4/16/2008
The impending reality of Malaysian politics
While UMNO top brasses are trying to outdo and kick one another out of the cabinet, Anwar is quietly building up his forces. And any time, one month or six months, the whole UMNO cabinet ministers may end up without a job and be opposition backbenchers.
What are they fighting for when their days are so limited?
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7 comments:
A post-anwar Malaysia, has put up capital controls and barriers to shield old wealth. It underwent famous flipflop policies. It undertook awesome mammothic projects. It shouted away foreign funds/ investors, sprouted blame/ unnecessary ill-will around the neighborhood with little care for diplomacy or courtesy...spoke abt war, water supplies, crooked bridges for example...during those years that it has become inward looking, xenophobic and petty, the countries up north have been busy courting FDI/trade pacts, breaking down walls, normalising relations with traditional foes, removing controls and barriers to embrace intl competition. that is how they really became leaner, meaner and achieved such phenomenon growth. A bloated and complacent malaysia suddenly found at its doorsteps, lightning frontier economies, previously non-existent, now direct competitors for its survival. Banters and the rhetorics aside, a post-anwar malaysia, it seemed had been more than complacent. against great odds, her poorer neighbours have caught up. if this is not dr m's legacy, whose is it then?
The Malays take that politics very seriously, and their nationalistic fervour overrides other considerations. A prominent Malay once remarked that the Malays would rather go back to living in kampungs than see the country be taken over by the pendatang. FDI, free trade, globalisation mean jack shit to the rural folks who still make up the bulk of the Malay people in Malaysia. Dr M was just doing what his majority constituency wanted, and that is what the essence of a democracy is, foolish though they may be.
anonymous, i am confused. post anwar or post mahathir?
anwar is just beginning.
the prominent malay must be from the umno camp. the pkr camp is quite different, at least for now.
You dont understand, Redbean. It does not matter which camp is in power. The fact is that a majority of the Malays still have the mentality, rightly or wrongly, that they are the 'tuan' and the non-malays are 'pendatang'. Any party that wants to form the government will have to win the support of the majority electorate,and that would be the Malays. The Malays that voted opposition did not vote them because they loved PKR or DAP. They did it to register their protest to the UMNO. If UMNO is successful at cleaning up its mess, these bloc of voters could just as easily go back to UMNO. If PKR wants to keep their support, they will have no choice but to outdo UMNO in the Malay rights platform. Simple as that. At the end of the day, it is a case of same wine, different bottle. I have Malay acquaintances, some of whom are even overseas educated who still subscribe to the belief that the nonbumis are pendatang. If these people who presumably have lived, stayed and some even worked overseas for a while still
subscribe to such a view, what hope is there for the rural folks to be enlightened. Don't forget that the electoral constituencies are still skewed heavily in favour of the rural areas, hence it is where the fight is won or lost. Unlike you, I am not very bullish about the prospects of a new Malaysia emerging, until and unless the Malays show a willingness to depart from the tuan-pendatang frame of mind. Frankly, I am not convinced that can be achieved in the next 50 years which is why I am still proceeding with my plans to migrate from Malaysia.
i don't dispute your perception. malaysian will never rise to be a great country when its people are divided into first class and second class because of race. will malaysia becomes more equal one day? it could. but full equality, very unlikely.
the only hope is for those who are able to be allowed to excel through their merits. the special rights will always be there, forever.
Well, you will be hoping against very substantial odds. Firstly, the demographics is set to totally alter the political landscape in the next twenty years. Based on current trends, the population of Chinese is projected to dwindle to about 15% in that timeframe due to Chinese not wanting to have more children and migration. You think it is bad now ? Imagine what it will be like when the Malays make up three-quarters of the population. You think the UMNO goons are brazen and thuggish now ? Haha, wait twenty years and then come back and tell us how they are then. No, thanks. I ain't taking my chances. I will however leave Malaysia with a very heavy heart, my heart will especially go out to those non-bumis who are not as fortunate as I am to be able to leave.
not being prejudice, the presence of chinese or indians in a country, often helps to raise the economic level and general prosperity of the country. the larger the percentage of these foreigners, the greater their contribution to the country.
if eventually the percentage of chinese and indians dwindle to less than 20%, they could visualise the economic model of indonesia.
but if what you said is a true reflection of what the bumis want, then they rather sacrifice economic growth and the uplifting of their standard of living than to have a bigger presence of non bumis. and that is their choice.
and i am not blaming you for making your choice now. man in a way is a selfish economic animal and will choose what is best for himself and his own well being.
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