Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Oil - our curse.
In his most scathing remarks yet about the management of the country's oil reserves and the economy, Tengku Razaleigh said oil money had been used as "a giant slush fund that has propped up authoritarian rule, eroded constitutional democracy and corrupted our entire political and business elite."
"Our oil receipts, instead of being applied in the manner we planned upon the formation of Petronas, that is, according to its original developmental purpose, became a fund for the whims and fancy of whoever ran the country, without any accountability.
"The oil that was meant to spur our transition to a more humane, educated society has instead become a narcotic that provides economic quick fixes and hollow symbols such as the Petronas Towers. Our oil wealth was meant to help us foster Malaysians capable of building the Twin Towers than hire foreigners to build them, a practice in which we preceded Dubai. I would rather have good government than grand government buildings filled with a demoralised civil service," he said in his speech at the Young Corporate Malaysians Summit here today.
He said that when he started the national oil company in 1974, he did not foresee that he would one day wish that the country had not discovered oil.
The Umno veteran said that Malaysians were no longer productive and no longer used their ingenuity to improve themselves to take the leap forward.
This he blamed on the mismanagement and abuse of the country's oil reserves.
"Our nation is blessed with a modest quantity of oil reserves. As a young nation coming to terms with this natural bounty in the early 1970s, our primary thought was to conserve that oil. That is why, when Petronas was formed, we instituted the Petroleum Development Council. Its function was to advise the PM on how to conserve that oil and use it judicially for national development. We knew our reserves would not last long.
"We saw our oil reserves as an unearned bounty that would provide the money for modernisation and technology. We saw our oil within a developmental perspective. Our struggle then, was to make the leap from an economy based on commodities and low-cost assembly and manufacture to a more diverse, economy based on high-income jobs."
He said the government then had planned to apply oil royalties to strategic investments in human capital.
The government, he said, was to have used whatever money was left after making cash payments and allocations for development funds, and place it in a Heritage Fund for the future. The Heritage Fund was for education and social enrichment.
"Instead of being our ace up the sleeve, however, our oil wealth became in effect a swag of money used to fund the government’s operational expenditure, to bail out failing companies, buy arms, build grandiose cities amidst cleared oil palm estates. Instead of helping eradicate poverty in the poorest states, our oil wealth came to be channelled into the overseas bank accounts of our political and politically-linked class. Instead of being the patrimony of all Malaysians, and for our children, it is used as a giant slush fund that has propped up authoritarian rule, eroded constitutional democracy and corrupted our entire political and business elite.
"Malaysia is now an ‘oil cursed’ country. We managed to arrive at this despite not having a lot of oil.”
Tengku Razaleigh said that his generation's failure had been both "political and moral."
"We have allowed greed and resentment to drive our politics and looked the other way or even gone along while public assets have been stolen in broad daylight.
"I encourage you to take up the cause of national development with the ingenuity that earlier generations of Malaysians brought to this task, but the beginning of our journey must be a return to the basics of public life: the rule of law, honesty, truth-telling and the keeping of promises," he told the young corporate leaders in his speech.
“So before we can reinvent ourselves we need to recover our nation. That larger community, bound by laws, democratic and constitutional, is the context of economic progress, it is the context in which young people find hope, think generous thoughts and create tomorrow."
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Najib the next PM?
It is only a matter of days now before Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak the son of our second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak will assume his tenure as our sixth Prime Minister by the end of this month.
You may think that the nation will weep and rejoice at the change in leadership as that of Barak Obama replacing George Bush. What we are experiencing now is nothing short of being in a depression. The economic is not doing well globally as well as close at home. However, that is nothing compared to what is about to happen to Malaysia in just a few days time.
Unlike President Barak Obama, our PM in waiting came with baggages attatched. Among them are, the Altantuya murder, corruption practises as alleged by the opposition, the submarines deal, helicopter deal, PI Balasubramaniam disappearance, Saiful Bukhari sodomy trial and many more. Justice must not only be done but also be seen as being done. All the above allegations are very serious indeed. I hope that our PM in waiting will take the time to clear his name before assuming the most powerful post in the land. Without doubt, the post of being PM is also a moral obligation as well being seen as clean. No amount of spin doctoring will change the public perception other than through a court of law.
To this end, I hope that our PM in waiting will clear his name speedily before assuming his job as PM in order to inbue a sense of confidence in his ablity by the rakyat. I am sure the international community will be watching his every moves. Perhaps, the most damning will be the foreign investors. Najib also holds the post of Finance Minister and certainly is seen as the man in charge of marketing our country to foreign investors together with the Ministry of External Trade. As is well known, our country has been losing billions in FDI over the past few months and our forecasted economic growth is about 0.1% for this year is not good reading.
As much as we need a new PM, however, we can do without the added baggages. Please, first cleanse yourself before assuming your post Datuk Seri Najib just as you would cleanse yourself before going to the mosque.
Malay rights
By Shaik Rizal Sulaiman
The Malays are 'technically' in power governing the country but it is also this same controlling group that demands the right to correct economic imbalances and disparities for its own race.
What does this say about the 'majority governing' Malay race for the last 50 years? I dare say that most Malaysians (regardless of race) below the age of 40 would like to see all opportunities be spread amongst those who deserve it on meritocracy.
We do not need the keris anymore to tell others to be careful of what they say and do because in the survival of the fittest, the keris is of very little relevance!
If we continue to hide under the 'bumiputera' tempurung as most Malays have been in the last 50 years or more, the catch-up game will just get harder and the gap wider.
If we continue to expect without earning it, we will never learn how to be a race that succeeds on merit. There is NO substitute for merit. The Malay politicians continue to shout about Malay rights and bumiputera rights because the very nature of our local politics is sadly racially biased.
In this day and age, a great nation is built upon joint success stories, meritocracy and the combined hard work of its people WITHOUT any fear or favour of racial biased politics governing our daily policies. Sadly, the Malay politicians have ended up completely corrupt, racialists, twisted religious fanatics.
I am below 40 and as much as I love the 'idea' that Malaysia is tanah tumpahnya darah orang Melayu, I can't help but also feel that this country is for ALL Malaysians alike including the Chongs, the Kumars, the Xaviers, the Singhs & Kaurs etc who were born on the same day in the same hospital as me here in Malaysia.
If we feel that WE (the Malays) deserve this country more than THEM , then WE (the Malays) should have shown them a long time ago that we deserve the 'control all' status.
We have to earn it. The policies FAILED because the very concept of Malay rights or the NEP/DEB is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it aims to eradicate wealth disparity but on the other, it has made the Malays oblivious of what reality is. Our (Malays) success is only reflected in the 'perceived' political power which today can collapse in a matter of minutes. I would also like to see my children succeed in their country, Malaysia, for reasons that true success should be based upon, which are merit and hard work and NOT because they are Malays or bumiputeras.
For as long as the Malays don't see this, there is very little point in fighting for Malay rights..
It just makes us look more ridiculous. We have taken this notion of being privileged a bit too literally in that it now simply means we want this country and its fruits all for ourselves without accepting the responsibilities that come with it. I blame the MALAY politicians for this because we want to only fight the cause without strategising for the true substance and need of the cause. We have been given fish all the while without being taught how to fish.
It's funny how two different generations can be so diverse in their thinking and the recent elections proved just that... We are no longer concerned with racial problems but more so the never-ending Malay agenda issues. The rakyat has spoken and the landscape has drastically changed. Is this change welcomed? Is it good?
The answer is 'NO'. Because we,the Malays, have been caught with our pants down - we are not ready to compete on any level playing field (we can't even compete on advantageous grounds!). Even with three or five more continuing policies for Malay rights or bumiputera privileges over the next 50 years, we will still be in exactly the same position as we are in today.
The truth hurts and the truth will always prevail. And the truth of what's to come will NOT go away. I am cynical perhaps because I feel that Malay rights is NOT relevant anymore.
The right to be safe, to be treated fairly, to have a world-class healthcare and education, to enjoy equal prosperity, to have good governance, to live in a clean environment and to be war-free is what I want for my Malaysia. NOT for MY race to be artificially powerful.
If we want the Malays to fail, then by all means continue the fight for Malay rights. Go and polish your keris..
Shaik Rizal Sulaiman
Posted by Malaysian
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ps
In recent months we have seen the Syariah Courts allowing quite a few Malays to exercise their rights to a third or fourth wife. Fair, the guy may be able to provide for the financial & conjugal needs of his wives. However, question here is when he has a dozen kids, will he be able to provide a decent education and life to his kids or will he demand for his 'Rights' for subsidy and aid and be a burden to the govt and society.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Conspiratory theory in Perak
That Bota assemblyman Nasarudin is the key to it all. I just can't shake off this nagging suspicion that somehow Nasarudin is involved in it right from the beginning. He is the proverbial Trojan horse that was used by UMNO to throw Perak and by extension Malaysia into an uproar about party hopping. Frankly, PR fell for it like a house of card as they triumphantly paraded him to the media as a sign of victory in their effort to lured the opposing members into their rank.
We all know how Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been going on about getting BN MPs to crossover to PR in order to bring about a change of government last year. However, this is nothing but hot air and soon was forgotten but not BN. They have been busy plotting to get back the PR led states in the sly right from the start. Despite numerous reports about attempt to buy assemblymen over, PR still harbour their ambition of luring the opposing ADUN over to their side.
With the shock defection of the Bota ADUN Nasarudin to PR, there is a sense of euphoria and elation that at last, all their hard work has bore fruit. Unbeknown to them, UMNO has secretly undermined three PR assemblymen of their own. When the news of the Bota defection was made known, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak take charge to call for an emergency meeting. In that meeting, all the remaining assemblymen of Perak BN pledged their loyalty to BN. At the same time, the incumbent Perak UMNO chief liaison officer Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli tendered his resignation thus paving the way for Najib to be the new UMNO chief liaison officer of Perak.
Now, the field is ripe for the taking by BN. With the prevailing sentiment that party hopping is the theme of the day, BN engineered a remarkable coup for power by pulling back their Bota assemblyman into their fold and at the same time enticing three PR assemblymen to become independent assemblymen friendly to the BN cause. In this way, the public opinion of outrage at the audacity of the coup is muted. Almost immediately, the BN MSM goes full tilt in saying that it is alright because PR deserved it after all. All in all, it is a remarkable job of coup d'tat orchestrated by Najib in a most brazen and perhaps audacious way that caught PR with their pant down.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Perak Constitution Crisis
Kindly do the right thing Tuanku. Daulat Tuanku. Patik memohon ampun.
