A Chinese friend asked me, why do you think the Chinese will not vote BN? My response was- I don't know why they won't. What I know is they CAN. The question we should be asking is why can they?
They can because, the great advances achieved by the Chinese as a whole, happened when there is least interference from the government in the course of the Chinese pursuing their self-interests. So, the answer is, why should they give up this freedom to pursue their self-interests, as long as they don't run foul against the law up, in return for bigger government which means bigger interference which means also, admitting the high handedness of the little and not so little napoleons into their lives? For these reasons, they won't vote for BN.
The Malays.
The Malays have got it wrong. Part of this mistake, or a greater part of the mistake they make, is to believe, they are little children depending for their succor and sustenance on UMNO or by extension the UMNO dominated government.
What do you need to do business for example? I remember my many talks with the Oracle of Syed Putra. I have met him for two successive weeks and each week he is lamenting the path taken by UMNO and its current leadership. I shall write on that later.
The practical idea of capitalism, is to provide capital to the Malay so that he can have the capital to start business, the educational and technical skills to sustain and expand the business etc. read again- thy need capital( capital is not UMNO), they need educational and technical skills( both are not UMNO).
So, where does it state anywhere in the word, that Malays need UMNO absolutely to advance? They don't.
Let me give some more examples. Every town and city in Malaysia displays the same characteristics. I am most familiar with my hometown, Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur. In Kuantan you have a section of town dominated by Chinese (Ayer Puteh) and in Kuala Lumpur you have (Old Klang Road). In my schooldays, these two areas were and are still dominated by the Chinese. Both these areas enjoyed least attention from the government in the past. Go visit Ayer Puteh in Kuantan today; you will be almost convinced that it's a city in itself. It developed on its own on account of the vibrancy of the people pursing their economic interests with the least interference and meddling from government. It has achieved this status with lesser interference from government.
Old Klang Road area has developed into a commercial behemoth that it's almost fair to say, it has developed a parallel economy rivaling what the official government can do. Yet old Klang Road has achieved that without the excessive interference of government.
In other words, it's absolutely hogwash to say, we depend on the government for our livelihood.
Let me go to the other extreme of the logic. We have millions of Malays in rural areas who can do better if they have what? If they have capital, accessibility, education and technical skills etc. very true. So Malays need capital (capitalism), the need accessibility (freedom) they need education (self-interest). None of these are in any way synonymous with UMNO.
Let me repeat this statement. The Malays need capital (yes), they need freedom (yes) and they need to pursue their self-interests? Now tell me, if I were to purse this extreme logic, do the Malays need UMNO? They don't because their advancement is not absolutely dependent on whether it's UMNO that provide capital, freedom and creates the environment that enable them each to purse their self-interests. So when Dr Mahathir says, the Malays need help, where does it say in the world, that that HELP comes in the form of UMNO?
So before UMNO goes to the polls, I hope they get rid of this cockiness and self-conceit that the people need us. They don't.
28 comments:
Dato' SAK,
You haven't lost touch with principles of economic growth. Much what you said however gets warped when it reaches the rural folks.
Dato', I still believe that the people who really change our lives are scientists, researches, and technopreneurs. The least hope for change comes from politicians.
Resources are limited; when it is distributed within the private sector, capitalism can help distribute it effectively although it does not have a human face.
On the other hand, we are left with no choice but leave to it to this group of people we called politicians to also help distribute resources which at the end, causes more havoc than benefit.
In Malaysia, I think the Rakyat can only hope that our politicians understand how to distribute resources, doing so transparently and without waste. Unfortunately, in our case, the politicians have proven to accumulate and skew resources instead.
The engine of growth for the Malay populace actually has been left attended. We are only led to believe otherwise.
punk5terung
Dear Dato,The Chinese,Malays,Indians and all other races voted big time for Barisan when Abdullah Badawi was PM.In fact it was one of the biggest landslide victories in GE's.Why?Because PM Badawi was condidered Mr.Clean.He was supposed to clean up corruption.Malaysians supported him for what he stand for.Unfortunately all Badawi could do was catch only the small fishes.Although Badawi had the people's mandate he lacked Umno's warlords support because corruption was big time in Umno,Mca and Mic.Another big obstacle was an ex PM,who was all out to teach Abdullah a lesson for not listening to him.Now why the Chinese,Malays,Indians and other races are not supporting Barisan?First Perkasa,Utusan,Barisan politicians and Umno backed bloggers have been stirring up racial tensions.Anwar's sex video,the bible issue and now Christians trying to upsurp the Muslims and widespread corruption.All these trouble makers are protected by powerful politicians,because people know that the PDRM,MACC and AG dare not bother them.If these trouble makers are opposition supporters they would be arrested and charge under ISA and taking up permanent residency in Kamunting already.The PM must showed that he is fair to all Malaysians irrespective of race or political affiliation.Then people will respect you.If people know you are a strong and fair leader they will support your party.Scare tactics do not work anymore.Money to help the ordinary,not politically connected Malays are bread crumbs.The rest are gobbled up by Umnoputras and their cronies.No wonder Malays dont all support Umno anymore.
BIG YES to you Dato'. Who need UMNO? I don't and most of my friends who are doing business like me....don't!! I never ask help from UMNO. I do things on my own. And I am a Malay. Who said all Malay have Bumiputera priority? Only the "kaki bodek UMNO esp Malay Contractors" need UMNO help. My statement may sound very harsh but its a fact!! Without the help from UMNO, Malay contractors especially Class F, will never have a chance to have nice house and cars.
Tell me Sak why would the Malays who form 65% of the population, hold absolute of government, 100% of army, 100% of police, 98% of civil service, 100% of the MONARCHY, etc etc fear that the 30% of the Chinese will take over the country or 8% of the Christians will rule this land. What make them think that Islam is under siege?
If this is not UMNO madness, then what else is? Their heads are filled with worms!!!
UMNO, Utusan, Perkasa, Pembela and PDRM want to ignite and then fan the fire - all became of preservation of power.
Can such a people ever progress in like?
Tell me how many Chinese provide employment for Malays - never mind they are security guards, truck drivers, receptionists, general clerks, operators but they do get employment.
Malays can't fly because UMNO keeps on clipping their wings so that they will be dependent on UMNO for survival.
Dato',
I disagree with you because your article is too idealistic. I also think you miss out a few key criteria when you compared the malays to the chinese. The malays had capital and educational opportunities through the NEP. How come the malays did not take these opportunities to the fullest despite 42 years of such opportunities?
Is it possible that the chinese were left to fend for themselves when the NEP came into force? This meant the chinese had to be doubly resourceful and make sacrifices to pursue their own economic dreams. If this meant having to sell their homes or to borrow money to pay for their children's education, so be it. If it meant having to work two jobs to support the family and have seed capital leftover, so be it.
UMNO on the other hand played to the weaknesses of the malays. Knowing full well the malays are easily contented and lacking the competitive and entrepreneurial spirit, UMNO started the "crutches for votes" exchange program. And therein lies the root problem. After 42 years of depending on the UMNO crutches with a great number of UMNO elites becoming multi millionaires, the malays have became so dependent on UMNO because UMNO has shown the malays how easy it is to make money as long as the malays subscribe to the UMNO doctrine. Why is it the civil service is overstaffed with malays exceeding the population race ethnicity ratio? This is a classic example of the UMNO crutch of guaranteed employment to the malays provided the malays continue to vote for UMNO.
There is absolute no way UMNO can fix itself simply because UMNO is afraid of change. It is afraid of competition because it knows it cannot compete on equal grounds when they remove the crutches. UMNO is also in a world of self denial and it will not allow itself to recognize the new realities.
The new reality is that people want an honest and transparent government, one which is fair to the people and one which works for the betterment of the people and the country and not for their own bank accounts. It is high time the malays tell UMNO they do not need the UMNO crutches. Then perhaps UMNO may just will recognize the reality.
Umno Fixing itself: recognizing the new realities.
Thank you for letting me in.
Weather you are supplied side or Keynesian there is the season to the madness.
The question is do we get more Bangs with political control or strict capitalism.?
Politically the days “the government knows it all” are over, so said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in one of his earlier speeches as the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia ( he didn't mean UMNO ). Dr.Mahathir on many occasion reiterate that the greatest political power was in the hands of Malay Umno but the greatest benefit to that power was the Chinese ( MCA or not).
Why do Chinese looking else where.?
By the tail end of DrM term's the benefits dries up.
Is Umno the answer.?
Yes if a magnanimous leader rise from it sleeps.
Why.?
Because the racial component of Malaysia political party reflect it society.
Only a leader that represent that society yet stay above it can moves all society together separate but moving along.
Without thinking about other race , how can umno lead it own first and foremost.?
Maybe the answer already lies in people like DrM , Tun Razak and Tengku.
The new realities is that Malay public service is the calling of the selfless. .
Dear Sakmongkol
“Now tell me, if I were to purse this extreme logic, do the Malays need UMNO? They don't because their advancement is not absolutely dependent on whether it's UMNO that provide capital, freedom and creates the environment that enable them each to purse their self-interests”.
OK, let me then tell you: the Malays don’t need UMNO. What they need is an enlightened government that is clean, transparent, non-racial, accountable, and that really works on behalf of all the people, but with a special agenda towards uplifting the socio-economic status of the poor whether Malay, Indian, Iban, Kadazan or Chinese.
Let’s look at UMNO’s record of “helping” the Malays. There was a special socio-economic programme in place in 1971, called the NEP. It is still in place in some other name and guise. That’s 40 years, a very long time in social engineering and economic restructuring. What do we find? The Malays and the rural folks are still left very much behind. The wealth gap (Gini coefficient) between the wealthy and the less wealthy has grown, not reduced. This simply means the poor are not catching up, meaning the Malays are still not catching up.
Who is to be blamed - the Chinese who have little political power, or UMNO who holds all the important posts in government? UMNO had 40 years of unrivalled power yet they failed to deliver.
But hold it a second. Did they really fail in an honest and serious attempt? Or was it that somehow those Malay leaders with political power used this special soci0-economic agenda as a pretext to enrich themselves and their cronies? All soci0-economic data about relative wealth are always presented as X% held by the Chinese, Y% by Malays and Z% by others. Did someone peek behind Y% to see who actually own it?
When we couch soci0-economic restructuring programmes in racial terms, we inadvertently also increase racial differences and cause racial disunity. If we want to help the poor, why can’t we simply do that without all the overt and covert racial undertones? The dangerous part of racial profiling is that the UMNO-led government can play the blame game by saying it is the Chinese who have caused the Malay problem. After 40 years of bungling and incompetence we now have the worse of both worlds – an economically disenfranchised Malay society and a racially divided Malaysia, exactly opposite to what the NEP sought to achieve.
Finally, let me say that I agree with your basic observation that the Chinese want a small government so that it does not get in the way of private enterprise. The Malays, on the other hand, have been brought up to think the big government (they have only known one) knows best and is doing its best. If that were true, then the Malays surely would have caught up with the Chinese with a playing field tilted their way the past 40 years. You are right to point out that the Malays don’t need UMNO. They merely need an enlightened and clean government of any strip that can really help them – not be giving enough to sustain them daily but to teach them to fish, that is, to give them the skills and means to compete with everyone else.
Dato,
As long as people wanna believe what is told to them, nothing can be done. Facts vs reality scenario.
If you continue to highlights as you do, do you think anyone really like what is being said. Most of them will probably consider you a nuisance, as you continue to "harp" on those issues.
Why ???
They are either deft, or belief they are really deft. For us, who enjoys your fair comments, its worth the reading, as we hope for better Malaysia.
Some people like to be cheated and lied to, so let them be, but we need to let truth prevail.
Pls continue to be fair in your writing.
A.Alshukor
Sak,
You are very right that we people dont need any help from the government.
Give us that freedom in business like Hong Kong and we are all set. of course the rural malays they need assistance from the banks on a commercial scale.
The malays needs to believe that nobody owes them a living.Then the rest is set..Arrogant UMNO wants to play Godfather.....the saddest part of it.
I am an inactive UMNO member and I agree with soonhock 110%.I will not vote for UMNO until and unless they are totally reformed and not full of corrupt and selfish leaders.The rakyat livelihood is threatetened by overpolictiking and manipulations by UMNO politicians.Government fund and loans meant for development in agriculture for example are diverted to politicians family who after getting the fund some how failed to performed( National Feedlot Corporation ;from feedlot to oil palm)).Politicians/minister also dictates what breed of animals that the government will distribute to farmers and they more than often given the unsuitable ones (through tenders given to cronies) which failed to perform to the satisfaction of the farmers.The farmers retaliate by selling them for cash and reported the animal as dead.That is why our livestock development programmes has never been successful to date.
Dear Dato'
Malays still fail despite having the capital, skills, accessibility and whatnots. They have to go thru mental transformation and to change the ways they practice Islam.
Just take an example of Malay contractors; as soon as they received the advance payment you see them driving mercedes, getting a second wife and enjoying themselves. Most are contractors in name only, too lazy to do the job themselves. The Chinese are doing all the work and naturally they benefit more. The Malay contractors remain as they are for 20 or 30 years while the Chinese in no time become millionaires and multi-millionaires.
Now the Malays are being left behind and worried that their position will become even worse.
You will see more of Ibrahim Alis and the likes of Dr Yusri blaming other races for the problems faced by the Malays, which are essentially their own doings.
A loud wake up call!
Regardless of the threats to riot, to kill, to deprive the Chinese of governmental representation and to generally spit on the Chinese each and everytime the UMNO/Perkosa people gets the chance to, the Chines is irrevocably in the opposiiton camp. What can UMNO/Perkosa do to the Chinese that they not already done? The Chinese have learnt to live on their own wits before and since independence. We owe UMNO nothing, not then and not ever.
Hey Sak,
This means the Malays have to fix themselves.
I didn't hear you say how UMNO is fixing itself! There are so many Mr Fixits around.
Ok. So the Malays need no UMNO-mumbo. I agree, the Malays should fix UMNO right and good!
Janganlah nak sumpah-sumpah lagi, ko orang! Tak baik. Just fix them!
Sir,
What soonhock said is so simple but correct.
I wonder if anybody has done a study on the number of man hours each community spent per week on average to improve themselves?
From my little community, I can see that
1. Many Chinese put in about 12 hrs a day.
2. Many Malays put in 8 hrs and even in that 8 hrs, many lepak-lepak.
3. I have ni info on the Indians because there are none where I live.
I hope some of your readers can provide the stats.
To improve oneself, there is no short cut but hard work. Even amongst those who work hard, not all will succeed. But if you don't work hard and depends on the government for the tongkat, memang tak akan maju.
And hear we have UMNO & their goons keep stirring rubbish and feed them to the Malays. Macam mana Melayu boleh maju, asyik kena tipu oleh pemimpin mereka sendiri?
the malay organisations, which should help the malays, like mara is not doing so lately, in the 70's mara gives loan to malays to study...many benefited and help to build the malay middle class in the 80's and early 90's, but now that is not done in big numberes like in the 70's ...so how are you going to help the malays if mara is so restictive in giving educational sponsorship to help the malays...so malay politicians should wake up and help do the simple thing of helping the malays to get good education be it locally or overseas, after that the malays can help themselves, please help to maintain the talent pipeine that has been broken since the late 90's...this is the first step to regain the malays back to umno, it is done before and it is not difficult to implement again.....
Saya cukup bersetuju bahawa kemajuan diri seseorang Melayu khususnya dalam perniagaan tidak secara langsung bergantung kepada UMNO tetapi bergantung kepada pasaran semasa.
Bagaiamanapun prasarana dan peluang itu memang diujudkan oleh kerajaan yang diterajui UMNO secara am dan menyeluruh dalam pelbagai bentuk dan cara yang tidak perlu kita hujahkan disini kecuali bagi yang 'buta hati dan mata'- itu adalah kerana sumpah politik mereka untuk memperjuangkan Melayu dan Islam.
Bagaiamanapun selepas menunaikan sumpah politik mereka tidak wajar pula UMNO menterbalikkaannya kepada Melayu bergantung kepada UMNO. Sebaliknya UMNO lah yang bergantung kepada Melayu.
UMNO wajar ingat - what you give, you get. Kalau tak bagi, langgar sumpah perjuangan - what UMNO can get?
You got a great point there. The Chinese do not need the Govt to grow. They grow themselves. They make themselves independent and pursue their goals independent of the govt because many have gone used to the idea of depending upon oneself.
In short they are an economy within an economy.
Fact is many would not even bother the govt as far as possible.
We start to look global. We establish first in other countries before we start our operations here because the mentality is that unless you are global dont even bother to demo.
We have gone global and is seeing our project being implemented in other countries. Malaysia? Oh maybe .. just maybe after we have serviced the entire world, then we can come back here to have a chance to demo (not get the order).
The Chinese now wish to be left alone. We vote whom we please. It is our constitutional rights. We can even give up our citizen anytime we wish or choose not to depending on circumstances.
(Just go to Malaysian embassy in Singapore and see how many Malaysians are giving up their citizenships ... you can't even get a queue number if you are late)
So much for all the trouble. Just not worth fighting for it with people like Ibrahim or Perkas or TDM or Utusan who seems not to understand the meanings of the words they speak. Seems to be opposites of what globally understands those words they spewed and will continue to spew.
I say man, where did you learn to write so well and so TRUE. From umno? ha ha x9.
Dato'
Please allow me to disagree with your comments that "... happened when there is least interference from the government in the course of the Chinese pursuing their self-interests"
It is due to Government's interference that restricted Chinese self-interests that FORCED the Chinese to move into another gear and area.
For example if given the choice my parents would want me to be a doctor but the Government's race-based policies ensured that it did not happen.
I was forced into another profession that due to being blessed as well as my own drive allows me to pursue a career internationally as well as locally. If i had not have that drive I would not have achieve nor adventure / journey.
Today's younger generation of all races is another issue.
You also mentioned rural areas. Let me put the other way round. What has Mara and other government agencies for rural folks being doing? Krafttangan is another agency.
You got BERNAS venturing into silly ventures like stores in the urban area competing with other chains.
I have seen children of rural folks progressing. The issue is 52 years of spoon-feeding by UMNO to remain in power whilst the rural folks become generally weak and dependent. It's like a drug pusher giving free or discounted drugs so that that addicts are loyal to them.
Take a stroll to Sungai Wang or Low Yat Plaza and see how scores of young folks selling the same items. One wonder what is each individual unique selling proposition?
Until about a year ago the guys and gals were almost entirely Chinese Malaysians. Now we are seeing more Malay Malaysians. So who said that they need help?
Hence please allow me to disagree with your comments.
I will buy you teh tarik to continue further.
"...Let me repeat this statement. The Malays need capital (yes), they need freedom (yes) and they need to pursue their self-interests. Now tell me, if I were to pursue this extreme logic, do the Malays need Umno? ..."
Is pursuing those goals "extreme"? So if you "fix" UMNO, would you be an extremist?
Conversely, if you don't, you're not an extremist! The inequity will persist and worsen but Malays will then not be "extremists". They'll be very "nice" and "noble" Malays with lots of "budi". There might be extreme malnutrition, lots of skin disease and dandruff, house debts will climb to 160% as against 60% or so now.
But, hey! Ain't a Malay not an extremist but really nice fler? Just keep off him because he's got plenty of dandruff and you might have to pick up the lunch tab.;)
The 'Tongkat Malays' really need UMNO. From UMNO, they get contracts.
With contracts in hand, they get bank loans (capital).
With this capital, they get educational and technical skills by subcontracting the projects to the Chinese Babas.
So Dato', your Econ 101 does not apply in Malaysia.
UMNO needs the Malays votes to stay in power. On the other hand, the Malays voted UMNO with the hope that they are well look after by the UMNO leaders. The Malays too hoping to have an equal and fair opportunity in bizness without having to compete with the UMNO cronies. We kept saying that the Malays are lazy but the real culprits are the UMNO cronies. They are not specialised in their field (contracts) but they easily managed to get contracts and fast money. Yes, the government created a lot of projects but who actually benefited the most from it. So tell me, who needs who now? UMNO or UMNO cronies or the Malays? It is not "Melayu mudah lupa". Actually "KETUA Melayu atau kroni2 nya yang mudah lupa".
"The Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM) has urged the government to hand over the entire multi-billion ringgit Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project to it because bumiputera companies are failing to win tenders related to the project" - Mkini
Does that answer the question whether the Malays (esp UMNOputras) need UMNO?
Don't these UMNOputras have self-respect and dignity? Why can't they be like those Malays in Penang who get contracts by merits?
Hand over the ENTIRE multi-billion ringgit MRT project?
Gasped! They think this is their bapak project?
Sheesh !!!!
Hidup UMNO!!! No way will malays allow DAP to take control like PAP did in Singapore. No way!!!
That's why BN is barking up the wrong tree by threatening the Chinese they will be left out of the Government if they don't vote BN.
Dato' not only Old Klang Road, look at Kepong. All done without Government assistance. For years DBKL left OKL and Kepong / Jinjang to rot. Then when they realized that good business means increase in revenue for the coffers of government (DBKL), they started to do the right thing.
The kind of political threats espoused by BN is not only childish, but just so much water off the back of the Chinese.
Why are the Malays still having this perception that economic wealth is in the hands of the Chinese when the truth of the matter is that Malay-controlled companies easily make up half of KLSE's market capitalization?
It's becos of the SMEs. The SMEs invariably have a Chinese face, and they are every where throughout the country.
And as we all know, the SMEs are a story of pure blood, sweat and tears. No stealing from others, no subsidy, no grants, no rent-seeking, nothing.
The question Malays need to ask is why, when half the KLSE market capitalization is controlled by Malays (no, don't split hair – it may be government owned or linked but if the board is malay, the management is malay, the employees are malay, and the contractors are malay, then it is Malay), why is capital not seeping down to the ordinary Malays to start their own SMEs.
One Malay man recently can fly all his guests to Maldives for his wedding reception while we are all too familiar with the hand-to-mouth stories of ordinary Malay folks.
This is one issue that needs addressing. Capital is too concentrated in a few centres and is not flowing out.
"...Hand over the ENTIRE multi-billion ringgit MRT project? ..." - Malaysian
They can actually and it might still work.
But they will have to bribe the MCA Chinese who will bribe them back and they all become bribery babi buta!
And guess what? MCA Chinese are still PM. No matter if Malay is PM in name only. What's in a name? Rose or Porky?
Did you read about how Musa Hasan and Gani Patail tipu Mahathir? Maybe it's true.
Maybe Mahathir kena tipu Soros! ;)
Hey, we're only human lah. Nehru or no Nehru jacket!
"In other words, it's absolutely hogwash to say, we depend on the government for our livelihood."
Sak, perhaps you should read Ron Paul's work :)
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