Former Singapore PM Mr Lee Kuan Yew, on being awarded the Lincoln Medal from the US government for his contributions to the growth and development of Singapore, stated that “an important basis of what made us successful was the putting in place of the practice of meritocracy since we became independent of Malaysia.”
The use of and the practice of meritocracy underlines the great strides the island-state has made since it separated from Malaysia to become the richest country in the world today.
If Malaysia languishes today, in comparison with Singapore, it is not just the lack of meritocracy that is not practiced but a host of other wrongdoings that has spelt doom to true democracy and the emergence of an inequitable society at friction with themselves.
Everything was quite fine and dandy with the attainment of Merdeka and the government of the popular Tunku Abdul Rahman. But the race riots of May 13, 1969 saw him eclipsed as prime minister and the rise of Tun Abdul Razak to power.
During Razak’s tenure as premier, the New Economic Policy (NEP) was formulated, much to the dissatisfaction of non-bumiputras. The hastily-conceived NEP created ill feelings and while rightly trying to restore the equitable distribution of wealth, used a completely poor and weak method of implementation, one that seemed to lack much thought, consideration, debate and discussion.
The NEP engendered a feeling of disquiet. Under the execution of the NEP, throughout its life span and existence, it violated greatly the practice of meritocracy and caused race relations to begin to deteriorate.
The NEP violated the use and practice of meritocracy
While one of the factors that the race riots of 1969 was the result of the Malay community, being lagging and left behind in the Tunku’s push for economic prosperity, it was a situation of their own doing, and when the other major races began to make gains, it blew up into a restive atmosphere.
In his bid to appease the Malays and to restore peace and stability, Razak initiated the NEP in the hope that it will bring the largely underclass Malays to the forefront of the nation. While the intentions were noble and lofty, what has evolved out of the tenure of the NEP was the emergence of a minority governing Malay elite while the large majority of bumiputras stayed in limbo.
If the NEP brought about benefits to any quarter, it was only in carving out an elite Malay society, those who were politically-connected to the ruling Barisan Nasional via UMNO, all at the expense and sacrifice of the practice of meritocracy.
If we have witnessed the emigration of much valued Malaysians, the state of race relations becoming fragile by the surfacing of racial polarization, and the general sentiment of anger, frustration and bitterness arising from non-bumputras and even bumiputras, it is largely because the NEP completely eliminated the use of and the practice of meritocracy.
What has now evolved out of the NEP’s duration of practice, a situation which is much more worrisome, is that most bumiputras are still in the “have not” category and seem to yearn and foster a handout mentality from the ruling BN government.
The practice of meritocracy can be a tacky, touchy issue in a country that does not seem to have an open, unbiased understanding of how it works, especially by a government who feel they know the way forward but does not in reality.
What has happened without the use of and practice of meritocracy?
The lack of meritocracy being practiced in Malaysia has caused the distance between the “haves” and the “have not’s” to grow wider. This is especially true among the Malay community where the large majority have failed to make progress in their daily lives beyond being boosted by government intervention to give the impression that the community is making progress.
Such a falsehood is easily evident, yet the government tinkers with statistics to convince Malaysians and the international community that Malays are economically prosperous and doing just fine.
But all is definitely not fine now. Malays have become a disgruntled and disunited lot with their political allegiance being skewered three-ways now between UMNO, PKR and Party PAS. If the meritocratic and fair, right and proper approach of the Tunku was perhaps explained and taught to the Malaysian masses in a wider way, then all will still be well with Malaysia and BN.
Since the implementation of the NEP up to now, the nation of Malaysia and its citizens of all races have had to pay the price of a BN government that began the race of democracy well but faltered through its formulation of the NEP and has since lost its way.
While the untold damage of meritocracy not being in place has not and possibly cannot be charted and be placed on record for all to concur and realize, what is clearly evident is that the failure to practice meritocracy even until now is taking a heavy toll in causing much social injustice and oppression among the rakyat.
World concerns grow over Malaysia’s lack of meritocracy
In recent reports in the mainstream media, it is alleged that “foreign hands” are involved in a far-fetched bid to topple the BN government by funding financially and making use of the alternative media and various NGOs in the country.
While the funding revealed totaled to a miserable RM20 million purportedly from organizations mostly linked with the United States and Zionists groups, it is inconceivable that this amount is enough to topple the multi-billion ringgit BN government of Malaysia.
The reasons given by the funders and those who have very openly and honestly acknowledged having received the funds is more believable than the ‘sandiwara’ that is being spun by the Malaysian government that there are foreign hands trying to topple them.
In reality, the concerns of these foreign organizations and Malaysian groups associated and linked with them is not without basis as they see that the use and the practice of meritocracy, fair play and justice is not in place in this country.
This has caused them to do whatever they can as concerned and responsible persons and organizations who do not wish to see Malaysia go the way of rogue nations like Pakistan and Iran but instead wish to liberate and free Malaysians from the tyranny and oppression of the BN government who have violated their terms and conditions of democratic governance.
It is really in reneging on the use of and practice of meritocracy that concerns are mounting within the right-thinking members of the international community to try and assist Malaysia in going down the way of destruction towards becoming a failed state.
It is even preferable and a much wiser and better option that foreign leaders and organizations get together to consider how they can pull Malaysia out of the evil clutches of a BN government that has completely violated democratic values to become a country governed by despots.
Voters to call the shots in the coming 13th GE
In the coming 13th GE, if BN hopes to make any improvement on their hold on power, if they are to even win by a simple majority, they need to ensure that they begin to practice meritocracy in an open and transparent manner.
Otherwise, there is that real and grave danger that Malaysia will descend into a society at disarray with itself, and worse, what we will probably be witnessing is that power and wealth will be concentrated in an elite minority while the Malaysian masses continue to endure hardship and deprivation.
The thrust is now upon the BN government of Malaysia to show the way forward through fair practices, the practice of meritocracy or risk being shown the exit door by voters. However, the failure on the part of BN to practice meritocracy for decades should spell its downfall as dissenting voters of all walks of life vent their frustration on the ruling party for going awry.
This means the case of trying to backtrack now may be all too late for the BN government. The years of bad, ill-will governance by BN for the last four decades has started to fester and turn ugly and evil in the hearts and minds of Malaysians who can no longer stomach the conniving corruption and cronyism of the governing BN coalition.
If the last political tsunami of 2008 was a wake-up call for BN, their transformation efforts are seen by most Malaysians as a façade and ineffective in reality, as it is really a case of merely doing some cosmetic changes while the core issues that are causing Malaysians to rise in anger and resentment, such as corruption and cronyism, are still not addressed.
Worst still, it is yet to be seen by Malaysians if the use of and practice of meritocracy is fully in place by BN and based on these grounds alone the governing BN is set to lose further ground in the upcoming GE 13.
Idiots ruled Malaysia while the non-idiots try to survive.
ReplyDelete