Located in South East Asia, Malaysia, a former British colony is a constitutional monarchy, headed by a King and also governed by bicameral Parliament consisting of a nonelected upper house and an elected lower house.
This multi-cultural country of more than 25 million is a mix of Malay 50.4 percent, Chinese 23.7 percent, indigenous 11 percent, Indian 7.1 percent, others 7.8 percent. The religious breakdown is: Muslim 60.4 percent, Buddhist 19.2 percent, Christian 9.1 percent, Hindu 6.3 percent, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6 percent, other or unknown 1.5 percent, and none 0.8 percent.1 There are many ethnic and religious controversies that are constantly debated in the local press and sometimes even covered in the international press as well.
Long touted as a shining example of the successes of export lead growth and foreign investment success story, Malaysia’s economy is heavily intertwined with the global economy.
Malaysia is currently struggling with a severe economic recession, racial polarization, and a declining public support for PM Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s ruling coalition.2 Razak’s party is the UMNO (United Malays National Organisation).
Trade
In Spring 2009, Malaysia launched a stimulus program for its country. Some have criticized the plan as being too nationalistic and protectionist. One article notes:
Support local products. Local companies happily join in the chorus with politicians to show nationalist sentiment. Simplistic as it sounds, will it improve local economy? Malaysian government does not consider the simple fact that the country exists along side with other international trading partners in interconnected global economy. When their export revenue suffers, they will reduce import volume from Malaysia. Do not forget local importers, franchise partners as well as companies that export parts and import final products will also suffer. Unbelievably as it may sound, the reverse of trade is called upon at domestic level instead of urging local companies to be more competitive and efficient in offering better values to consumers at optimized costs…
Disappointingly, there is no highlight on diversifying and moving quick enough to create high-value and service based economy, which will generate better long-term job options and stability. Short term measures like re-skilling or training retrenched manufacturing workers can only provide temporary relief. They are still stuck in low-end manual jobs
Dismiss foreigners first
This is directive from Malaysian government along with doubling the tax of foreign labor recruitment. It is a step too far in meddling operational efficiency and a short sighted approach which does not achieve much positive except pleasing local constituents. Who will bear the additional costs? Local companies and consumers when demand is already slowing.
Other bloggers express similar concerns for Malaysia’s economic policies:
…Najib's economic "reforms" have not yet dismantled the government patronage system and the protectionist measures that exist to safeguard the national capitalists and GLCs (government linked companies). The patronage practices, such as handing out government contracts to UMNO cronies, go ahead unhindered; because of this there is not much defiance from UMNO members against Najib's moves…As well as creating a class of Malay capitalists, government contracts are the lifeblood for more than 30,000 contractors, most of whom are grassroots UMNO officials, whose support is widely sought after by party leaders. Therefore, the Malay capitalists, as well as the GLCs, are still protected under these arrangements of economic liberalisation…
Other promises of Najib, like introducing laws with real power to reform the judiciary and the police, have not been met and corruption and mismanagement of funds are still prevalent…
Tunku ’Abidin Muhriz a director of the Malaysia Think Tank (waubebas.org), a member of the Freedom to Trade Coalition (freedomtotrade.org) of 73 think tanks in 48 countries, offers his perspective of how to improve the Malaysian economy:
…For instance, efforts to bring our numerous Free Trade Agreements still under negotiation to fruition could be stepped up, though these inevitably take time. Securing multilateral agreements is an even slower prospect, as the Doha Round experience indicates. Fortunately there is much we can do unilaterally to liberalise trade, as we did successfully in the eighties and nineties by reducing a slew of tariffs (other distortions to the economy such as faux “privatisation” notwithstanding). While many of the tariffs in force today are on essential goods, tariff elimination is viable especially if done gradually: rises in inflation met with commensurate reduction in tariffs.
Subsequent drops in prices would mean government having to spend less on subsidies in order for consumers to pay current prices. This may help to alleviate the government’s fiscal burden, with savings ultimately passed to the taxpayer.
Furthermore, our tax system could be decentralised, so that rather than us paying taxes to federal government, which then disburses to state government, which then disburses to local authorities – a process laden with leakage and inefficiency – Parliament could cut federal taxes and enable a more locally-accountable process of tax collection for things like rubbish collection and street lighting. This would create unprecedented competition and choice, harking back to the days when people moved freely from state to state seeking the opportunities that best suited them and their families…
…According to the latest World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, Malaysia’s performance in controlling corruption has not improved since 2003. The application of open tenders, simplified approval processes and a more robust dispute resolution procedure – whether in or outside the court system – would do much to combat ways in which corruption wastes taxpayers’ money.
There is no social, moral or economic reason to deny ordinary Malaysians the fruit of investment – foreign or domestic – and higher quality goods – foreign or domestic – at lower prices. The liberalisation announced this week is a crucial step in ensuring Malaysia does not vanish from the global economy. More please.
An area of concern is the filtering of the Internet in Malaysia.
One blogger writes:
We wish to express our grave disappointment over the BN federal government’s plan to filter control the flow of blogging and internet news portals. These actions are greatly undemocratic and dictatorial in human rights aspect.
What the information, cultural and heritage minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim planned to do for the BN clearly shows that the BN-Umno coalition had totally conceived defeat. They wanted their mainstream media to continue monopolize the information flow to the public. They wanted all information to the public to be censored to ensure BN and Umno continue to stay in power for as long as they want.
Besides, the BN also intend to filter the internet in order to severe the communications between the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and the people as a whole. The problem they should think is, are they able to do that?
The BN-Umno coalition government did not want the truth to be channeled to the people. They knew that it was because of our bloggers who spread to the public the truth about BN and Umno’s wrongdoings, corruptions and power abuse, they lost badly in the last general elections…
Dr Helmy Haja Mydin a health-care policy fellow at the Malaysia Think Tank (www.wauBebas.org) writes:
Unfortunately, primary health-care in Malaysia is provided in a rather erratic manner without sufficient horizontal or vertical co-ordination. Information is not readily transferable between health-care professionals leading to fragmentation and duplication of care, a situation that is worsened by our habits of jumping from one general practitioner to another.
This calls for a streamlining of the current system into one where good communication unites the disparate entities within it. A better flow of information between health-care professionals will help improve situations, as this will allow for a smoother transaction with colleagues at secondary care and earlier acknowledgement of a patient’s medical history. Methods such as electronic medical records and even personal handheld pen drives should be looked into.
It would also be useful for the government to elevate the speciality of family medicine and to encourage medical students and junior doctors to seek attachments in the primary care setting, both for practical and research purposes. There should also be a move to place such professionals in areas that are economically and socially deprived, as it is these places that tend to bear the brunt of chronic disease epidemics.
The general public needs to be educated so that they see primary care as a resource to manage their chronic diseases, and secondary care for more acute emergencies. Simple measures such as proper compliance with medication and leading a healthy lifestyle will go a long way in not only improving one’s well-being, but in helping to ease the strain on our health-care system.
One of the main health issues debated in the Malaysian press is the response to the Swine Flu.
MY wife and I went shopping at a department store the other day and about half of the people there were looking like the great late Michael Jackson as they went about their Hari Raya shopping.
No, they didn’t break out into sporadic crotch-grabbing poses while rummaging through the 70% discount bin of clothes. These people, women, men and children, young and old, were all wearing surgical masks.
It is the in-thing these days, not because we have been hit by a sudden desire to follow The Masked One, but more because of A(H1N1) flu....
The toll the A(H1N1) flu has taken on Malaysians is no laughing matter. Not when thousands of people have been infected, possibly many more, and scores have succumbed to medical complications made worse by the infection; not when parents would rather have their children stay home than attend school in the hope that it would prevent their children from catching the virus.
And more significantly, not when some people, no matter how hard they tried, simply do not have it in them to look cool wearing surgical masks. But I salute these people. They put health, their own and that of others, above petty considerations.
Unlike some that I bumped into at the department store the other day. They were either suffering from a running nose or had a cough. Several had both but none of them wore surgical masks. Which is downright criminal, if you ask me....
Too many people are taking the pandemic too lightly. As usual, the lazy thinking behind it is – “it is not going to happen to me.” And therefore, they go about their business as if nothing has changed.
All Malaysians must realise that they must take the matter seriously and make adjustments to their daily routine...
As Malaysia seeks to unify its people, the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, has developed and publicized the 1Malaysia initiative, to bring together the different ethnicities and religions.
K.K. Tang, CEO of a think-tank and strategic consultancy firm based in Kuala Lumpur, notes:
…The broad concept of 1Malaysia, based on the principle of “People First, Performance Now”, is to bring the country’s multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-religious people together as “one” to create a united, harmonious, strong and successful nation. It may be seen as his response to the dynamics and changes taking place in the country and the world today….
The biggest challenge to 1Malaysia is how the prime minister allocates the resources and opportunities available and balances the needs and aspirations of the various communities and social classes. It would become a zero-sum game if the our wealth and resources are fixed and declining and we do nothing about it. But if we the people can unite and collectively recreate and re-engineer our society to greater prosperity and heights, it would be a win-win situation for all…
If the prime minister wishes to hasten 1Malaysia into a reality, he should also look at:
» ensuring that any new affirmative policy must be strictly based on income and social class (which would help a large majority of ¬bumiputras anyway) and not race or ethnicity, and
» instituting broad anti-discrimination legislation to promote a more inclusive and united society consistent with 1Malaysia, so that no group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability or special needs would be wittingly or unwittingly, neglected or discriminated against.
In what must be one of the most egregious examples of hypocrisy and disconnect, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, today called on Malaysians not to focus on differences between one another, but instead to actively look for similarities and common ground. "In the spirit of human progress, in the spirit of developing this great country, in the spirit of 1Malaysia," sermonized our dear leader!
Has the PM been cocooned in some store room at Putrajaya for the past two days? In the aforementioned period, his so-called '1Malaysia' concept (if we can call it that) has been ripped to shreds, along with the complete ruin of his political credibility and near bankrupt reputation.
Apart from the BN (Barisan Nasional or National Front) controlled mainstream media, there has been almost universal condemnation of the Umno [United Malays National Organisation]-police-gangster nexus unleashed by on high in Putrajaya, resulting in the shameful invasion of the Perak State Assembly with the active connivance of the state civil service while the Regent of Perak cooled his heels in a nearby facility for five hours! Was His Royal Highness clueless to what was transpiring nearby? Oblivious to the fact that Umno was indulging in constitutional rape of his state's legislature? One wonders.
One cultural topic under much debate and scrutiny is the increasing role/influence of
Sharia/Muslim laws.
William JK Leong, a member of Parliament for Selayan, writes:
Racism and religious intolerance have been fed into the bloodstream of Malaysians for so long that all of us are so poisoned in our thinking that even those acting with the best of intentions find it difficult to see the wood for the trees; between law enforcement and law making, between legislative policies and social or religious concerns…
There are laws on the manufacture, distribution and sale of beer and liquor. Alcohol abuse, like smoking, is a valid social concern. Undoubtedly they are religious concerns because all religions teach us to respect our bodies and take care of our health. However, not all laws and not all concerns are due to race or religion.
There is no law prohibiting the sale of beer in convenience stores. There are laws governing the sale of alcohol and liquor but the sale of beer is not included as the alcoholic content of beer is lower than the prescribed limit.
The enforcement unit of the Shah Alam City Council is not empowered to make regulations. It has the power to only enforce laws and regulations.
There are Syariah laws prohibiting Muslims from consuming alcohol. However, the enforcement officers of local councils do not have the jurisdiction to enforce Syariah law and certainly not against non-Muslims.
Another hotly contested issue is the teaching of science and math in English, rather than in Malay.
The teaching of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI) implemented in 2003 replaced Malay and other ethnic languages as the medium of teaching instruction for science and mathematics subjects in primary (elementary) and secondary (high) school level. It is set for a final decision after long reassessment and repeated delay, with influential lobby groups at the center stage aimed to appeal to the Ministry of Education to revert to the previous policy of teaching science and mathematics subjects in Malay and other ethnic languages. Their main argument has been to preserve the relevance of ethnic languages especially the preeminence of Malay language as the national language in the age of rapid globalization.
We may rightly ask why is there still such great resistence 6 years after its implementation?..
A group of concerned Malay parents established a platform to lobby for the support of PPSMI:
We cannot make the excuse to abolish PPSMI due to poor English competence among the teachers. […] So no matter how hard it may be to teach our children science and mathematics in English, we must execute it so that they will be more competitve internationally in the future…
Student Bobby Ong reflected on his personal experience in Chinese medium school:
It took the government such a hard time making English the medium of instruction for Science and Maths in schools and now you want to revert the policy? And your argument is to protect Chinese culture? […] Being in a Chinese environment with Chinese subjects is not good enough to learn Chinese eh? Not all Chinese kids are good in English too, ok? I see so many students from Chinese schools graduating with poor speaking and writing skills.
Noor Ainulfahim, an ethnic Malay student delivered a blunt critique that more time is needed to judge the progress of PPSMI and it should not be construed as neglecting the significance of Malay language:
Fight for Malay language? […] Are you denying the fact that most science books are in English? […] We are still teaching Malay language in History, Geography, Islamic study […] and not to mention all the elective subjects […]
Abul Quasem Al-Amin, National University of Malaysia - Institute for Environment and Development, Chamhuri Siwar, University of Kebangsaan, Abdul Hamid Jaafar, National University of Malaysia, and Mohammad Nurul Huda Mazumder, write about Malaysia’s environmental policies:
With the economic development, Malaysia has brought to the forefront the growing environmental problems. The high growth rate has drawn heavily on energy and natural resource based, both renewable and non-renewable. The damaged and deteriorated environment and natural resources condition as a result of rapid economic development have raised the country’s awareness and the demand for improved environmental quality is being taken into account by policy makers…
If Malaysia considers protecting their environment (i.e. under mechanisms on trade and environment) can increase the costs of their products, thus limiting exports or, where product standards are involved, creating barriers to imports. That role is important for a number of products such as rubber, cocoa, palm oil, food products and chemicals.
In the international forums, Malaysia has taken a firm position against the use of unilateral trade measures for environmental purposes… The environment could and has been used as a convenient cover for protectionist motives. An even more dangerous trend is the use of unilateral measures such as eco-labelling to restrict imports of products to impose a country’s own environmental standards on a third country, merely because it originates from a country with environmental policies and standards different from its own’…
For the environmental protection there are more than 35 environment-related legislations in Malaysia which containing provisions and references to environmental control…
‘The National Policy on the Environment’ of 2001 aims at continued economic, social, and cultural progress of Malaysia and enhancement of the quality of life of its people, through environmentally sound and sustainable development.
The Malaysian Green’s Strategies is adopted after the year 2000 to promote environmental soundness research and programmes. Through these Green’s Strategies, energy conservation and the use of energy-efficient technology is emphasized…
As Malaysia progresses towards becoming a developed country by the year 2020, energy consumption will also correspondingly increase in that time… Hence, sustainable use of energy is being given attention in Malaysia… the ‘Small Renewable Energy Power’ (SREP) programme to facilitate the implementation of grid-connected power generation utilizing renewable energy resources…
During the period of the year 1991 to 1995, Malaysia received US $24.8 million in financial assistance from Multilateral Fund of the ‘Montreal Protocol’ to cover the phasing out of ODS investment projects. Despite the increase in the cost of compliance to the Montreal Protocol, the respective industries shift the cost to the consumers.
Proactive measures has been taken by the industries (CFCs) and government which includes developing alternatives to substance that deplete ozone…
Malaysia first authorized the Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal in 1989.. and became a party to the Basel Convention on 8 October 1993, whereas the convention came into force in Malaysia on 6 January 1994. Malaysia supports the ban on the export of wastes from developed countries to developing countries that have no expertise or treatment facilities to handle such hazardous wastes. As a matter of policy, Malaysia does not allow the disposal or dumping of hazardous wastes in the Malaysian territory…
To implement the environmental research leads to reduction of greenhouse gases, Malaysia ratified the Kyoto Protocol on 4 September 2002 and is thus a Party of the Kyoto Protocol since ratified. As present, Malaysia is not subjected to any commitments towards reducing GHG emissions. However, as a Party of Kyoto, Malaysia voluntarily participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of one mechanism of Kyoto Protocol…
In Malaysia, the government has begun applying a preventive approach rather than the curative effort undertaken previously for sustainable development. Short-, medium- and long-term environmental policy objectives now guide environmental management in Malaysia. Those policy objectives are enshrined in the five-year development plans, the (Development) Perspective Plan (1991-2000), and the First Malaysia Statement: the Way Forward Towards Vision 2020.
This YouTube clip tells the story of ordinary, poor Malaysians who are trying lobby the government for funds to help develop their community and send their children to university.
Role of Civil Society
Dr Goh Ban Lee, a retired academic interested in urban governance, housing and urban planning offers his perspectives on the role of civil society in Malaysia.
...Malaysia could be considered to be among the countries that are slow in embracing civil society in urban governance. While conservationists were hugging trees to prevent tree-felling or forming human-chains to prevent demolition of heritage buildings in the West, there were hardly any similar activities here. Had there been such ardent activists, it is doubtful if Bukit Antarabangsa would see so many development projects, especially the high-rise blocks.
Part of the increasing visibility of civil society in urban governance is the allocation of more space for the workings of local authorities and urban issues in the newspapers. More importantly, the advent of Internet and portals commonly referred to as "blogs" has given many activists a vehicle to broadcast their views or display cases of negligence by the local councils. An example is the e-community Internet portal of the residents of Subang Jaya (www.usj.com.my). It played an important role in the residents’ successful protests against a proposal to build a food court on a piece of land reserved for a police station (theSun, Oct 24, 2004)....
An effective measure in bringing about policy change or improvement in urban governance such as more accountability and transparency is to prepare well-researched documents and carry out public campaigns. An example is the 10 reports covering social and planning issues that were presented to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng by the Penang Forum, a coalition of NGOs ("Ignore NGOs at your peril", March 5).
SO, Malaysia makes international news again. And for the wrong reason again. This time for the Kuantan Syariah Court’s decision to flog Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno with six strokes of the rotan for drinking a glass of beer with her husband in a hotel in Cherating two years ago...
As Kartika surrenders herself to her fate, I wonder how the Pahang religious authorities are planning to execute the six lashes. Will the Prime Minister who comes from Pahang and the Cabinet yet again intervene in the enforcement of the draconian Syariah Criminal Offences law in this country?
There is much public debate now along the usual divide. Islamists who support the punishment in the name of Islam and others who are outraged on several different grounds:
> That the punishment does not reflect the gravity of the offence;
> That as a first-time offender who also pleaded guilty as charged, Kartika should not have been punished with the maximum sentence;
> Flogging is a violation of human rights as it constitutes a cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment;
> Flogging women under Syariah law constitutes yet another form of discrimination against Muslim women in this country as women are exempted from flogging under civil law;
> Neither the Qur’an nor the Hadith prescribes any form of punishment for drinking alcohol;
> There is no consensus on flogging of women or for alcohol consumption. Only three states –Pahang, Perlis and Kelantan – provide for such punishment;
> Islamic teachings emphasise forgiveness, compassion and positive personal transformation. So why punish in the first instance?
No amount of explaining – that Syariah caning is not supposed to cause injury, it is moderate, the caning officer is not supposed to lift his arm above his shoulder – is going to take away the pain and humiliation of such a cruel and degrading treatment...
Women’s groups in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are jointly mobilising against Kartika’s sentencing, fearful of a precedent set that will have wide impact not just on Malaysian Muslim women, but also on the hundreds of thousands of Muslim women from neighbouring countries who travel, work or reside in Malaysia.
Once again, the questions arise. What kind of Malaysia do we want to live in, and project to the rest of the world? What kind of Islam do we want to practise? What kind of God do we want to envision? A God of kindness, compassion, beauty and goodness or a cruel, punitive and misogynistic God?
Does 1Malaysia include equality between men and women and equality between Muslim women and women of other faith?...
As religion is a state matter, different states have also added different offences. In Selangor, smoking is a crime. In Terengganu, it is a crime for a woman to reveal any part of her aurat that arouses passion in the public space or for a virgin woman to abscond from the guardianship of her parents without a reasonable justification valid under Hukum Syarak.
Is it the duty of the state – in order to bring about a moral society – to turn all “sins” into “crimes against the state”? Should the state extend the long arm of the law to what should be best left to the religious conscience of the individual?
Human Rights Freedom of Speech Nizam Bashir a member of the Human Rights Committee, Bar Council Malaysia writes:
…Free speech in Malaysia is guaranteed by Article 10(1)(a) of the constitution. In essence, every citizen has the right to free speech. However, the Malaysian experience suggests that little premium is placed upon this right.
In August last year, 21 Malaysian Internet service providers cut access to the Malaysia Today website. They did so pursuant to notices issued by the government under section 263 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.
Yet, section 3(3) of the Act states that “Nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting the censorship of the Internet.” So, were the notices valid? Surely not but the government did issue them and impinged on free speech in that instance….
Why does Malaysia then continue to insist – as its one time information minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin did in 2006 and as Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein does – that the Sedition Act remains current and need not be abolished? Suffice to say, the Act has never been brought to bear against those who are in government.
The Printing Presses and Publications Act is another law frequently lambasted by free speech proponents. This is understandable as over the years, a number of materials have been banned under the Act….
It is sensible to ensure that free speech operates within a reasonable band of restriction. The best example to bring home this point is the one involving a man in a crowded theatre who shouts “Fire!” although none exists. Clearly, it is not unreasonable in such an instance to restrict that man’s right to free speech.
The Federal Constitution recognises that and Article 10(2)(a) is a manifestation of that recognition. Still, it pays to ask whether Malaysia has been too enthusiastic about restricting free speech.
…The continued persecution of PR politicians shows the vicious attempts of BN to undermine the PR. Contrarily, many UMNO and BN politicians who are blatantly corrupt and abuse power have not been investigated or charged by MAC.
Democratic Rights This shows that Malaysian politics is not on an even "playing field", with the ruling parties always having the upper hand over the opposition parties. The BN has been in power more than 50 years and its autocratic rule has been favourable to the desire of national and international capitalists to maximize their profits. In that process, democratic rights and the fundamental needs of ordinary people have been diluted and suppressed. Consequently, most of the time ordinary people have to fight to defend their rights and fulfill their basic needs…
PR inconsistency
The People's Alliance (PR) with its rhetoric about 'People Power' has no perspective of strengthening the real majority - the working class, youth, students, poor farmers and others - but merely crying foul against the undemocratic persecution of the government against them. At the same time, the social and economic issues that have angered ordinary people, and which were highlighted during the March 2008 election, are continually being ignored.
Located in South East Asia, Malaysia, a former British colony is a constitutional monarchy, headed by a King and also governed by bicameral Parliament consisting of a nonelected upper house and an elected lower house.
