by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Feb 18, 2013
Like a coin, Malaysia has two sides; the tourist experiences a tropical idyll, a shopping paradise and gastronomic delights, but the man in the street sees the obverse.
azlanIn the markets, housewives moan about the increasing prices of everyday food items, but at any Malaysian Airlines check-in counter in London, New York, Dubai or Sydney, one can see Malaysian officials and their spouses deposit box after box of shopping. It is alleged that they seldom pay excess baggage charges.
To say that Malaysia is a nation in chaos is an understatement. Minister after minister shows levels of incompetency that any half-decent company would never permit. Who runs the country? Who is in charge? Is Malaysia like an air plane cruising on auto-pilot until it crashes when it runs out of fuel?
While ministers are busy playing politics, the country is going to ruin. In Sabah, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s ‘Project M’, made illegal immigrants instant citizens of Malaysia. Last week, more than 100 armed foreigners breezed in and occupied a village, without any resistance.
Elsewhere in Malaysia, people of distinction, whose only weapons are truth and the tenets of justice and democracy, are harassed and discouraged from entering Malaysia, or are deported. These people include a French lawyer acting on behalf of Suaram, a British lawyer acting on behalf of Hindraf, Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand and Australian Senator Nick Xenophon. Continue reading “The two faces of Malaysia”