06/11: “GLOCAL” MALAYS: From Ahmad Albab to Ulul-al-Bab
Category: Articles
Posted by: raja petra
GUEST COLUMNISTS
By Din Merican
Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy UMNO President Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak addressed a converted group of leaders and delegates at the opening of the Joint Assembly of the UMNO Youth, Wanita UMNO and Puteri UMNO, and outlined his party’s five-point strategy for the creation of a new breed of Malays, “glocals,” who can think globally and act locally.
His rhetoric is nothing but rehashed old party propaganda and we should be absolutely clear that such ideas have been parroted by UMNO leaders and their apparatchiks for a few years. Yet there has been no progress on this agenda. Instead there is now talk by UMNO leaders of extending Vision 2020 to Vision 2057.
At 68 years of age, Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and I are certainly not going to be around to bask in the glory of Dato Seri Najib’s dreams. But to be absolutely honest, I am fairly certain that if this government does not change its course today, then Vision 2057 will again be extended to Vision 2107.
While most nations have abandoned long range planning frameworks and are concentrating on tacking the challenges of globalisation and a rapidly changing economic environment within annual budgetary time frames, our leaders are still planning their policies, taking a fifty-year perspective.
In his speech, Dato Seri Najib proudly expounded his concept of global thinking and local action.
Let’s think for a moment about what this means. The concept of thinking globally and acting locally originated in the context of environmentalism to encourage people to show deep concern for the global problem of environmental degradation but to recognize that the arena for change for the average person is, in fact, quite local.
What does glocalisation have to do with our present malaise? As a nation, we are lagging behind the region. Our economy is stagnating. Prices are rising. Our labour force is uncompetitive regionally and globally. Our universities are among the most mediocre in Asia. Our problems are profoundly and uniquely Malaysian problems. So, given the fact that the rest of world is leaving us far behind in virtually all economic and social indicators, how does a strategy of glocalisation help us today?
We need to dispense with the clichés and empty rhetoric and deal with reality as it is. A single voyage into outer space on a Russian spacecraft by an “astronaut” trained in Russia as part of a commercial deal does not constitute a Malaysian space program. Although it is certainly an achievement for the nation to have sent one of its own into outer space, we have to put things in their proper perspective and cannot honestly sell to the Malaysian people that this represents some breakthrough progress in the development of our technology and science.
You cannot act locally if you are going to compete globally. Thinking globally is not enough, and acting locally in a globalised world is a sure route to losing out to regional competitors like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. We will not be able to face the competitive onslaught of the likes of China and India when our “glocal” people are trained to operate in environments insulated from the rest of the world due to our protectionist policies.
Furthermore, is Dato Seri Najib suggesting that the present generation of Malays and those of the last 50 years of a bygone era are “damaged” goods, and hence they are the root of the problems facing the Malays today?
Is he again forgetting that he and the present leadership in UMNO are themselves part of the “damaged goods” and they are the ones who have debased the Malay cultural values with rampant corruption and abuses of power? Is UMNO saying that its former President and Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir’s Vision 2020 policies and programmes are misguided. Has the Badawi Government failed to fulfil the promises of that Vision and why has it in turn decided to delay another fifty years by launching a series of fantasti “Corridors” throughout the length and breadth of our country? We have heard this before – it’s not even that original.
We need Malays, and fellow Malaysians, who can understand and respond to the challenges of globalisation. We must have Malaysians with open minds, the capacity to compete in international markets; we need managers who are flexible and adaptable in a rapidly changing environment and we need to engage the best and most capable Malays, irrespective of their social or political affiliations and harness the talents and creative energies of all Malaysians. Most importantly, we need to practise good governance and uphold high ethical values.
Dato Seri Najib assumes that we can wave a magic wand and create a new generation--“Ulul Al Bab”—of Malays who are “adept at using their intellect and capable at thinking analytically to grow and prosper”. These people, he suggests, will be “possessed of high moral values and good manners” and be “steeped in knowledge and understanding of religion and other disciplines”. I would ask the Deputy Prime Minister where he expects to find these people since they are in short supply at this time in our country?
Our schools and universities are patently mediocre (see my recent article “Zero Stars for Malaysian Public Perception Survey of Malaysian Universities” at www.malaysia-today.net and www.marhaen.nepeng.com). Our best professors and teachers are leaving Malaysia to seek freer academic environments to practice their craft as educators. Our best students have no choice but to study abroad, if they can afford it – and most in fact cannot. Once they are abroad, and have tasted freedom and seen opportunities for advancement and enrichment that they fully realize are absent in Malaysia, it is unlikely that they will return home.
It is worth mentioning that the Minister of Higher Education seems to have a solid understanding of what Dato Seri Najib means by glocal. In virtually every international and regional ranking of institutions of higher education, Malaysian universities fared poorly, if they were ranked at all. So thinking globally but acting locally, the Higher Education Ministry decided to concoct its own domestic ranking system to tell us that everything is fine and dandy. In doing it has made our third-rate higher education system appear outstanding.
We urgently need to reform the entire educational system and also to immediately restore academic freedom and autonomy in our universities. Piecemeal changes are just not enough. The Government must amend the Education Act and Universities and University Colleges Act. Unfortunately, there is no political will on the part of the Government to do so.
Instead, the system as it exists, tends to produce “Ahmad Al-Babs”. This is because UMNO politicians are not interested in liberating the Malay mind for fear that they will lose their hegemonic control over the Malays. This begs the question, who is, in fact, closing the Malay mind? The answer, in my view, is fairly obvious.
As for morality and manners which Dato Seri Najib rightly stresses, look around. Our judiciary is tainted with allegations of corruption. Our ministers and public officials, including the Inspector General of the Police and the Attorney General are believed to be corrupt, and every few weeks a new scandal emerges that is quickly swept under the carpet by a sycophantic media (which functions at the behest the ruling political coalition).
Murder, sexual abuse, rape, and petty crimes are all on the rise. The murder of the Mongolian model remains shrouded in secrecy and the trial of those alleged to have perpetrated that heinous crime has been manipulated and compromised so greatly so as to render a credible judgment virtually impossible. The Nurin case, the Sukhoi jet and submarine purchases, the patrol boat debacle, as well as irregularities in the Ministry of Defence as identified by the Auditor General are all unresolved stains on our government’s reputation.
In an unprovoked personal attack Dato Seri Najib singled out KeADILan de facto leader Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim claiming the latter rejects the New Economic policy. He said Dato Seri Anwar believes that the NEP “…enriches only a handful of Malays”. To deny this, as Dato Seri Najib continues to do, is to ignore the fact that there now exists a huge wealth gap between the UMNO-sponsored Malays and the Malays in the rural areas and those middle class Malays who have chosen to speak up in the name of justice and equitable distribution against UMNO kleptocracy. For they have marginalized and penalised.
It true, as Dato Seri Najib boasts, that there are more Malay accountants, architects, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, engineers and lawyers today. That much is obvious, as our population has increased. But the key measure of the NEPs performance is simply not a question of quantity. Look at the earnings of our middle class Malay professionals. They are generally earning significantly lower salaries as compared to their counterparts in Singapore or Hong Kong. This is a problem that we in KeADILan will change because we want to prevent the brain drain of our best Malay and Malaysian minds.
Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim supported the NEP from his student days until today and has always maintained that the NEP has been beneficial for the Malays. But we must have the conviction and courage to re-examine our affirmative action policies after 37 years of their implementation.
At the same time, we must deal with the problems of relative poverty, healthcare delivery, and social development while we fight corruption and the blatant abuse of power. Otherwise principles of justice and equity are misnomers used by the powers that be for political ends.
We exist in a new world of globalisation and we must reformulate our policies to ensure that we are on par with our regional neighbours in terms of increased per capita income and FDI inflows, and that we promote high growth with price stability. The recent UNCTAD report showing an increase in FDI inflows to Malaysia provides another glaring example of how our government plays games with data and blows stories well out of proportion. The 52.8% increase in our FDI in 2006 ($6 billion) which was advertised in the media as a great national triumph represents one quarter of the level achieved by Singapore--a nation of just four million people--that has attracted $23 billion.
If one cares to examine Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Malaysian Economic Agenda carefully, one can note, and I quote, that “…the Malays and Bumiputeras are ready for the new agenda, because this agenda continues to take an aggressive approach on affirmative action to uplift the welfare of the downtrodden…surely the current system that ignores the plight of the poorest especially among the Bumiputera’s cannot be defended. The concern that the Malaysian Economic Agenda will infringe the rights of the Bumiputera in terms of scholarships, business opportunities, etc has been raised by the rich not for the sake of the common Malaysians—workers, farmers and fishermen—but to defend their lucrative contracts, shares, Approved Permits, and licenses, even small permits to bus operators and taxi drivers”.
Dato Seri Najib’s attack on Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim is baseless. Furthermore it represents an act of desperation as much as it reflects a basic misunderstanding of the nation’s current situation and the policies that will bring us to a better future and economic prosperity.
Our entire electoral system is seen to be fraudulent. It is for this reason that 100,000 concerned citizens are planning to march in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday, November 10, to petition the Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Yang Di-Pertuan Agong and inform His Majesty of the people’s wish for electoral reforms to ensure for free and fair elections.
Yet, without batting an eyelid, Dato Seri Najib publicly declared that be it in Kuala Berang, Pengkalan Pasir, Batu Talam, Machap or Ijok, the UMNO-led BN coalition won fairly contested elections (See the report called Sham Democracy at www.malaysia-today.net, “The Dirtiest By-election in History,” by Kim Quek, www.malasiakini.com on May 1, 2007, and “Bersih: Probe Ipoh Timur’s Massive Voter Transfer”, www.malaysiakini.com on October 17, 2007).
Overall, Dato Seri Najib’s speech is a rallying cry to UMNO leaders and their supporters. It was made with the next General Elections in clear view. It should be seen as a desperate attempt to garner support from a Malay electorate that has already expressed its view that a strong and vibrant opposition is an important and essential element of a truly functioning democracy.
Let’s not be deluded by catchy slogans and broken promises. Our nation should be guided by leaders with greater integrity who inspire all Malaysians to work hard and to share a commitment to a truly united, democratic, and multi-racial Malaysia.
By Din Merican
Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy UMNO President Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak addressed a converted group of leaders and delegates at the opening of the Joint Assembly of the UMNO Youth, Wanita UMNO and Puteri UMNO, and outlined his party’s five-point strategy for the creation of a new breed of Malays, “glocals,” who can think globally and act locally.
His rhetoric is nothing but rehashed old party propaganda and we should be absolutely clear that such ideas have been parroted by UMNO leaders and their apparatchiks for a few years. Yet there has been no progress on this agenda. Instead there is now talk by UMNO leaders of extending Vision 2020 to Vision 2057.
At 68 years of age, Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and I are certainly not going to be around to bask in the glory of Dato Seri Najib’s dreams. But to be absolutely honest, I am fairly certain that if this government does not change its course today, then Vision 2057 will again be extended to Vision 2107.
While most nations have abandoned long range planning frameworks and are concentrating on tacking the challenges of globalisation and a rapidly changing economic environment within annual budgetary time frames, our leaders are still planning their policies, taking a fifty-year perspective.
In his speech, Dato Seri Najib proudly expounded his concept of global thinking and local action.
Let’s think for a moment about what this means. The concept of thinking globally and acting locally originated in the context of environmentalism to encourage people to show deep concern for the global problem of environmental degradation but to recognize that the arena for change for the average person is, in fact, quite local.
What does glocalisation have to do with our present malaise? As a nation, we are lagging behind the region. Our economy is stagnating. Prices are rising. Our labour force is uncompetitive regionally and globally. Our universities are among the most mediocre in Asia. Our problems are profoundly and uniquely Malaysian problems. So, given the fact that the rest of world is leaving us far behind in virtually all economic and social indicators, how does a strategy of glocalisation help us today?
We need to dispense with the clichés and empty rhetoric and deal with reality as it is. A single voyage into outer space on a Russian spacecraft by an “astronaut” trained in Russia as part of a commercial deal does not constitute a Malaysian space program. Although it is certainly an achievement for the nation to have sent one of its own into outer space, we have to put things in their proper perspective and cannot honestly sell to the Malaysian people that this represents some breakthrough progress in the development of our technology and science.
You cannot act locally if you are going to compete globally. Thinking globally is not enough, and acting locally in a globalised world is a sure route to losing out to regional competitors like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. We will not be able to face the competitive onslaught of the likes of China and India when our “glocal” people are trained to operate in environments insulated from the rest of the world due to our protectionist policies.
Furthermore, is Dato Seri Najib suggesting that the present generation of Malays and those of the last 50 years of a bygone era are “damaged” goods, and hence they are the root of the problems facing the Malays today?
Is he again forgetting that he and the present leadership in UMNO are themselves part of the “damaged goods” and they are the ones who have debased the Malay cultural values with rampant corruption and abuses of power? Is UMNO saying that its former President and Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir’s Vision 2020 policies and programmes are misguided. Has the Badawi Government failed to fulfil the promises of that Vision and why has it in turn decided to delay another fifty years by launching a series of fantasti “Corridors” throughout the length and breadth of our country? We have heard this before – it’s not even that original.
We need Malays, and fellow Malaysians, who can understand and respond to the challenges of globalisation. We must have Malaysians with open minds, the capacity to compete in international markets; we need managers who are flexible and adaptable in a rapidly changing environment and we need to engage the best and most capable Malays, irrespective of their social or political affiliations and harness the talents and creative energies of all Malaysians. Most importantly, we need to practise good governance and uphold high ethical values.
Dato Seri Najib assumes that we can wave a magic wand and create a new generation--“Ulul Al Bab”—of Malays who are “adept at using their intellect and capable at thinking analytically to grow and prosper”. These people, he suggests, will be “possessed of high moral values and good manners” and be “steeped in knowledge and understanding of religion and other disciplines”. I would ask the Deputy Prime Minister where he expects to find these people since they are in short supply at this time in our country?
Our schools and universities are patently mediocre (see my recent article “Zero Stars for Malaysian Public Perception Survey of Malaysian Universities” at www.malaysia-today.net and www.marhaen.nepeng.com). Our best professors and teachers are leaving Malaysia to seek freer academic environments to practice their craft as educators. Our best students have no choice but to study abroad, if they can afford it – and most in fact cannot. Once they are abroad, and have tasted freedom and seen opportunities for advancement and enrichment that they fully realize are absent in Malaysia, it is unlikely that they will return home.
It is worth mentioning that the Minister of Higher Education seems to have a solid understanding of what Dato Seri Najib means by glocal. In virtually every international and regional ranking of institutions of higher education, Malaysian universities fared poorly, if they were ranked at all. So thinking globally but acting locally, the Higher Education Ministry decided to concoct its own domestic ranking system to tell us that everything is fine and dandy. In doing it has made our third-rate higher education system appear outstanding.
We urgently need to reform the entire educational system and also to immediately restore academic freedom and autonomy in our universities. Piecemeal changes are just not enough. The Government must amend the Education Act and Universities and University Colleges Act. Unfortunately, there is no political will on the part of the Government to do so.
Instead, the system as it exists, tends to produce “Ahmad Al-Babs”. This is because UMNO politicians are not interested in liberating the Malay mind for fear that they will lose their hegemonic control over the Malays. This begs the question, who is, in fact, closing the Malay mind? The answer, in my view, is fairly obvious.
As for morality and manners which Dato Seri Najib rightly stresses, look around. Our judiciary is tainted with allegations of corruption. Our ministers and public officials, including the Inspector General of the Police and the Attorney General are believed to be corrupt, and every few weeks a new scandal emerges that is quickly swept under the carpet by a sycophantic media (which functions at the behest the ruling political coalition).
Murder, sexual abuse, rape, and petty crimes are all on the rise. The murder of the Mongolian model remains shrouded in secrecy and the trial of those alleged to have perpetrated that heinous crime has been manipulated and compromised so greatly so as to render a credible judgment virtually impossible. The Nurin case, the Sukhoi jet and submarine purchases, the patrol boat debacle, as well as irregularities in the Ministry of Defence as identified by the Auditor General are all unresolved stains on our government’s reputation.
In an unprovoked personal attack Dato Seri Najib singled out KeADILan de facto leader Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim claiming the latter rejects the New Economic policy. He said Dato Seri Anwar believes that the NEP “…enriches only a handful of Malays”. To deny this, as Dato Seri Najib continues to do, is to ignore the fact that there now exists a huge wealth gap between the UMNO-sponsored Malays and the Malays in the rural areas and those middle class Malays who have chosen to speak up in the name of justice and equitable distribution against UMNO kleptocracy. For they have marginalized and penalised.
It true, as Dato Seri Najib boasts, that there are more Malay accountants, architects, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, engineers and lawyers today. That much is obvious, as our population has increased. But the key measure of the NEPs performance is simply not a question of quantity. Look at the earnings of our middle class Malay professionals. They are generally earning significantly lower salaries as compared to their counterparts in Singapore or Hong Kong. This is a problem that we in KeADILan will change because we want to prevent the brain drain of our best Malay and Malaysian minds.
Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim supported the NEP from his student days until today and has always maintained that the NEP has been beneficial for the Malays. But we must have the conviction and courage to re-examine our affirmative action policies after 37 years of their implementation.
At the same time, we must deal with the problems of relative poverty, healthcare delivery, and social development while we fight corruption and the blatant abuse of power. Otherwise principles of justice and equity are misnomers used by the powers that be for political ends.
We exist in a new world of globalisation and we must reformulate our policies to ensure that we are on par with our regional neighbours in terms of increased per capita income and FDI inflows, and that we promote high growth with price stability. The recent UNCTAD report showing an increase in FDI inflows to Malaysia provides another glaring example of how our government plays games with data and blows stories well out of proportion. The 52.8% increase in our FDI in 2006 ($6 billion) which was advertised in the media as a great national triumph represents one quarter of the level achieved by Singapore--a nation of just four million people--that has attracted $23 billion.
If one cares to examine Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Malaysian Economic Agenda carefully, one can note, and I quote, that “…the Malays and Bumiputeras are ready for the new agenda, because this agenda continues to take an aggressive approach on affirmative action to uplift the welfare of the downtrodden…surely the current system that ignores the plight of the poorest especially among the Bumiputera’s cannot be defended. The concern that the Malaysian Economic Agenda will infringe the rights of the Bumiputera in terms of scholarships, business opportunities, etc has been raised by the rich not for the sake of the common Malaysians—workers, farmers and fishermen—but to defend their lucrative contracts, shares, Approved Permits, and licenses, even small permits to bus operators and taxi drivers”.
Dato Seri Najib’s attack on Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim is baseless. Furthermore it represents an act of desperation as much as it reflects a basic misunderstanding of the nation’s current situation and the policies that will bring us to a better future and economic prosperity.
Our entire electoral system is seen to be fraudulent. It is for this reason that 100,000 concerned citizens are planning to march in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday, November 10, to petition the Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Yang Di-Pertuan Agong and inform His Majesty of the people’s wish for electoral reforms to ensure for free and fair elections.
Yet, without batting an eyelid, Dato Seri Najib publicly declared that be it in Kuala Berang, Pengkalan Pasir, Batu Talam, Machap or Ijok, the UMNO-led BN coalition won fairly contested elections (See the report called Sham Democracy at www.malaysia-today.net, “The Dirtiest By-election in History,” by Kim Quek, www.malasiakini.com on May 1, 2007, and “Bersih: Probe Ipoh Timur’s Massive Voter Transfer”, www.malaysiakini.com on October 17, 2007).
Overall, Dato Seri Najib’s speech is a rallying cry to UMNO leaders and their supporters. It was made with the next General Elections in clear view. It should be seen as a desperate attempt to garner support from a Malay electorate that has already expressed its view that a strong and vibrant opposition is an important and essential element of a truly functioning democracy.
Let’s not be deluded by catchy slogans and broken promises. Our nation should be guided by leaders with greater integrity who inspire all Malaysians to work hard and to share a commitment to a truly united, democratic, and multi-racial Malaysia.