by BN leeches and cronies. The ringgit becomes indefensible and devalues. A hundred ringgit can only buy ten ringgit worth of things and the people can no longer afford basic food. Unemployment reaches its peak and the bankrupted government got no money to pay the bloated civil servants. Cry my beloved country. Cry.
The fate of the country is very much in the hands of the Malays. The Chinese as usual are very discerning and the majority knows that if a government change is not eminent, Malaysia will go under. That is why the majority of Chinese vote for the opposition for only in the opposition will change be possible. BN got too many baggages in the form of UMNO putras, warlords, cronies, Perkasa morons and other blood suckers whose only role or interest is to plunder the national treasure for self enrichment. It is not possible for the UMNO or BN leadership not to know what is best for the country and what changes are essential to remain competitive or viable as a nation. Unfortunately, the BN leadership places self and sectorian interest above all else and any change from endemic corruption, racism and effective governance will incur onto their own interest in the national coffer which they are adamant into making it their own ATM.
The Indians themselves are a very confused lot with very short memory. Even if you demolish and desecreate their temples, chop their sacred cow’s head, whacked their youngs to death on interrogation they can still somehow find some blame to pin on the opposition and try to blackmail them into getting some advantage for their support but eventually still vote BN. They accuse UMNO and Perkasa of being racist but the way I see it they are more racist than any one of them. Somehow they just cannot see the whole picture and realise that their MIC and BN government are the main culprits responsible for having their rights greatly diminished. They can never learn the meaning of cooperation and will therefore forever be shadowed. The Indians therefore cannot be counted on because I doubt they know who they should vote for even at the ballot box.
The onus and fate of Malaysia is really in the hands of the learned and modern Malays the likes of some of them in the Pakatan team and people like Zaid, RPK etc. They will have to reach to the masses in the Malay hinterland for the Malay votes as the Malay voters will only listen to another Malay. Their minds can only be open with the right key. Zaid should really consider joining DAP if he has problem with PKR because it is difficult to go it alone.
Frankly, Malay politicians hv been given a few generations 2 lead n govern Malaya n M’sia
NonMalays hv given their support 2 nation building all d time
What’s d result/outcome? R things getting better?
Well, as we all can see, things superficially seem OK, but really things got worse
Everyday, we r flooded with negative happenings n vibes dat divide d rakyat
We hardly hv any positive nation building achievements 2 celebrate as united rakyat
UmnoB Malays in cahoots with BN nonMalays fail 2 govern d nation properly, but continue 2 exploit n cheat d rakyat, enriching themselves through all sorts of corrupt n evil practices
UmnoB Malays just TAK BOLEH PAKAI lah, destroying n wasting our lovely nation through their selfish n racist acts, truly a disgusting CRIME n SHAME
Dear John: Plz whisper 2 President Obama n Hillary Clinton 2 say d SAME 2 NR n RM
I put it that the price of racism has been paid in huge spade already by everyone in this country. LKY said ‘imagine what we could have done with Malaysia’ and Mahathir himself said ‘its easy to be rich without NEP’..In hindsight Malaysia had every advantage all the tigers of Asia has AND more. What most did not imagine was the technological wave over the decades that the tigers was forced to take advantage of and suceeded with.
Malaysia made the same mistake the Communist did, just to a lesser extent. The communist did not see the power of free markets and individual freedom. Malaysia did not imagine the power of technological wave over the last few decades.
We should have arrived at the Switzerland standard of living or even higher by now and the issue of Malay competitiveness solved by now if there had been more resolved. That is the truth. Some pride of the Malays would have been hurt but that would be it.
The truth is now the challenges facing this country is even harder than before and the opportunities also not as easy given the entry of China and India in every space. There are still opportunities but delay only make things worst. The Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia made worst mistakes than we did over the decades but they are fast making up for lost times and they don’t have the same problems we have. If you look at how hard it is for them to climb the ladder compared to how we did it, then you will realise that for us to catch up to the other tigers of Asia will be harder than they have done it.
No. We have been paying the price of racism all along and continue to do so and the more we refuse to not pay the price, then the longer it will take and the more we will have to pay for it.
They look into the mirror and all they see are pots of gold.
We should be thankful that more and more international statesmen like John are highlighting the apartheid and racist policies of UMNO to the world. Time and again, we see UMNO and their cronies like Perkasa scrambling to cover up the truth for fear their crimes and corruption are exposed. The world has to know what is happening in Malaysia and international pressure must be placed on UMNO’s ketuanan melayu
There are many examples of how the government wastes taxpayers’ monies under the NEP such as the RM6bil for 6 dressed-up corvettes, the RM10mil air-cond walkway in KL that cost RM70+k per meter.
In JB I offer this example just based on a 5-minute inspection. Do you think there was an open tender for this million-ringgit project?
http://malaysiawatch4.blogspot.com/2011/02/poor-design-of-johor-barus-multi.html