Monday 21 June 2010

A noteworthy post - Eyes Wide Shut by Hantulaut

My cybersifu, blogger Hantu Laut(HL) wrote a good critique for the powers that be, a few days back, entitled Eyes Wide Shut.

Some excerpts:


I have not cared to comment on the NEM (New Economic Model) since it was first announced as I feel it would be a waste of time as I do not have much faith that the government going to implement it as it is.

As it is they say "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Najib may have the best of intentions but he would not be able to deliver what he promised. The pressure from inside UMNO would be too high and too risky for him to discontinue the traditional politics of patronage.

Many bloggers have put forward their views on the subject including our prolix and prolific blogger SakMongkol47 who has written a number of articles on the subject.One that draws my attention is his "Conspiracy of the rich"

Malaysian politics is all about money.Without money the BN would have done even worse in the March 2008 General Elections.What SakMongkol47 wrote of the big projects becoming preserve of the big guns is not far from the truth.I can't see any semblance of serious economic reforms in the 10 MP. Najib will be under pressure to keep rewarding the warlords in UMNO and other component parties.The money train, pardon me, the gravy train must continue to run along the same track.....


Read the rest here.

I think this is a very concerned post by a BN centric blogger who will call a spade a spade. I hope PM Najib find the time to read all these critiques of his BN Government especially those from among BN supporters who cares from their heart.

PM Najib has had a blessed poltical life coming back from the UK after his father Tun Razak died becoming youngest Menteri Besar of Pahang at 29 and has not looked back ever since until now where he is the Prime Minister of Malaysia. For all intent and purposes he was trained for the PM job but he really have to stop being too compromising in his approach to things, like HL, I agree that tough unpopular decisions necessary for the people and country to progress to developed nation status will have to be made. PM Najib should also listen less to the consultants but listen more to locals who have their ear firmly to the ground. PM Najib should not be too happy with the 72% popular rating, I thinks its just a drug.

I do not want to comment much on the NEM, besides not being an economist, I rather prefer to see what PM Najib's next moves will be in responding to the critiques from NGOs like Perkasa and others. I for one think that in its inception Najib's NEAC led by Amirsyam(here is Dato' Kadir Jasin comment on the NEAC Chairman) is not inclusive enough, it should have involved a whole spectrum of other experts including from the local acdemicia and also the opposition DAP and PAS who have knowledgeable economists in their midst as well, Tony Pua(DAP) and and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad(PAS) and their team. It should above all be chaired by a experienced Malaysian with economics background, perhaps Ramon Navaratnam or even Ku Li or co-chaired by both. Well that is water under the bridge now and as it is the NEM is floating in mid air not here not there.

The difficulty with our Malaysia is that our mutiracial and multi-religious composition with very unbalanced wealth distribution depended too much on compromises for a decision to be accepted by all. For example the issue of subsidies, the Government had to backtrack and flip flop themselves to contain public dissatisfaction. Kita ini terlalu sangat dimanjakan oleh Gomen sebab nak panching undi kita selama berdekad-dekad, now we are like a small child throwing tantrums if things are taken away from us or we do not get what we want.

Same goes with the education system the one force that can unite us as a people moving towards developed nation status have to be compromised and the PPSMI were sacrificed on the altars of political expediency. We have not begun to talk about the "Satu Sekolah untuk Semua" idea.

I think we have a long way to go yet before we can be like Australia. Just a reminder from Albert Eistein maybe applicable to the powers that be ...."We cannot solve a problem using the same thinking that created the problem in the first place"


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