(photo courtesy Jeff Ooi.)
Malaysian bloggers Jeff Ooi and Mack Zulkifli have been busy trashing corrupt government officials and encouraging citizen action.
Read all about it at Global Voices. I've also posted the full transcript of the live IRC chat I did with them earlier today.
For those who are already in oversea and live comfortably. There is no reason for you to come back to Malaysia. Life in Malaysia is getting tougher each day.
Frankly, as a Chinese, I don't see there is any future for our next generation.
Another dangerous mentor that people always use is JFK "Don't ask what the country can do for you, ask what you can do for the country".
Is sound nice, but isn't how German Nazi and Japan militarism start the world war using the same mentor? Under the great "ask what you can do for the country".
Patriotism? Yes, I understand how you feel. Your love for the country was spoilt by the political party. Since non-malays will always be a second class citizen, so you are probably the same in any other countries, if not better.
You get cannibalised by your own countrymen, intellectually and professionally.
As someone else advised, be a Global citizen.
Patriotism does not need you to be in Malaysia to work your due. Let no one pointed at you and say you are a traitor if your true intention is to generate good deeds for Malaysia wherever you are.
Save your time about coming back to Malaysia. Nothing will change in Malaysia. At least not even in this lifetime. Racism will still be here to stay, and also everything else.
I think there is such an entrenched discrimination against the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia, that it will take probably a whole generation to undo the damaged.
This is happening in whole spectrum of the Malaysian government, civil service, state governments and universities. Just look at percentage of malays in all these government bodies - 98%……….
A whole generation of malays has been brought up to think that it's their inherited right to own Malaysia. The other races are damned.
I think the malays especially those in power, are scared right now that if they will to compete openly with other races, they will surely be the loser. You will see very strong resistance to hire other races even the most qualified.
The malays are never brought up to compete on even ground. This is fault of previous PM and now the present PM has to tread a balance ground to ensure the malays are not cast away as well as to make Malaysia competitive worldwide.
In US I never met a malay immigrant, though there are thousands of Malaysian Chinese and Indian immigrants. Why? Malays in Malaysia have an easier life where they are literately prince of the land.
We have infrastructure good enough to be considered first world or better. Look at the Cyberjaya, Petronas Twin Towers, Putrajaya?
Gleaming high-rise buildings but also in every city, dirty toilets abound, litter clogging up the drains, public telephones damaged, plus unreliable rubbish collection and disposal. We just treat public facilities badly, not caring about others.
Being an urban dweller myself, I am constantly disheartened by the poor public infrastructure and upkeep in our capital city.
Faulty pedestrian traffic signals, illogical positioning of bus stops, poor public cleanliness, poor quality sidewalks (which are paved using slippery tiles), un-integrated and poorly managed public transportation system, the list goes on.
Your children can't even walk safely along the Kuala Lumpur streets, as they might be bags snatched, kidnapped, murdered, raped, or robbed, as they do not know the jungle laws of Malaysia. The police won't help much as they now have a big pile of corruption cases running after them.
You owe nothing to Malaysia, you pay your due, so live on.
So, my last advice. Don't come back unless you are really suffering in oversea.
I'm sorry this sounds very racist but I think we have to be honest in discussion.
Posted by: malaysia is no future | July 14, 2005 at 03:26 AM
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Forty-seven years after Independence, the people of Malaysia are still searching for an identity. Are they malays or Muslims first; are they Chinese, Indians or Malaysians first?
This identity crisis is a result of the failure of the BN government, which has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, later as the expanded Barisan Nasional.
The truth is that the malays of this country partly owe their independence to the non-malays. The reason was that the British refused to give independence without an agreement from the non-malays.
Another argument put forth by the pro-malay special rights group is that, they made a compromise by giving the non-malays their citizenship and in exchange the malays must be given their special privileges.
This argument is the most ridiculous I have heard thus far but in their ignorance some Malaysians still think that citizenship is for a certain race to give. This logic would mean that the minorities will always be seen as foreigners who will never be equal to the malay bumis.
The Chinese and Indians must accept they are immigrants and they were given citizenships in 1957 on the agreement that the malays are given special rights and privileges.
Stretching your logic a bit further, are you also suggesting that in America, the Negroes continue to be slaves to the whites otherwise they give up US citizenship and go back to Africa?
This is stupid idiotic logic. Even if the so-called contract was valid, it was so only in the 50s and 60s.
We are nearly 50 years after Merdeka and all Chinese and Indians have begun citizens. They are no more bound by the so-called social contract which enslaved their ancestors.
Umno is afraid to give up Ketuanan melayu because it is bankrupt of ideas in competing with others in this 21st century democracy.
Umno's warped logic is that it is better for country to be backward so long as malays benefit than for country to prosper, where malays are marginalized.
This warped logic is in fact the beginning of the end of the malays who will never progress and compete with others on equal footing and level playing field, so long as they subscribe to Ketuanan melayu and have crutch mentality in forever relying on special privileges……….
Malays will crumble from internal weaknesses and disappear in era of globalization……….no need for others to colonize them as Mahathir had constantly raised this bogey.
My dad is a racist; so is my mom. Similarly racists are my brother, sister and relatives. All the Malaysian friends I now have are, and those I had were or at the least had been, racists too.
Well, perhaps thanks to all these people, I have become - and remain - a racist as well.
You see, we are the members of a much larger community: Malaysia - the racist nation!
The term community is somewhat misleading. We are not united as such as a nation should be. We are only united by the fact that all of us - at one time or other - had been are or will become, racists......
All of us formally became racists in the year of 1971, when racism was institutionalised in Malaysia. Not that racism didn't exist before: it did; it lurked underneath, which --- as everyone knows --- erupted as the May 13 ethnic riots. Hence came the New Economic Policy, set up to divert the winds off the sails of racism. Ballasting the boat, and listing it in favour of the economically disadvantaged malay-Malaysians may lead to Malaysians seeing each other as equals, it was thought.
Then came the 80s, which also gave Dr Mahathir.
Still, racism remained somewhat otherworldly to me. All of us practiced racism, on the streets, in shops, in schools and in the house, but racism was never blatant - at least in my life. That changed as the 80s came to a close.
............
Please tell me, can anyone even imagine a multi-cultural Malaysian nation --- where no one discriminates the other on the basis of race, where everyone treats the other as a brother or sister - being run by the same racist parties that exist now? Is such a future even conceptually possible?
It is time for me to descend to earth and crawl back into my racist carapace, and be a realist again. And heap praises on our nation and on the ideals that are so central to its psyche: long live, racism! Long live, racist Malaysia - the model racist nation!
It is no wonder our civil participation is as backward as it is.
Do you have any idea why Singapore is almost the first world country or 20 years better than Malaysia?
One could argue every country has its own policies and laws that place prejudice on certain parties - yes, that is true, but none so shamefully as those who (Malaysia) not only boast about it, take the credit for the successes of these people whom they slam their discriminatory abuses on, and have no intention to change it (and that said with a smug look on the face).
Bangsa Malaysia? Bah, humbug
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Posted by: no hope for malaysia | July 26, 2005 at 10:43 PM
Chinese getting straight As are not allowed into universities. Not allowed civil service jobs. That is blatant discrimination.
Why do you support such discrimination?
Chinese Malaysians have built very successful businesses, hence they have the wealth that they have. This is not greed. They worked for what they now own.
Why do you envy what does not belong to you? Is this not greed?
It is quite untrue that business offers are conducted on the basis of race. Starting any business is very very hard work, but the malays did not have a hard working tradition to persevere. This is a cultural change the malays need in order to conduct businesses successfully.
Armed with this knowledge, do you still insist that Chinese Malaysians are greedy, and therefore it is right for malays to take what does not belong to them?
Your perception of business in Malaysia has got to be wrong.
Most goods and services can be conducted in open markets, and there is no particular reason to single out malays so that Chinese businessmen should swindle them. There are lots of swindlers in business so it is not just malays who get swindled.
Successful businessmen depend on providing real benefits to customers and partners so that it is worthwhile for them to do business again and again to both parties benefit. It is only when customers also get rich that businesses can grow.
The discrimination against Chinese, Indians and other peoples cannot be tolerated in the modern world. Countries that do this will face long-term decline.
Hard working people are not greedy as you accuse them. They are hard working because they have a mission in life to prosper, to give offspring a good chance in life to live to the full, to contribute their talents to the betterment of society……….
This is not greed.
Whereas, envy of others wealth and taking what they have not worked for is greed.
I would put is stronger. It is robbery and corruption. You talk like a Mafia extortionist when you said that worse could happen to the Chinese, so be thankful because there are more malays than Chinese, and therefore they can take even more from the Chinese if they want to.
You have to be joking to believe that your greed and prejudices are the wonderful things about Malaysia. Well, may be you do.
Malaysia as describe it is a country based on racism, lack of a conscience, and greed (taking from hard working foreigners).
Meritocracy is denounced. Robbing the wealthy is promoted.
How can there be a good future for such a country?
Looking from outside of Malaysia, it is easy to see that the malay-controlled government is enforcing a wealth-robbing programme from the Chinese who earned their wealth through hard works.
By barring bright well-qualified Chinese Malaysians from entering Malaysian universities, Malaysia is pursuing a discriminatory policy based on race.
This is not tolerated in civilised countries. It is a policy that gives Malaysia a very bad reputation and deprives itself of its most talented.
It is a policy which tells the malays that robbing from the rich is not greed because being rich, being educated is the same as being greedy.
This is moral corruption and self-contradiction which Malaysia will pay a very heavy price.
Posted by: human | November 06, 2005 at 02:37 PM
The shameful incident of a Chinese detainee being asked to ear squats in the nude is just the tip of the iceberg
When the former IGP inflicted the infamous black eye on Anwar, he knew at that time that his political master would protect him. Until the international press highlighted it.
When the police harassed the Indian IT expatriates, the Indian government retaliated. When the mistreated Chinese tourists protested, the Chinese government backed them up.
All in all, Malaysia only backtracked when a Big Brother country came into the picture.
What happens to the thousands of Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Thais, etc who are harassed daily? Nobody bothered. Why? Because there would be no political or economic fallout.
The root cause of police brutality is simply explained by famous words, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Added to this dilemma, Malaysia has not seen a change of government since independence in 1957.
This country has been and continues to head in the wrong direction, setting it further back from developed countries and undoing the good work of others in the last four decades.
I propose a national independent commission to investigate and publicly report on the alleged widespread abuse and corruption in the police force. The police should not be allowed to investigate itself. This idea seems simply ridiculous.
The lack of any sense of discernment and the shameless politicisation of the issue is a bigger shame and even more incorrigible than the abuse itself!
Abuses of police power are just the symptoms of a sick government elected by an equally sick society. We need the cure. Change must be holistic and in a total package.
Ideally, we need a change of government with a two-party system.
Unfortunately, many don't trust PAS with its Taliban leanings. It appears strategic that Anwar should lead a moderate coalition comprising Keadilan and DAP as the pillars that will include parties representing the minorities.
Undoubtedly this will be difficult to achieve but it needs to start now.
There is no more room for such nonsense for this country is collapsing under the burgeoning weight of all these fat and waste.
Let us improve in every aspect to build our Malaysia Boleh tag - which will not be fulfilled in the next hundred years if we continue like this.
Posted by: run away from malaysia | December 08, 2005 at 01:59 AM
Folks, please tell me how do you best manage a country, whereby - the majority community who rule, can't competitive on equal footing with other countrymen, and fear to end up as working for very competitive - the other minority.
(Australia/Singapore/USA etc, don't have these scenario, as the community who call the shot is also the majority community.)
But building a world-class university in a third-world nation is unheard of, with the exception of large nations of China/India.
Simply, a third world Malaysia software does not nurture a first class world-class university.
Our government complains of brain drain, but do we actually do something to lure all these professionals back?
It is sad to see that we have the greatest minds around the world. One would be proud to see that we have great Malaysian minds in almost every field, for example in dentistry, medicine, physics etc, and yet where did they end up?
They ended up in the developed world, helping the developed countries to become better day by day.
It would be more logical to try to attract these great minds back from other countries than to continue employing health professionals from foreign countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan that would not be dedicated in their work in the end, because of the poor system here.
Will this country ever change? Unfortunately, I doubt it.
We have a daughter who is currently studying overseas. My wife and I have been trying to tell her to stay there and get a PR and not come back.
Malaysia will always be here. It is a nice place to holiday - you want to live a compromised life you can return to work. But you want to be yourself then go wherever you please. We all wish you well.
Believe me, the government too wishes that you don't come back to quell the Chinese professional numbers. So they remain obliged to make your life miserable. All this talk about brain drain……….come on, you doesn't really buy the government's feigned attempt to show concern, do you!
So, be wise, stay outside. Come back to get yourself rejuvenated with Malaysian food, and culture, as often as you can and stick your fingers up to the government too.
But just remember if you are not prepared to compromise principles……….just stay out!
Even though the white man's land is not wholly a bed of roses, we know we will be treated more fairly and the system is much more transparent than what we have here.
It is a heavy heart that we have to make this decision for our daughter but deep down inside, we know it is better for her and her next generation. We are already near the final lap of our careers and life, and the political situation here has little impact on us.
Our children have a whole new horizon ahead of them. It is their future……….do they have one here?
Just be practical. One anesthetist told me, your perception will change when you have kids and a wife to worry about.
Posted by: yes malaysia is no future | January 01, 2006 at 10:55 PM
I am closing down comments on this thread. Too many people are posting obscene hate speech which I have had to delete.
Posted by: Rebecca MacKinnon | January 03, 2006 at 11:41 AM