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| One man's view |
On Malaysia
Malaysia’s Bumiputera Policy
As always Mr Lee has given his view and advice to Malaysia whether solicited or not. His main bugbear – Malaysia’s bumiputera policy or affirmative action in favour of native Malays and indigenous people.
For the uninitiated, when Singapore was part of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965, Mr Lee came out against this policy in favour of meritocracy which he had introduced in Singapore. He had a vision for Malaysia – ‘Malaysian Malaysia’, if I’m not mistaken, where every race would have equal rights on all matters. Of course the ruling Alliance and UMNO in particular was vehemently opposed to this. It was mainly due to Mr Lee’s insistence on this, that forced then Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman to ask Singapore to leave the Federation.
Perhaps Mr Lee does have a point in that the “New Economic Policy” (NEP) that Malaysia introduced has now lost much of its’ gloss and may not be so feasible today in Malaysia. And yes, thousands maybe a million Malaysians have to work abroad especially in Singapore because of better opportunities and higher salaries. However this does not mean they have abandoned Malaysia for good, most would actually go and settle down in Malaysia at some point in the future, because Malaysia still has a good quality of life compared to the mad rush and ever rising costs in Singapore. They can build better homes with monies earned, and have so much more space to do other things in life or when retirement beckons.
Yes he was correct that the NEP seeks to help a particular race, the Malays, retain the dominant position. But was it wrong? Should Malaysia have practised meritocracy as he proposed all those years ago? The answer has to be a resolute No. Just imagine, if the NEP or bumiputera policy was not introduced, what would have been the result? The Malays and indigenous peoples (mainly Sabah and Sarawak) were mostly living in rural areas and had little education or wealth. If meritocracy was implemented then, these people would end up continuing to be poor whilst the educated and richer Chinese and Indians would dominate business and power. This would be a recipe for disaster, the majority and native people of Malaysia would be sidelined and look at envy at their richer neighbours who were migrants to begin with. And Malaysia is a large country not a city state like Singapore where measures can be made to ensure that everyone has a chance to be educated and enjoy the benefits. How do you get a poorly educated farmer in say Perlis or Kedah to match up with someone living in a city like KL, who has access to schools, hospitals, transportation etc?
Affirmative action rather than meritocracy was vital for Malaysia to succeed and overcome the racial differences and mistrust. And by and large, it proved to be successful and all races were able to live in harmony. The Chinese and Indian communities for the most part were happy to let the Malays be given the leading role in the country of their fore-fathers. No doubt in recent times, this policy does not seem to be working and some segments of both communities feel not enough is being done to help them. But the same is also true for the Malay middle-class who feel that the NEP has created an elite segment of bumiputeras who are enjoying the most benefits. Perhaps some form of meritocracy needs to be introduced in Malaysia or a revamped version of the NEP needs to be introduced but LKY is definitely wrong to say the NEP was the wrong policy to implement back then. Instead if his Malaysian Malaysia was implemented, a great rift would have been the result and Malaysia would go the way of countries like Sri Lanka and Fiji, where a small racial minority was running the country and this led to much racial hatred that brought about violence.
And as good as meritocracy has been for Singapore, it too now has developed its’ own Achilles Heel. It’s not incorrect to say, that there is now an ‘elite segment’ that runs the country and is fast losing touch with the reality of day to day living in Singapore. The pursuit of success and increasing wealth is polarising citizens and giving benefits to newly minted citizens and PRs has made many ordinary Singaporeans more intolerant or unhappy. While some form of meritocracy is perhaps what’s needed in Malaysia, then some form of affirmative action in favour of ordinary citizens is needed in Singapore.
On Japan
Japan's Population Woes
Mr Lee has a lot to say about Japan's aging population and lack of growth as seen in this piece published in Asiaone (another SPH outlet):
http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/lee-kuan-yew-japans-insular-attitude-and-population-woes?page=0%2C0
I do not have as much insight into the Japanese as he does, so I'll defer to his views for the most part. What I disagree however is his following opinion and advice:
'If I was a young Japanese and I could speak English, I would emigrate'
I don't know how many young Japanese he has met over the years, but I did have some experience working for/with younger Japanese executives and professionals, all of whom being in Singapore could obviously speak English. Never once did they ever consider emigrating away from Japan. Instead they were extremely proud of their race and culture and all hoped to be able to return to Japan at some point, either to continue working there or to retire eventually.
Unlike Singapore, the Japanese like their country to be dominated by Japanese, they do not believe in simply creating new citizens to fill the void be it in business or other sectors. Yes they might have an issue with aging and stagnation, but they still prefer it that way. Having survived thus for centuries, I do think however in the longer run, they will overcome this problem like they have in the past. In means a lot to them being Japanese and having a Japan for the Japanese.
For a bigger picture ... The Tsunami to come [Link] - Singapore and Malaysia need to work together as one lah ...
Or maybe it is one man's grand final agenda ... ? Smoke grenade x06 - smoke gao gao !
i cannot even trust my own leader ...
16 August 2013
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