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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Wednesday 6 May 2009

Lessons from an economic story

The principles that can be extracted from the following economic story are as follows:-

  1. Don't punish the real workers of the economy by closing the doors of opportunities
  2. Allow then to trade/participate in a more opened up economy
  3. Dismantle the institutional prison that preserves the monopoly by a small minority
  4. A new regime that governs relations among economic agents must be installed replacing the old one that perpetrates a big lie that the real workers are in need of a policy administered by the minority.


 

One taxi driver told a friend who told me. He wakes before dawn, performs his subuh prayers and sets off to do his job as a cab driver until he comes back at around midnight. This cab driver works like a water buffalo.

The cab driver has no formal education but is spectacularly intelligent and resourceful. Beyond his work as a cab driver, he could butcher a goat or cow according to Islamic rights, perform the function of imam at the local surau, , fix a roof, plaster walls, fix a host of household appliances. Yet his total lifetime earnings were less than even a very lazy, untalented government officer might earn in a single year who lives in the more affluent part of his neighborhood. He is consigned to the kawasan rumah kos rendah.


 
The cab driver asked my friend: tell me brother, can I be called lazy? These politicians and unquestioning buffoons say I am lazy. I work from dawn past midnight; my income is nowhere near those who say my kind is lazy. The income divide is widening and it's not because we don't work. Maybe, it's because, opportunities are closed for us. The powers that be don't allow us to trade.

And that prompted this question:

Why does a spectacularly hardworking, intelligent and resourceful person such as this cab driver earn spectacularly less than a lazy untalented officer?

The one sentence answer: Self-sufficiency is the road to poverty or lower earnings.


My son is a software engineer who works for a contractor company to BBC in Liverpool. He can draw all those game figures, writes programs into them, design websites and a host of other computer software, products. But he has learnt not to divulge everything. Reason? He may end up doing all the work in the office while the Caucasians go pub crawling. So it is economically prudent for him, to conceal all his talents.

The longer answer is that the lazy, not resourceful officer of average intelligence has no incentive to learn how to fix a broken alarm clock or butcher a goat or thatch a roof. For this kind of fellow, these elegant but time-intensive skills have a reward that is far below the cost in foregoing other activities.

The other guy is only lazy because he can afford to be. But put that guy on a desert island by himself and he will quickly resemble Robinson Crusoe, a man with no real skills suddenly forced to acquire some and with a very intense incentive to do so.

But that is only part of the story. Why can one guy afford so much leisure? The answer is that he has more people to trade with, people who bring more capital and skills to the table.

I know nothing about butchering goats the correct way, mend roofs, and repair vacuum cleaners. I know a reasonable amount about economics, a skill that is virtually worthless in practice. And yet I live a comparatively better life that the Alam Flora cleaner l. I live a better life than my great-grandfather who may have been smarter and may have been able to do many things I can never imagine doing.

The fundamental reason that is so is because I benefit from the division of labor. By specializing in economics, I am able to leverage the skills of other people who are specializing in their chosen fields. It is their specializing, and the opportunity to trade with them, that makes it rational and gloriously pleasant to specialize in economics which is a dry subject and called the dismal science.

There may be lessons here- I am telling through a principle of economics. Specialization allows trade (read opening up and competition).Close the avenues for opportunities (trade), the cab drivers of this world can work like a cow, but still receive lower relative income. Those people controlling the avenues of opportunity close the doors and window of access, the cab driver despite his diligence, talent and resourcefulness remains economically lower on the ladder.

Now a general poser: could it be that the majority of Malays have not been able to uplift themselves because they have been led to believe by a big lie, that a policy that was suppose to liberate them, actually enriches a few? That such a policy has actually resulted in doors of opportunities being closed for them? .

25 comments:

Fi-sha 6 May 2009 at 08:42  

Dear Datuk Sak

My heart goes out to them, who spend their waking hour making money just to put food on the table and give proper education to their children - arent that human's basic necessities Sir? No, i heard too many time how people wanted to be in the fovt service simply because they want less work yet more allowance and perks. It saddened me because today's world 'rewards' the lazy ones...

Dear Sir,
knowledge without a sensible heart is useless. Look at what the capitalists and the economists gave us now - their pure greed 'killed' too many innocent breadwinners...

etheorist 6 May 2009 at 08:59  

Sak,

Excellent piece!

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 09:24  

Sak,

A very realistic and frank article from a Malay's perpective. It is only a small part of what is wrong with the country.

Can you imagine what a non Malay would faces?

We know why the best brains are working for other countries. What fools we are. We trained these bright sparks for 11 years or even up to U levels and all the other countries need to do is to offer a scholarship or job. The benefits go to our competitors.

Most would not think twice because the glaring (not invisible) glass ceiling is not there in most of these countries. Here you find it everywhere.

A nation cannot progress if the full potential of her people is not fully tapped... and we are going in the opposite direction.

Any cure ? In my opinion not for a long long time. When the ills have been ingrained for so many decades and when an entire community is involved... no one can change it.

My take is, we can only just watch how our country fare against the best and worst in the area.

The forces against change is just too great.

We know what is troubling us all but there is just nothing can be done for many many years to come.

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 10:11  

Kerja-kerja kasar seperti cleaner alam flora, taxi driver tidak menerbitkan gaji bulan yg tinggi sepertimana pekerja2 lulusan degree atau master...

Walau bagaimana kuat kerjanya, tidak akan menyamai hasil kerja seorang sarjana..

Saya tak pasti bagaimana distribution of wealth yg disebut, sebab pada saya kalau kerja taxi driver boleh mendapat hasil yg sama dengan lulusan sarjana misalnya. Tentu ramai yg tidak akan membuat pilihan utk menimba ilmu.

Zaman sekarang org menimba ilmu untuk mendapat kerja yg baik dan gaji yg tinggi utk keselesaan hidup. Anak gadis atau artis mungkin akan terkinja2 mengejar seorang dato' yg menjalankan pernigaan untuk kesenangan dan jaminan hidup dan status..

Tapi pernahkah anda terfikir, ilmu yg disarankan oleh allah tidak pernah menjanjikan keselesaan hidup dalam bentuk material..

Selagi manusia mengejar kemewahan selagi itu akan ada saja yg tidak betul dan tidak cukup dan sentiasa menjadi perdebatan.

Pernahkah anda tau, ada org yg selesa menjadi sederhana, selesa dengan cukup makan dan pakai berdasarkan ilmu yg ada padanya. Ada kala memberi pertolongan percuma sahaja dengan jiran2 dan org yg mendapat musibah.

Sesuatu yg kamu semua mungkin tidak tahu, ada musibah yg kamu terima jika kamu terlampau2 kaya. Bandingkan diri kamu dengan yg miskin. Apa yg kamu ada dan apa yg kamu takda.

Bagi yg ingin mendekatkan diri dengan allah, akan suka cara yg sederhana, samada pakaian, perbuatan, percakapan dan cara hidup dan makannya. Sederhana dalam segala perkara maka kuranglah "headache"

Perkara yg patut diutamakan adil dalam melaksana sesuatu among your people dan hak2 yg sepatutnya kepada yg perlu mendapat.

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 11:09  

Anon 10:11

Itulah antara sebab utama kenapa org melayu tidak maju dalam perniagaan, tidak kaya, tak naik pangkat. Saya ada kawan, pandai, rajin, Mechanical Engineer. Dapat offer kerja kat Russia, mak tak bagi. Takut tak da makanan halal - pass. Ada adik kawan, pakai tudung labuh, best student kat semua tempat dia belajar - Pre U, SPM, Degree Dean's List, PWC & ArthurAnderson offer - tolak, amik TM sbb MNC suruh tukar pakai tudung biasa. Ada kena kerja jauh - tak nak sbb senang nak balik ambik anak hantar semayang jumaat dan lain2. Saya tak salahkan sesiapa, tetapi Melayu priority nya lain. Yg boleh kerja kuat, siang malam pagi petang tak kawin tak solat dll mostly non malays. Org melayu matlamat utamanya mencari keberkatan dan keredaan Allah dan bina family. Cina - 1. Wang/duit. 2. Hidup Lama. Jadi Melayu sampai bila2 akan macam ni - sederhana.

orang melayu

Bad Spellers of the World Untie! 6 May 2009 at 11:10  

People work hard and get paid for the work they do. Would you pay a brain surgeon the same amount for 3 hour operation as you would a taxi driver for a 3 hour trip to Johor?

I know of a taxi driving gentlemen who is quite a wealthy man. He would wake up in the wee hours of the morning, drive his taxi all day and go home very late at night, perhaps not even in time to put his children to bed.

He was uneducated, but not unintelligent, he had many talents and skills, he too could fix a roof and on one occassion actually fixed my parents roof when it was leaking, he could repair gates, he could repair and service cars (he did after all depend on his trusty old Opel Kaddet for a living)

Today, he doesn't drive anymore, he has his very own "Ahmad" to drive him around in a big shiny Mercedes, his house, or should I say mansion, is far larger than the houses he used to go to do odd jobs. How did this happen? 30 years ago, he started to sell soap in his free time and as time moved on, he rose in the ranks of the Multi-Level_marketing company that he joined and is today a multi millionaire, far wealthier with a much higher standard of living than our friend the government officer.

He is Chinese.

My point here is that hard work is never a barrier to success, unfortunately, most Malays have yet to grasp the concept of smart work.

Eyes Wide Open 6 May 2009 at 11:42  

Another excellent piece Dato'!

Using your example of taxi drivers. We have a situation where a well-connected company receives thousands of taxi permits, who then charge the drivers RM40 per day (or RM1200 per month) for the right to drive the taxi. But all fuel, maintenance, upgrade and repair costs are borne by the driver.

Essentially, this means that it's the cabbie's car but he does not own it. Just because he's not allowed to own his own permit. If he owned his own permit, his instalment on an Iswara would just be about RM600 maybe?

So the permit holders are raking in millions per month for doing nothing, while the poor driver has to work like a water buffalo to cover the inflated cost of driving a cab!

Nenez,  6 May 2009 at 12:17  

Dear Sir,

Please write more on stuff like this. I am reading and benefiting from your last two postings.

I will come up with stupid questions, later.

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 14:12  

the generalisation that govt officers are lazy and getting fat paychecks and perks for doing nothing is not true and definitely goes against the facts

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 14:25  

so melayu aje yg malas?

all chinese are rajin..

get najib to get that taxi driver to be the ceo of some company. then only ppl be happy.

bottom line, specialisation is a must in this age's economic set up.

we are not living in the age before the Great Industrial Revolution of the 1800's.

BN must identify with the persona that it is helping ALL MALAYSIANS and not just a few cronies.

and please lah.. not every malay that benefit from umno's policies are from umno. kebanyakkan tak pernah mengundi pun!!

Icarius 6 May 2009 at 15:53  

My observations are very much along your lines, although not with such good story-telling skills.

So what should we, as a country, strive for?
a. To increase opportunities for the taxi driver to take on other income-generating activities at the same time? (e.g. sell soap on MLM while driving a taxi? ala Bad spellers of the world untie)

b. To encourage migration or overseas employment? (ala Anon 9:24)

c. To find/create opportunities for moving to a better paying profession?

d. To increase the income of taxi drivers?

Some of the apparent problems with the above are:
a. Then the taxi driver is now trying to work 2 jobs and at least one would have to be a stepping stone. A taxi driver (or a plumber, or a road sweeper for that matter)
provides an IMPORTANT service to the rest of us. Before underestimate the service provided, please imagine our lives without those services.

b. Brain drain (what do you call the migration of the skilled - Skill spill?).

c. Again, the services is required. If everyone moves out, then who is going deliver the required services?

d. Drives inflation? But to me, this seems to be the most logical choice.

We simply have to find effective ways to put more money into the pockets of ALL the lower income group. They need bigger purchasing power so that they too can have a good life.

Why is it that taxi-drivers (and plumbers and cleaners) in developed countries can enjoy a high standard of living?

If our rich lives like (or better than) their (developed countries') rich, why can't our lower and middle classes live like theirs?

What is so different between us and them? Taking the taxi-driver example, it is not education and not productivity. So what is it?

icarius-outsight.

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 15:56  

Bukan begitu anon 11:09

Saya menyuruh anda berfikir..Allah tak larang org menjadi kaya..Seorang taxi driver boleh juga jadi kaya. Bagaimanakah anda mengukur kaya?

Untuk org yg salarynya suami isteri dalam 5K - 10k setiap seorang akan dianggap kaya oleh suami isteri yg bergaji dalam 2K setiap seorang.

Tetapi bagi seseorang entrepreneur mungkin punya syarikat bas kecilan, peniaga kedai runcit, atau punya teksi sendiri..mungkin punya gaji lebih atau menyamai dengan suami-isteri 5K-10K.

Bagi seorang Dato yg berjawatan dalam swasta atau mungkin dalam institusi tertentu, dibandingkan dengan seorang Dato' yg lain yg mungkin punya chain of operation nya sendiri atau yg tidak bergelar sekalipun, mungkin punya pendapatan yg tinggi dari dato di institusi itu.

Jadi bagaimana anda meletakkan penjenisan distribution of wealth itu, apa benchmark nya?

Pada saya, wealth itu sangatlah subjektif. Duduk letak perkara bergantung kepada individu yg membuat penilaian dan dimanakah benchmark atau tahapnya.

Kalau tidak it will go round and round without a full-stop.

Untuk cerita anda, bagaimana seorang itu melepaskan sesuatu kerana agamanya, seperti memikirkan halal haram dan kesenangan ke surau, itu adalah dugaan allah buatnya dan beliau menyelesaikan dengan caranya sendiri.

Bagi anda pula, apa yg telah anda korbankan utk mencapai kekayaan yg dihajati itu? Ingin juga saya tau. Apa yang telah anda lepaskan?

Pernahkah anda terfikir, mana2 negeri islam yg kaya-raya di dunia, paling kaya dan tiada yg kaya melainkan islam ini sahaja? Tidakkah anda fikir kenapa org2 islam tidak kaya walaupun di tanah suburnya yg memancarkan kekayaan?

Adakah salah org islam? adakah salah saranan agama kita? adakah salah kita melepaskan semua itu agar ugama kita sempurna dan terjamin?

Bumi allah ini luas, kalau dia takmahu ke rusia dan negara bukan islam, biarkanlah dia. Bukankah dia boleh menjadi kaya dinegeri sendiri?

Anda patut tahu membezakan, keputusan antara menjamin agama dan kekayaan.

Kemudian keputusan untuk bekerja rajin dan tekun disamping beramal secara islam. Mungkin Malaysia kurang memaparkan contoh2 melayu yg berjaya dan diambil peribadi nya sebagai contoh mengapa mereka berjaya.

Saya fikir sebelum ini, perkara yg menjadi pokok perbincangan adalah melayu yg nak kaya cepat, cara bekerja yg tidak islam, percakapan yg tidak islam dan seangkatan dengan nya.

Tapi mengambil pendekatan mudah utk menang dan kaya melalui keadaan2 tertentu, melalui jawatan yg dipegangnya, unsur2 rasuah dsb nya yg amat nyata bukan cara hidup islam. Tapi golongan sebeginilah yg paling ramai umatnya. Bukan calang2 org bodoh yg melakukan, malah bijak pandai belaka. Bijak dalam melingkupkan institusi islam dan membanggakan institusi org putih yg dah tentunya kafir laknatullah.

Kemudian akhir2 ini, kita semua juga merasai kehangatan suasana dimana semuanya pandai bercakap tapi kalau disuruh bikin, belum tentu boleh bikin seperti yg dikata atau yg diumpatkan nya.

Sebab anda gemarkan sangat org putih dan kagum dengan pencapaian mereka (well, tak salah), cuba anda baca cerita org2 kaya mereka dan apa pandangan mereka bila dah terlalu kaya. Lihat kesan pada mental dan hidup mereka. Apakah mereka bertukar menjadi manusia yg baik atau bukan lagi manusia.

When you have everything you want in this world. Life becomes bored.

Is that what you want?

Terserah.

Muhammad Firdaus Christopher,  6 May 2009 at 17:11  

Dearest Datuk,

Excellent write up and you really hit it well.

Keep em coming and let me think of possible questions to seek clarifications.

Be blessed,

Muhammad Firdaus Christopher

walla 6 May 2009 at 17:35  

"Taking the taxi-driver example, it is not education and not productivity. So what is it?" (icarius-outright).


It IS education and productivity. But not of the taxi-driver alone. Also of the people who make the policies and create the environment in which taxi drivers, etc. have to operate within like slaves in some roman empire.


If in the case of taxi drivers, the policy makers create a scheme whereby someone can get truckloads of permits just by entertaining some decision makers, and then that person rents them out without personally putting in any productivity to justify the rentals collected and without any risk taken except for entertainment, then that's where the problem starts.


So study all the policies and target all the people who issue commercial favors. It's easy. Where there's a ruling that restricts, there you will find opportunities for favor-giving. Just make sure the people who are doing the study, investigation if you will, are honest, just, fair, transparent and free from political influence.


Because the people who build those policies are politicians. And politicians depend on money to fund their campaigns in order to stay in power. And staying in power is what they want in order to continue such a system that ends up keeping hardworking and educated taxi drivers poor and those who can build quick buddy networks become rich, quick.


Meanwhile the rakyat must also be productive and educated. Not just in their work and thinking ability. But also in pointing out such things which continue to breed administrative malpractices and policy hijacks that would make even a somali pirate blush.

........
Second, what's being discussed here? Socialist ideals to be practiced as a norm on one community in a free market capitalist economy comprised of many communities, all of which are also not excluded from income gaps?


This perspective has never been articulated before. If we are going to discuss socio-economic engineering policies, then try doing so within that framework.


Maybe something new will come out of it. Maybe we will be the first country in the world which can create a semi-welfare state beyond direct taxation in a free-market capitalist economy. Maybe we can beat the Pareto Principle applied to wealth distribution.


All the taxi-drivers must have been so fed-up that they took it upon themselves to negotiate rates directly with their passengers above what is set. Because the system that was shoved on them operates by the same principle as everywhere else where money can be made with minimum work and minimum education but maximum price. Political leverage for quick and big commercial gain at minimum personal risk.


Right, or, wrong?

Ree,  6 May 2009 at 18:25  

Hi Datok Sak,

Let me share with you a true story that happened recently.

The story is about this driver in my office. A Malay guy in his late 40s. A trustworthy and reliable man. He was one of those unlucky ones to be retrenched because of the current difficult economic times.

I asked him how he will survive without a job. Maybe I could help him out what I can. His answer surprised me. He said he will be ok. Further inquiry revealed that he owns a fairly large Kebun and the income he gets from the Kebun is quite substantial. The driver actually employs other people (Indonesians) to manage his Kebun. The driver is not just a driver, he is also a boss!

So I asked him how he could have acquired this fairly large Kebun considering he is just a driver. He told me that this wasn’t the first time he is being retrenched. This is his third. The first time, happened in the 80s, was the worst he said as he was unprepared and felt completely hopeless. Based on that first experience, he was determined never to feel so hopeless again. He made savings a top priority and live thriftily. He does not own a car and stays in a cheap house (rumah panjang). Over time, he has amassed substantial savings. His house is fully paid. He bought land in his kampung, cultivated the land and is now getting good income from it. According to him, many people looked down on him as they think he is dirt poor. To him what other people think is irrelevant. He knows that when he retires, he will do so comfortably, even if his EPF money is exhausted. The people that laugh at him today will probably be the ones suffering when they retire.

This Driver has achieved what many others with bigger salaries and better qualifications, had not. Financial independence. I was very impressed. On my part, I helped him get a decent severance package from the company. He has now found another job as a driver. A few more years he will retire.

I learned 2 things from this guy:

1. never underestimate people

2. no matter what your income is, if you live within your means and plan carefully, financial security is possible.

Oh yeah..one more thing, the Driver obviously did not think the NEP had benefitted him very much. Like many Malaysians, last year he voted for change.

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 18:49  

If there is one regret i had was that i should have been a politician in bolehland,i would have retired by 45 and enjoy the habuans.

Abu Luqman,  6 May 2009 at 18:56  

Would a social-welfare system as commonly found among Scandinavian countries the answer to bridging the gap between the rich and the poor?

I know Lee Kuan Yew has said that such a system is too expensive to maintain. What say you? Could Malaysia pull it off? After all, with all the bailouts and nationalisation process going on in many countries today, isn't the world now embracing (albeit reluctantly) socialism?

Ariff Sabri 6 May 2009 at 19:30  

are you gona go my way,

i let yr comments thru- but somehow it didnt appear. pls resend because i think yr rebuttal to someone's argument here deserves to be heard.
there are two more comments from anons which i also allowed thru, but did not appear on this page. sorry for that.

Anonymous,  6 May 2009 at 21:33  

Dear Dt sak

i dont really understand your point of writing..

poor taxi driver and rich government servant.

i dont think you are comparing apple to apple.

we should live according to our income earning.the amount of money we have is enough if we know how to live according to our means.for the less affordable, there are many shops offering goods for them. anything, you mentioned it, they have.we should ration our food proportionately also.there are ways to economise.maidin hypermarket everything from rm5.00 shirts to food.

If he is a taxi driver, the wife should help him.Bungkus nasi lemak, buat kueh, anything.This will at least provide 3 meals a day for the family.I knew first hand.bcos thats what my mother did last time when we are all in school until we finish our universities years.

Some of the wife of lower income government staff did that too.i knew some of them.

Common Dato' in Malaysia, mudah sangat nak cari makan and prosper.Pokoknye kena usaha lebih.

But if we want to compare how other people lives.then we are in trouble.We really dont know how these people who seem to have everything lives.maybe they are full of debts.maybe they are drugs dealers.Maybe they are involve in money laundering.Maybe they are involve in Pak man telo kind of business.maybe they are corrupt officers.maybe they are corrupt politician (not necessarily from umno, i knew some from Pas in Terengganu, some of PKR leaders are ex-umno are very rich,who knows where they got their money from).

Samade kita nak mengaku atau tidak keadaan sudah berubah.kita kena la berubah.yang penting kita kena berusaha bersungguh untuk berjaya dan kita kena berpuashati dengan apa yang kita ade.Jangan kita dengki dengan apa yang orang ade.Kita kena redha.Berkerja dengan penuh dedikasi, berhemah dan beriman, bangga dengan kerja yang kita buat, nescaya Allah akan memberi kita hidayah, kesenangan dan ketengana yang hakiki.Tak mungkin semua orang dapat jadi bos dan orang kaya.

HeroHuruHara 6 May 2009 at 22:43  

I like to use this words when talking about life@economy; " pi la korek celah perdu mana-mana pokok kalau boleh jumpa seringgit".

The words sounds a stiff principle of me that nothing is free and how hard to make a living.

But then sad to still listening a workers (labour in fact) still bullied by a capitalist via various unfair policy, act, enactment and law.

fazilogic 6 May 2009 at 23:26  

I love this piece. I relate to the taxi driver's predicament.

But I don't agree with the notion that G'ment's policy meant to enrich the few.

I believe there's a mismatch to enable the taxi driver (and myself) to optimise his (and mine) skills to realise the economic advantage.

I happened to hop in a taxi recently in KL where the driver was an ex-army, have a PKK F Licence (that he manages to draw its benefits from).

He told me that he is able to manage time between behind the wheel and supervising his 'F' jobs.

He is not rich but one of his children is now a lawyer.

And I do envy him for the workable matching.

kuldeep 7 May 2009 at 00:26  

if all cars,buses,motorbikes etc are banned from using the roads in kuantan except for ur taxi driver friend,then i believe he can earn much better money..and similarly,if he is the only licensed goat slaughterer in kuantan.

but his competitive advantage as such will not last forever..cos the market will innovate to escape from his stranglehold.

There will be innovative forms of transportation such as wind gliders,motorized bikes..and canned frozen lamb will be flooding the stores.

Thus any enforced advantage is temporary unless society per se stops innovating.In that case,KLCC will be the next Angkor Wat.

Unless our policy makers appreciates that there is no vacuum...and ensure their strategies are in synch with the ever changing scenarios>>30 years along,our children will be having the same arguements too.

I am a Bumiputra Malay.

Anonymous,  7 May 2009 at 16:23  

Am I lazy? wake up 4.00am masak nasi lemak, lucky the sambal can be cooked night before.6.30am already at my site near the kilang. But why can't i get any other things from the kilang beside regular nasi lemar eaters, such as labour supply, be a rubish collector or lorry supplier or maybe material supplier.

nasi lemak seller

Anonymous,  8 May 2009 at 07:50  

Sakmongkol

I'm one of the two Anons whose comments disappeared.

I don't mind at all my comment disappearing so long as the offensive earlier Anon's comment also disappeared. I felt a need for unjustified comments and offensive remarks to be replied to and wrong impressions corrected for the record, believing that what are said in your blog can be regarded as some kind of record.

Whether they are harsh or not (my idea was to deter such Anons from unfair racial comments in the future), it's entirely for you as the blog owner to decide. Just as it is at your discretion and it is your right whether to publish this comment or not.

Sorry about that.

Unknown 8 May 2009 at 08:27  

Sigh ...

why do we equate success with money??

don't throw the baby out with the bath water

in trying to allow "unhappy voices" the chance for expression

let's not get into another racial stereotyping

Malaysia is a great country

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