2007

A lawyer was captured on video fixing the appointment of judges. A little girl was sexually molested and murdered, and the police is planning to take action against the parents for negligence. A plain-clothes policeman went into the middle of a crowd of opposition supporters armed with a gun, and ended up shooting live bullets and nearly killing two members of the crowd.

The government response to the video has been a terrible disaster. The PM and deputy PM question the credibility of the video. The minister says that the other man on the line is not the Chief Justice. The Attorney General says that the lawyer was in monologue! Is the information minister not doing his job, to coordinate the spin?

Welcome to Malaysia, after 50 years of independence. Things are falling apart. Law and order have broken down. Our policemen are utilised to monitor the opposition, while real crime takes place in our midst. The crime index for the first five months of 2007 is over 8% higher than the corresponding period in 2006. The number of rape taking place each day has doubled in the first six months of 2007 compared to 2003. Eight Malaysians are being raped daily. When that happens, blame the parents.

But why is it when kids die in National Service or our brave soldiers die due to poorly-maintained helicopters, the defence minister is not tasked for negligence? Speak to the people around you, and every one will have a friend or family member who has recently experienced crime: snatch-thefts, assault, robbery and more frightening still, rape and murder. (more…)

2007

Pada malam kedua saya berada di Ijok – sehari selepas hari penamaan calon – kami lalu di hadapan rumah jutawan tempatan yang dijadikan bilik gerakan Pemuda BN. Kain rentang gergasi berkibar dengan kata-kata ‘Sedia Gempur’. Pada hari-hari terakhir kempen pilihanraya, sebuah papan tanda pula muncul di tepi jalan antara Pekan Ijok dengan Batang Berjuntai: ‘Pemuda BN Gempur, PKR Terkubur’.

Politik sememangnya melibatkan emosi dan perasaan, tetapi antara ciri-ciri kepimpinan ialah keupayaan mengawal emosi dan perasaan tersebut. Sememangnya pilihanraya merupakan gelanggang pertarungan bagi ahli politik, namun pertarungan tersebut juga bukan sahaja tertakluk kepada undang-undang negara, malah lebih penting lagi adab dan rukun berbeza pendapat.

Apatah lagi apabila melihat slogan-slogan sedemikian digunakan oleh anak-anak muda Melayu, yang sepatutnya kaya dengan sifat santun dan tatasusila budaya kita. Kalau Salahuddin al-Ayubi boleh menghantar doktor terbaiknya merawat ketua tentera salib, Richard the Lion Heart sewaktu perang salib untuk memerdekakan Baitul Muqaddis, takkanlah Pemuda BN tidak mempunyai akhlak dan sopan-santun menghadapi pilihanraya di negara sendiri. (more…)

2007

Most of my friends have long known where my sympathies lie. When they find out I’ve actually made the decision to actually work full-time in opposition politics, I attract a lot of curious questions. Some express support, some wonderment. The rest probably become a bit worried.

Many more continue to express the sentiment that was mentioned by John Lee. Now, everyone knows Barisan Nasional is far from perfect, but what can Malaysia’s disparate opposition offer beyond criticism? What have I personally sought to achieve?

Admittedly, the opposition is not without its faults, and some things that were cited by John Lee have a ring of truth to them, such as the inability to form a cohesive coalition, infighting, and the lack of alternative policies. In other words, opposition members have the mentality of the permanent opposition, rather than of the government-in-waiting. (more…)

2006

A few months ago, a human resource manager at an international bank approached me. He wanted my help to
find top young Malays for the bank’s fast-track management programme. “Where are the young Malays?” he asked.

One of the major cornerstones of the New Economic Policy (NEP) is the scholarship system. While scholarships existed prior to the NEP, it was only after the NEP in the 1970s that a large-scale government scholarship programme was initiated to send students to the top universities around the world. It had a huge impact not only on the NEP but also on our developmental success as a whole.

These scholars later joined the civil service and government-linked companies (GLCs), and many later left for the private sector as their contract ended and the opportunity beckoned in Malaysia Incorporated. The backbone of the Malay middle class today is largely a product of this system. (more…)

2006

A few months back I was involved in an ongoing project that was related to education. Although I’ve discussed the issue with different people over the years, it was then that I realised how entrenched the one-size-fits-all-education system is to the education establishment, and gave me a few ideas on the strategic redirection of our education system.

First, I share the belief that an equal access to education is crucial to all societies. Education, more than anything else, can promote social mobility. Therefore, the government should focus on aggressively overcoming the weaknesses in rural schools to increase the odds of poor children escaping the vicious cycle of poverty.

Secondly, however, I think that the education system should strive to be flexible because it’s impossible to ensure equality of outcome. Now, most students going to government schools are forced to endure the same system more or less until they are 15. This is far from ideal. The brightest children should be identified early, and nurtured so that they are able to fulfil their potential. Yes, this promotes elitism, but there is a big difference between an intellectual and social elite. (more…)

2006

On January 11, the front page of theSun was splashed with a picture of British Prime Minister Tony Blair spraying a graffiti covered wall, as part of his “respect” campaign against anti-social hooligans (what we back in Malaysia prefer to call samseng).

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. This particular picture brings up the challenging issue of a breakdown among youths in modern society.

On the same day The Times of London (such is the magic of Internet) published an opinion piece voicing that while the Labour government is advocating the state to intervene and curb anti-social behaviour and the resurgent Conservative opposition advocates voluntary and local social organisations to do that instead, British politicians are forgetting that this was once the natural domain of fathers. (more…)

2006

Farish A. Noor is described by some as Malaysia’s ‘angry young man’ (alas, I cannot do the same for fear of inviting such a label to myself as I certainly am younger), but such a tag does not do justice. By his own admission he wears two different hats as a writer: first, a Cartesian rationalist political scientist; and secondly, a Levinasian moralist and a Romantic humanist activist. This undeniably presents a difficult dilemma.

The entire spectrum of Farish’s talents and passions is again presented in the sequel to his first anthology of essays, The Other Malaysia; with the latest publication of From Majapahit to Putrajaya. Included in the book are academic analyses; colourful critiques; and personal obituaries. The above dilemma on the conflict between being an academician and activist is also presented in the book.

Characters as diverse as pop icon Siti Nurhaliza (a product of excellent ASEAN marketing, in Farish’s own words); Petronas stalwart the late Tan Sri Azizan Zainul Abidin (his uncle); the doyen of modern Malay literature Munshi Abdullah and the proto-nationalist of Indonesia, Sultan Fatahillah are all weaved into Farish’s essays. In fact, the book ends with a very personal obituary (combined with some autobiographical elements) of his father. (more…)

2005

Much has been said about the University of Malaya’s (UM) drop in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) rankings recently.

UM, Malaysia’s oldest university which was ranked No 89 by THES last year fell to No 169. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), another top Malaysian university, ranked No 111 last year, has dropped out of the top 200 universities in the world altogether.

There is a need to look at the ranking issue, but most importantly we must look at this latest national embarrassment as a symptom of the deeper problems that plague our higher education policy. Moving forward, we need to look at a better approach to higher education.

The handling of the universities in dealing with this drop in rankings especially UM’s administration can at best be described as confused, if not downright idiotic. (more…)

2004

The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) has an excellent array of teachers, the most well-known probably being the English writer Anthony Burgess; the doyen of Bahasa Malaysia Za’aba and historian cum big rugby enthusiast NJ Ryan.

DJ Muzaffar Tate belonged to this super-elite class, who filled the meaning of the word ‘teacher’ to its very brink. To many of his students, the man known fondly as Cikgu Tate was an incredible personality, never to be forgotten.

I was struck by a tinge of sadness when I read that Cikgu Tate had passed away. In my heart, I uttered a silent Muslim prayer, “We are from God, and to Him we return.”

And yet, I have never been his pupil in the formal sense. He was a teacher in MCKK over 30 years before my time in the August institution. I was not a close acquaintance, but I can only thank God for letting our paths cross over the years. (more…)

2005

Tahun Baru 2005 menjelma di tengah-tengah kemurungan terkorbannya beratus-ratus ribu orang di Asia Tenggara dan Selatan, serta Afrika, berikutan tragedi tsunami selepas gempa bumi di pantai Sumatera pada 26 Disember. Seluruh dunia kaget dengan jumlah kematian dan kedukacitaan yang melanda.

Namun, sedar tidak sedar 1 Januari 2005 turut menyaksikan berakhirnya Perjanjian Tekstil dan Pakaian 1995 yang dikuatkuasakan oleh Pertubuhan Perdagangan Dunia (WTO) yang telah memperuntukkan kuota untuk pembuat tekstil di seluruh dunia. Dengan ini, industri tekstil dan pakaian kini terdedah kepada perdagangan bebas yang tidak wujud sebelum ini.

Sekilas pandang, industri tekstil dan pakaian merupakan industri yang paling sesuai untuk pasaran bebas. Negara-negara membangun lebih senang untuk mendapat kelebihan bandingan dalam industri tersebut, yang membolehkan mereka turut serta dalam pembuatan tekstil dan pakaian dengan kos peluang (opportunity cost) yang lebih rendah, berbanding negara-negara lain. (more…)