Can Malaysia overcome? himself?

[joseph173]

Malaysia's economy success mainly because of export.
We were in the right time, right place(politically stable),right position(relative to other asian countries' strength at that time). It would affect the political stability which we didn't think about in the good old days.

Now many foreign companies are shifting their plant to other place out of malaysia, in a large scale, mainly electronics firm. You may argue there are still some foreign investments coming on, that's true, but not significant.

Our size of local market(a key point) and K labor force(knowledge) are relatively small and behind by comparing to India and China. We've to keep in mind that we are not self-sufficient country.

If Malaysia continues to struggle in political issues(as we started to hve in recent years) or continue in the old way(including education system, political system) instead of preparing himself, our nightmare is coming.

Our country nervous system(our system to respond) would determine the next ten years for Malaysia. Can we overcome it in a timely manner?

!!! The effect has already showing up now!

[chenchow]

Welcome joseph173 to Recom!!!

Malaysia trade is about equivalent to our GDP, which means we export about half of our GDP. In comparison to Singapore, the trade of Singapore is about 3 times its GDP, which means its export is 150% of its GDP, as some of it are just value-added and re-exporting from other countries.

Malaysia follows a ride of progression in the early 90s together with other nations, like Thailand, Singapore etc, but I have to say that Dr. Mahathir and other of our leaders make good decision.

A sound political stability would be very essential. Currently, our currency is stable due to the pegging, so uncertainty does not arise.

On Foreign Direct Investment, it is a open secret that we no longer attract so much FDI compared to our heyday, but I would say that we move up on the value chain. it is not much on the value of FDI, but the quality of the FDI itself. Over the past year, we have seen Citibank, HSBC, Ericsson, HP, Alcatel, Boeing, DHL etc move their regional call center and even Asia Pacific HQ to Malaysia. Although this kind of FDI would only amount of $10s of millions, but it would do Malaysia more benefits in the long run, as it would promote knowledge economy.

Previously, FDI is mainly on the manufacturing sector and while billlions come in, but remember that many of those top foreign investment were given tax free status and also they rely on foreign workers heavily, so what do we reap from that? Basically small number of Malaysian get employed and also a boost of foreigners in Malaysia, bringing more revenue and also not forget some more crime.

I think the current influx of knowledge worker would be much better the influx of general worker in manufacturing factory. While our local market is not in comparison to India and China, among our peers in South East Asia, our market is pretty big, with GDP of $216 billion and also with AFTA, we could market ourselves well.. Remember that Thailand with Thaksin as PM is catching up real fast.

Our labor force is gradually getting more and more educated, but a lot needed to be done. Some discussions and articles not too long ago touched on the dropout rate. About 25% of our students do not finish Form 5. That means we only have 75% of our students finished taking SPM. That include those that fail SPM. Presently, our number of bachelor degree holder and diploma holder is still very low, but the figure has increased a lot. We have created about 25 universities in the past 10-15 years. That is a lot and currently, they are talking about consolidation and trying to build up the standard of our local universities.

Our education system is still undergoing changes. I think the change to English would be a good step ahead, although it would be a tough change. A lot of people would feel it tough and it might increase the dropout rate in fact, but I think it is better that we work on that, to ensure that our citizens are well-versed in English. In the mean time, we should not forget the emphasis on Malay, our national language and also the mother tounge of Malaysians of various races.

What do you guys think? It is just my personal opinion.. Feel free to rebut.

[chenchow]

Below are the 10 thrusts identified for the 8th Malaysia Plan Midterm Review. What do you guys think of it?

* reinforce macroeconomic fundamentals;

* bolster economic resilience to better withstand shocks;

* retool the economy to enhance its competitiveness;

* reactivate private investment in particular local sources to assume its role as the engine of growth;

* venture into new areas of growth;

* accelerate the transition from low technology and labour intensive economy to one that is high technology and knowledge-based;

* increase supply of quality human resources to meet the demands of an economy that is moving to higher value added activities;

* develop a more equitable society to ensure everyone benefits from development;

* promote an exemplary value system compatible with high achievement by all communities; and

* enhance international cooperation for prosperity.

[Diesel]

well, our political scenario looks stable.
it looks stable, yet it can explode anytime. it looks stable, because u have almost no way to protest, even in a calm way.
is having too many biased media means we are stable?

[chenchow]

Frankly what do you guys think about our political stability?

Personally, I still think that we are not that stable in terms of politically. It is too easy to incite Malaysians on any sensitive issue. We are still not matured enough as a society to judge things objectively.

In terms of media independence, I think we fare pretty well compared to other developing nations. At least, we still have Malaysiakini, which is considered independent, although government is trying to monitor it. Compare to our neighbour down south, it is not even possible to have such an avenue.

[qedx]

i do agree that malaysians have this tendency to not talk about some things, like race and religion. but that is particular vice is not only malaysians'. race and religion seem to be topics that people cannot talk about logically; there will always be one or two idiots in the crowd who will try to incite anger. it just is not possible.

[Diesel]

yes, we have malaysiakini.com. they tried to put them down. saying it is funded by George soros. still remember that?
how about newspapers?
i give you an example, the harakah. do you know that the govt ban the sale of harakah to none members? look at the way they limit the voice of people. look at the television. especially the rtm. look at their news. they said, the oppositions have nothing to say but bashing the govt. yet, they do the same thing.
look at our university students in Malaysia. they dont allow them to involve in politics, saying that it's a waste of time. isn't being involve in politics a part of education? they call such institution universities, yet they don't allow the students to expand their minds, they dont allow them to see the real world., they spoonfeed those students only with what they want. they call it university, yet they want it to be filled with kindergarteners, whose minds they can control.
I live in a peaceful nation of Malaysia, yet I am subtally opressed. I see dictatorship in the name of democracy. Talking about democracy, it's more than just an election every five years. It's nothing without the freedom of speech.

[chenchow]

I read with interest what Diesel has said, but I beg to differ.

It is true that the government tried to investigate malaysiakini on one occasion, but I think generally malaysiakini has been able to function as it is intended. it still provides Malaysians and foreigners daily updates of various independent news source.

On university, I think one of the main reason, the government try to forbid students from political involvement would be that students tend to involve excessively and it would affect their studies. I still remember Dr. Mahathir addressed us in May 2002 in Washington DC. He said that we as students should be aware of political issues, and we should keep abreast with those issues, but not get involved in those political parties.

So, say the government has initiated a project and requires people's feedback, like the English Language switch. We are allowed to discuss the issues at length and voice our opinion, as long as we do it within the boundaries. If we join any political party in their rally either support or against a certain agenda, then it is illegal.

[Diesel]

yes, true. malaysiakini survived that. even if they are funded by george soros, i dont think it's right to shut them down.

one can involve excessively in anything other than studies. not just politics. it can be sports for example. and those things might affect their performance in studies. is it right to forbid them from involving in sports?

it's not right to involve in any poiltical organizations, yet it's ok if it's Puteri Umno. it's not right if lecturers show their support to any parties (e.g Chandra Muzzafar), yet it's ok if it's the support to BN (e.g the VC of UiTM).

why is it wrong to join rallies? why is it wrong to demonstrate? why must demonstrations be seen as riots? yes, sometimes, there are some spoilers in demonstrations. but do we have spray tear gas to the whole crowd? it is just not right. we condemn the US for killing innocent people in the hunt of terrorists. yet we practise somewhat the same thing.

[joseph173]

no matter what policy, if the political system is not healthy, nothing can be implement properly.

currently, our democracy system is not healthy.

what can we do?

[joseph173]

i believe the final answer is to be practical, if the thing works, then it is right.

We have a few different PM, Dr. Mahathir has done a good job in building the our country economy instead of stiring up sensitive issues. I think some of us would agree that being agressive on sensitive issues might ruin our country easily, if chaos happen, we won't even have a chance to talk about any issues. In that sense, Dr. Mahathir first provide the enviroment for our people to grow, to get education, to mature. He was very right in making a living as first priority.

The best thing to justify right or wrong is time.

Now after our people, our parents, and our generations has survived, we start thinking what we think is right. It is common sense for us to know what is right and what is wrong, regardless education or race.

As college student, we are educated to have critical thinking, those who have the priviledge to go to college should do the right thing for our country so that our family could live a better life. This is common sense.

Today, or at least in the near future, malaysia would continue to be a race based government country. Either malay, chinese, indian, other other groups in east malaysia would only care about their own groups.
we have justified the right or wrong of our political system with the current prosperity. Indeed, not many of us care about the fact, which is
a wrong political system would eventually lead to a downfall.

why i say so?
first of all, i want to make things clear, i always support some of our ministers or PM who do the right thing for our country. This system came from the only right way, which was the only system we could afford to have( with harmony and stability).
Relativity is one of the best way to justify this matter objectively.

if we only want our government to do basic and simple things, they are more than capable to do that, for example building infrastructure, schools, hospital, and simple business system.
The current government is still based on strong leadership, very depend on the top leader, the PM. For many years, our political leader in parliament couldn't/ don't want to monitor the government. we were lucky, because Dr. Mahathir was a smart&strong leader.

But most of the mainstream political leader in parliament, or our own citizens have lost the ability to think or to do the right thing due to prosperity.
our government is not bad, relative to our asian countries, somehow is better.

again, exports~~~economy prosperity== right way?


current party leaders, UMNO,MCA, PAS,MI.... are not bad guys, they really did a good job. But if the leaders want to keep the system this way, including both BN and DAP, they r making our people and our country
brain damage.

The BN would make the DAP looked bad or vice versa.
Finally, the nervous system or the monitoring system got damaged.
we've been living in propaganda(which ruling and non ruling parties used propaganda to hurt each other, and get their own supporter) for too long.

i won't be surprise if one day KLCC got engineering problem and fall, or electrical power plant fail, it is because nobody can monitor the government well, or nobody in the goverment can make a right change.
What i mean is, even within the same party, their own people can't voice
out properly.

In short, i don't support aggresive way to change the political system, all the current leaders won't allow it, even the DAP, because they want to
continue the game the old way. We need to change our citizens' mind, not the goverment(changing the government would need to pay a big price). if we succeed, i believe one day we would have a much better government.

economy problems is not too bad for us, at least it makes us think again.

[littlebigone]

I don;t think media is that biased. If they were, then people wouldn't be using them to get govt scholarships.

[masterof_none]

yes, we have malaysiakini.com. they tried to put them down. saying it is funded by George soros. still remember that?
how about newspapers?
i give you an example, the harakah. do you know that the govt ban the sale of harakah to none members? look at the way they limit the voice of people. look at the television. especially the rtm. look at their news. they said, the oppositions have nothing to say but bashing the govt. yet, they do the same thing.

Mr Diesel, this is not unique only to Malaysia, but it happen all around the world. It's normal for the govt to shut the people's mouth, the media's mouth, and everybody;s mouth to proceed with the govt. agenda.

I'm not saying it;s OK, but I'm saying that it's normal.

That's the paradox of free speech. Malaysians think that, in the name of free speech, they can say whatever they like about the govt.

I want to tell every Malaysians. BY FREE SPEECH, YOU STILL CAN"T SaY whatever you want.

Imagine you work for a company, say, Microsoft. You know lot of things about Microsoft, including their secrets. Suddenly , you think that Microsoft practiced unfair competition, and go ahead posted it in the internet . Do you think that Microsoft would let you still working there?.
Maybe you're out of job the next day.

This happen a lot in the US. If the US, with population hundred of millions can;t afford to have free speech easily practiced, what do you expect from Malaysia?.

Plus, if the govt. think that malaysiakini.com funded by George Soros,
So what,?.. Then shut it down. Why should we bother?
We should, distance ourselves from politics. Far, far away.

Because Malaysian politics has gone so bad. So bad that it's not worth discussing. I better do something else, such as , playing with computer or washing machine.

In Malaysia, ppl quickly believe in the rumors, especially those propagated by random people, etc. I used to be one of those fans of harakah.

Later, I think , they just talk,blame, criticize, with conflicting proof, confusing the Malays Muslims, manipulative, and the language aren't good also. Later , I told myself . "this is a piece of junk" .
I think Harakah, far from developing Islam and Muslims, it become the political machine to win the seats.They don;t develop Muslims.

We need opposition in Malaysia, yet, we can't afford ALL Malaysians become oppositions. We must think rationally. We must not easily get angry.
Angry people can't think rationally.

REMEMBER : POLITICIANS ARE THE SAME. they need to win the seat.
They got paid by being the opposition. We , the people, what do we get?

As Malaysians, first and foremost, you should be thankful to govt., especially the Malays. No matter what they do, they do because of you, to protect you, not anybody else. If you got confused, do more research before going to the street.

If you think you want to criticize, channel your opinion using proper channel, in the proper way, armed with good homework. We can;t afford to go to the street everyday.

[littlebigone]

well written master of none

[taufiq]

In Islamic history, our khalifa said that
"if I make any mistake, correct me"

they are willing to change and never fear of people saying that
they did wrong things.
This seldom happened in Malaysia where we fear
people saying we were doing something wrong.

We always hear leaders make comment harshly
on people who try to set things right
because they do not have the the feeling
that human will make mistake, and they cannot run away
from that fact.

It's okay to make mistake, but it becomes wrong
when we do not learn from that, and keep repeating the same mistake
over and over again.
we must learn to respect others opinion
and not assuming that only what we think/do is right

people will not have tendency to start a riot
unless when they feel that their voice is not loud enough to be heard
maybe we should respect them more

[chenchow]

Well said masterofnone and taufiq

[joseph173]

"As Malaysians, first and foremost, you should be thankful to govt., especially the Malays. No matter what they do, they do because of you, to protect you, not anybody else. If you got confused, do more research before going to the street."

>> i agree with the above statement, to be thankful. our government isn't that bad.
Here, in the free land, i just want to say, we need to move forward.

Even though our goverment isn't too bad, we know that supressing free of speech is wrong. Maybe the goverment think that they have the need to continue this act, still it is wrong. At the same time giving a total freedom of speech might poses potential danger.

Personally I think, we should make our goal clear, supressing free of speech is wrong, we should make a positive effort to change this situation gradually.
[/quote]

[Diesel]

Mr Diesel, this is not unique only to Malaysia, but it happen all around the world. It's normal for the govt to shut the people's mouth, the media's mouth, and everybody;s mouth to proceed with the govt. agenda.

I'm not saying it;s OK, but I'm saying that it's normal.

Imagine you work for a company, say, Microsoft. You know lot of things about Microsoft, including their secrets. Suddenly , you think that Microsoft practiced unfair competition, and go ahead posted it in the internet . Do you think that Microsoft would let you still working there?.
Maybe you're out of job the next day.

Because Malaysian politics has gone so bad. So bad that it's not worth discussing. I better do something else, such as , playing with computer or washing machine.

Later, I think , they just talk,blame, criticize, with conflicting proof, confusing the Malays Muslims, manipulative, and the language aren't good also. Later , I told myself . "this is a piece of junk" .
I think Harakah, far from developing Islam and Muslims, it become the political machine to win the seats.They don;t develop Muslims.

We need opposition in Malaysia, yet, we can't afford ALL Malaysians become oppositions. We must think rationally. We must not easily get angry.
Angry people can't think rationally.

REMEMBER : POLITICIANS ARE THE SAME. they need to win the seat.
They got paid by being the opposition. We , the people, what do we get?

As Malaysians, first and foremost, you should be thankful to govt., especially the Malays. No matter what they do, they do because of you, to protect you, not anybody else. If you got confused, do more research before going to the street.

If you think you want to criticize, channel your opinion using proper channel, in the proper way, armed with good homework. We can;t afford to go to the street everyday.


All right. So it's normal. So we should be like everybody else? I don't care about other countries. I care about Malaysia. If it's not right, it's not right, though it's normal.

Imigine I work in a company like microsoft and i know their secret. before that, how do i know their secret? do i have the privilage to know it? if i do, surely i have an agreement with them concerning those secret. should i break the agreement, they can sue me. if i'm out of the job the next day, that's my fault.

well, i just want to make it clear that i mentioned harakah just as an example. yeah, govt supporters might think that harakah is full of crap, while pas supporters might think newspapers like NST that's full of ****. which one is good? it depends on what you think, what you believe, and how you perceive things. Still, it's not right to ban either one of those newspaper. if the content is not good, let the people see it's not good. if people still want to believe it, let them. that's their freedom.

You said, we need opposition in Malaysia, but we can afford to have all Malaysians to become opposition. so in other words, you're saying that opposition are there to lose? whether all Malaysians become opposition or not depends on how good the governing party is, not the "fact" that Malaysia should not be full of oppositions.