The State of GLCs September 18, 2007
Posted by rahulian in Uncategorized.2 comments
Last week I visited Singapore during a working vacation. I chanced upon an interview given by Tengku Mahaleel on Channel News Asia, a Media Corp news channel. He highlighted a few things during that interview.
The first was the reasons why he believed he should have been allowed to continue the job but we are not going to dwell on that. What surprised me was that when he left, he said Proton had cash in the tune of two billion ringgit. He says they now only have 300 million ringgit.
If what he says is true, then one must wonder where the cash has gone. Has it been used to purchase more rediculous entities like MV Agusta or for designing vehicles like Tiara and Juwara that were a disgrace and should have been scrapped at the design stage itself.
Or there could be one more possibility. The money has been used to line the pockets of the rich and powerful few while we suffer here with the burden of Proton being protected through high tariffs for foreign cars. If Proton has the quality in it’s products, then fair and good. However, their standards are well known and why should we the public suffer the burden.
If Tengku Mahaleel is right, then I hope Proton will come forward and let us know what happen to all that money and how do they propose to safe the national car industry. The people are now more knowledgeable and thus we demand more answers. This is just one industry involving a government linked company. I wonder what kind of worms are in the tins of other GLCs.
Then I hear the Deputy Prime Minister saying on national television that the government has given 14 billion ringgit in subsidies for petrol while Petronas has forked out 13 billion ringgit in subsidies.
I can understand when his Honourable DPM speaks of the government subsidies but as for the subsidies by Petronas, well we all know that they must pay for the exclusive right of finding and getting petrol out of this nation. Do we have to beg for what is rightfully ours? Even if the government has given all these subsidies, it is not from the coffers of their party but from the taxpayers money. They are only returning the wealth belonging to every single Malaysian i.e. the oil and soil belongs to all of us.
The government privatised many national bodies with the idea of making them more efficient and to better serve the public. However, due to their monopolistic situation, the public is still not getting what they deserve. The nature of monopolistic business is such that the consumer always gets a bad deal. The monopolistic situation even extents to private companies linked to the selected few.
The time is right for all to come clean. The road ahead may be a long one but if we start reforming now, maybe, just maybe we could achieve the dreams of our forefathers and live in a peaceful, modern and coherent society.
Merdeka – A Critical Evaluation September 5, 2007
Posted by rahulian in Free Press, Malaysia, Politics.1 comment so far
Last Friday, Malaysia celebrated its independence from the British colonial rule with grandeur and in spectacular fashion. Though history suggests that only the Federation of Malaya gained independence in 1957, the government of the day seemed to have overlooked it.
Malaysia was formed on 16th September 1963 and from that day the Federation of Malaya ceased to exist and a new nation was born out of Malaysia Act 1963 and the Malaysia Agreement between Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It was very gracious of the Sabahans to join in the Merdeka celebrations in the spirit of togetherness but for the whole country (I mean Malaysia not Malaya) to celebrate, then 16th September would be the appropriate day.
The British left in 1957 and Malaysia has come a long way since then. We have achieved a lot in all kinds of industries ranging from agriculture to manufacturing. We are now one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Thus, the celebration of Independence from the shackles of the old colonial masters seems justified. However, a critical evaluation of the situation here in Malaysia would suggest all is not as rosy as it seems or sounds.
The first issue that has not been resolved is the special privileges or what we commonly call the Bumiputera rights. Because of the so called social contract that our former leaders had agreed upon, we as Malaysians have become too tolerant to the extent that we do not want to even discuss the issue openly. Whether the privileges are a good thing or not for the Bumiputera population is open to debate. Even now, being a Malaysian of Indian origin, I am already treading dangerous waters when I bring up such sensitive issues. However, I am a strong believer in reasoning and the ability of all Malaysians to reason.
Instead of allowing people from all races and walks of life sit and discuss the issue, the powers that may be is quick to raise the racial card and curb the voice of those who want to discuss the future direction of this country. We Malaysians are tolerant, reasonable and intelligent people. We are not thugs who need to carry arms to get ourselves heard. No one is asking for the removal of the rights but people want to know who really has benefited from these rights. Has every single Bumiputera benefited from these rights?
I would like to quote an example. When buying houses, there is a 5% discount for the purchase by a Bumiputera. That is fine with all of us but who can exercise that 5% discount? Only those who can afford to buy these houses. What about all those Bumiputeras who are homeless or those who live in rented properties and in squatter areas. They need housing but they cannot afford. So only the affordable ones are enjoying these privileges. Since a person can afford to have a house, should it not seem right if they are not given that 5% discount and the developer uses that money to build low cost housing for the poor and underprivileged.
Please do not think that people of other races are upset over these rights. If it is given to those who are in real need (the idea behind its creation in 1957), well and good. It is when the powers that may be and the rich uses it enrich to themselves even more that it becomes a sad state of affairs. Thus it is important for the people themselves to know and evaluate the situation and the open voice of the media is needed for that.
The media in this country has been curbed by various measures and the famous ones are the Internal Security Act, the Seditions Act, the Publications Act and the Emergency Ordinance. If what the powers that may be are doing is not wrong, then why are they so worried about the media. In effect, the media could even be used to bolster their political aspirations. The internet has now opened a doorway that is difficult to be regulated. However, there are many people especially in the rural areas that are not connected to the net. They too need to know the truth thus the print media still plays a major role in the distribution of information.
An important question to ask after all these years of self-rule is whether we really have a rule of law. This is not a simple question to answer as there are many complex issues that needs to be addressed. The first is the power and scope of the Internal Security Act or more precisely the power it bestows on a minister that cannot be judicially reviewed. If a decision of the executive cannot be judicially reviewed i.e. the legality of that decision cannot be checked, then we have moved backwards since 1957. When the British left, the Courts had the powers to keep the balance of power in check but these have dramatically changed over the decades.
The Courts are also caught in a tight spot when issues of inter-faith affecting the Syariah Courts are brought upon it. The powers that may be have simply not helped the judiciary in determining the just outcome of these matters. As I have written in my previous blogs, we must sit and have a dialogue as to whether we live in an Islamic country or not. Having two legal systems side by side might not be the best possible solution and sweeping the issue under the carpet could have far reaching consequences. In order for the rule of law to prevail, the people must know what the law is regardless of whether it is the Constitution or Syariah. The emphasis here is on certainty.
The third issue is that of ‘policy’. It has now come to a point that when you go to a public office and enquire why certain things are done in a certain way, the answer you get is that it the policy of that department to do things that way. What we should now ask is where are these policies derived from? Is that the law that governs us or has the policies been derived from the laws of our nation? The word ‘policy’ seems to be a convenient way of saying that we will do things the way we like it not the way it is suppose to be. I believe this too should be judicially reviewed.
Do the people of Malaysia really know their full rights and protection under our Federal Constitution (the highest law of our nation)? Where is the education on the Constitution? It is vital and important that every student in our schools is taught the Constitution at an early age so they know their rights and cannot be taken for a ride by the politically motivated factions. Thus, on a question of rule of law, we are still in the darkness even after all these decades of independence.
The next issue is education. Malaysia wants to compete with other nations as a centre for education. This is very commendable as the revenue from this sector had helped finance many universities in England when they did the same drive in the 1990s. However, we must maintain the standards of our universities in order to compete with other countries. We must produce graduates of high calibre and quality, not mere quantity that will eventually clog up our employment system or the civil service.
The University of Malaya, the most prestigious university in Malaysia has been dropping down the rankings in the last few years. Our own students are denied places in our universities and we want to encourage foreigners to study here. It still beats me why only one Indian student got into the medical faculty in University Malaya last year when the Indian population in Malaysia in about 1.8 million people. It is the fault of the people? Definitely not. The real fault lies with the politicians who use the racial card to garner support from those who are not aware of the real things that happen behind the scenes.
The rich are getting very much richer in this country. The savings that people put in the banks are used by the rich to even enrich themselves. Their loans are sanctioned so easily that they can invest and if they are a crony, they can even afford to make a mistake. The powers that may be will be there to bail them out. The gap between the rich and poor keeps becoming bigger and bigger.
Has anyone thought about the man on the street? Let us take a man who lives in Kuala Lumpur with his wife and two kids. Say he earns RM3000.00 a month and the wife is a housewife while the children are in school. Can this man survive? Yes, but barely. The mortgage would cost five hundred a month, the car another four hundred a month, hundred fifty for personal allowance, seven hundred fifty for food, ninety for children school allowance, groceries another three hundred and the list does not even include bills and satellite television. Where is this poor man’s savings? What about the children’s education as it is not guaranteed under our education system?
The price of goods these days are ridiculous. Inflation is high. Pay is low and increments are at such a pitiful state. The average Joe is really living just to make money for the selected few i.e. the rich and the cronies. The government has increased fuel prices by cutting down the subsidy. The rationale behind it is that Petronas pays corporate taxes. Where are these taxes being channelled to or how are they being used?
Is the money being used to improve the environment that is damaged by the use of petrol fuelled vehicles? The rich or the cronies would not feel the rise in petrol prices but the average is directly affected by it. By the time the savings in tax is utilised for the average Joe, he might not be around to enjoy those benefits.
Let us look at our healthcare and the national health service. The best place to witness the seriousness of the problem is in the state general hospitals. The waiting time in the accident and emergency is very long and the wards are full until the corridors are sometimes overflowing with people on beds. There is a serious shortage of doctors in the government service as those who leave overseas do not want to come back to the hospitals here. Please do not say they are not patriotic enough and all that unnecessary ridicule. Would you take a 500% pay cut to join the government hospitals here when in the U.K they pay you much more? I thought not.
We have to increase their pay so they will be happy to work and the service will improve. The police too are susceptible to bribes because their pay is too low. The average Joe above who earns RM3000.00 a month seems to be struggling, imagine the plight of a police constable. Everyone is quick to blame the civil service because of corruption but if the pay is so different from the scale in the private sector, then the urge to take will always be there.
What the future holds for this beautiful country is in the hands of the people of this country. As citizens, we must exercise our right to vote. Who we vote is up to the individual but more people must register and go to the polls if they want good things to happen here. Only the people can change the fate that awaits them and if you do not vote, you lose the right to decide what is best for your country.
There is no place like home and Malaysia is our home. In our house, we decorate the interior and plant flowers in our gardens. We water the plants and paint the house. The same goes to the beautiful Malaysia that I love. We must attend to her with the same tender loving care that she has given us over the years.
These questions need to be addressed as I do not want to see my beautiful Malaysia going back to the times when my grandfather made guns for the British during the Japanese occupation or when my father fought the communists in the jungles of Sarawak during the emergency. All I want is a peaceful place for young Rasyidi, Phing Thuan and Ragu to play together for years to come and feel as one proud people, the people of Malaysia.
