RPK : Dear Tony

I suppose, therefore, our struggle should not be about ourselves. Our days are numbered anyway and we shall, in a decade or so, be buried in the ground. But 20 or 30 years from now when we are no longer around our children and grandchildren will benefit. That should be our aim.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Thank you so much for your Hari Raya greeting although I don’t really celebrate Hari Raya as such since two years ago. I suppose it’s the thought that counts and I am touched that you remembered what used to be an important day for me but no longer is.

If you can remember, three Hari Rayas ago I was detained under Malaysia’s draconian Internal Security Act and had to spend both my birthday as well as Hari Raya behind the walls of the Kamunting detention camp. That was when I decided if Muslims can be so cruel as to separate a man from his family on Hari Raya day then this so-called auspicious Muslim celebration is not worth celebrating after all.

So, in that sense, I have shunned Hari Raya and no longer care about it. I suppose this makes me just like Ebenezer Scrooge, the character in Charles Dickens’ epic story of 1843, A Christmas Carol. I expect one day the ‘three ghosts’ will visit me, just like in A Christmas Carol, to make me change my mind about Hari Raya (the ghost of Hari Raya past, the ghost of Hari Raya present, and the ghost of Hari Raya yet to come) and I would probably utter, as did Ebenezer Scrooge, "Bah, humbug!"

Anyway, what I really wanted to write to you about is your comment that you follow Malaysia Todayalmost daily and that your reason for doing so is because you will soon be retiring and you are thinking about making Malaysia your retirement home.

I take it you have heard of the ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ programme? Actually more than ten million Malaysians are on this programme, so to speak. Basically, the Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ are regarded as pendatang or immigrants even though almost all of them were born in Malaysia.

Umno -- and in Malaysia Umno is translated to mean ‘the government’ -- regard non-Malays as second-class citizens while their ‘first’ country is China, India or wherever their ancestors came from, and Malaysia, according to Umno, is their ‘adopted’ country.

This sort of makes Malaysia ‘my second home’ for these ‘pendatang’.

That is why these non-Malays are continuously reminded to not question Malay rights and privileges and if they do then they are told to ‘go back’ to their country. Even when making a police report they are asked to speak Malay and if they are not proficient in Malay the police officer would tell them to go back to their own country.

This does not mean, however, that you must first learn to speak Malay if you are really serious about making Malaysia your retirement home, Tony. Malays tolerate ‘white skins’ not being able to speak Malay. They only get upset if Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ can’t speak Malay well. This does not apply to ‘white skins’ or Mat Sallehs, as the Malays would call you Caucasians.

In fact, even if you are able to speak just a few words of Malay -- like apa khabar, terima kasih, selamat datang, selamat jalan, etc. -- that would be enough. Malays get very tickled when Mat Sallehs utter a couple of Malay words and you will find a friend in most Malays where Chinese, Indians and ‘others’ would find only antagonism.

Yes, I know, as you said, you find it most depressing when you read Malaysia Today. You are correct when you say that Malaysia Today churns out only bad news and that there appears to be no good news featured in Malaysia Today.

Malaysia Today is not a bad news portal, as such. It is not that we focus only on bad news while we ‘hide’ the good news. I know that would make Malaysia Today appear biased and only interested in highlighting the bad things the government does while we ignore the good things.

You see; I am of the opinion that it is the government’s job to do good things. I mean, even in Britain the people will not praise the government or send the government leaders, or the politicians, garlands or bouquets if they do good things. The British taxpayer expects the government and the leaders to do good things. That is why they were voted into office and why they are being paid a lot of money. But they do one bad thing and the people will scream blue murder.

So, in that same spirit, Malaysia Today need not mention the good things the government does, even if we are able to find any good things the government does -- which would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. They are being paid a lot of money to do good things so why should Malaysia Today talk about what is their job anyway? Is it when they do bad things – and there are certainly a lot of that indeed -- that we talk about them.

You said you find it puzzling that Malaysia Today is able to churn out exposes of scandal after scandal on an almost daily basis. Surely, you said, things can’t be really that bad in Malaysia. Surely, you said, there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. But the problem is most likely that light is a fast train coming in your direction. So the light is not really a light of hope but the light of impending doom.

I am not discouraging you from making Malaysia your retirement home. And, as you said, you might seriously consider retiring in Malaysia if there is a change in government and Pakatan Rakyat gets to form the new federal government.

That is certainly a good plan. The problem here would be, as you yourself said, can Pakatan Rakyat ever get into power seeing that the opposition coalition is plagued with internal problems -- both interparty and intraparty? That, I suppose, would be the key to the whole thing and I commend you on being very observant and in tune with Malaysian politics.

I would agree with you that Barisan Nasional is very weak and all it needs is for the opposition to not make any mistakes for it to get into power. And I would also agree with you that the opposition has a good chance of forming the next government if it just did not shoot itself in the foot so many times. However, as you said, if the opposition fails to win the next general election it will not be because the ruling party is strong but because the opposition allowed it win by default.

And this is also my bone of contention. Malaysia is poised for change. The voters are ready to vote for change. But the opposition is kicking balls into its own goal. And that is how the ruling party is going to win the next general election -- the opposition is going to shoot balls into its own goal.

Actually, Tony, many Malaysians are thinking what you are thinking. Some say one million Malaysians are living and working overseas. Government estimates put it at 750,000. Nevertheless, the figure is roughly 10% of Malaysia’s work force. And they too, like you, will consider going back to Malaysia not only if there is a change of government but also a change of policy as well.

You must note that most of these Malaysians, like you, are professionals. They own property overseas and have well-paying jobs and promising careers that they could never have back home in Malaysia. Call them ‘economic refugees’ if you wish. They are so disgusted with what is happening in Malaysia and have given up hope that they have no plans to return to Malaysia, at least until retirement.

Can you imagine the cost to the nation? This is not only a serious brain drain but also these people are earning good money and are paying taxes to foreign governments -- not to mention they are investing and buying property in other countries as well. And if you include the cost of their education, which was paid by the Malaysian government but is now benefiting other countries, the cost to the Malaysian taxpayer is most colossal indeed.

This fact appears to have escaped the Malaysian government. Three million or so foreigners work in Malaysia and they send the money they earn home to their ‘mother’ country. So billions of ringgit is leaving the country every month. Then another one million Malaysians earn money overseas in high-paying jobs but do not send the money home to Malaysia. They prefer leaving their money in their host country.

Tony, you do not need to be an economist or mathematician to figure out the amount of money involved here. It is huge and this has been going on for decades. But you will not feel the affect immediately. It is a long-term thing. After 10 or 20 years you will feel the damage that is being done -- and that 10 or 20 years is about now because that is how long this has been going on. So it is only now that we are feeling the affect of what has been going on since the 1980s and 1990s.

Malaysia is fortunate in that it has oil. But while other countries invest their oil money in diversification activities so that once the oil runs out they will have alternative sources of revenue, Malaysia squanders its oil money. That means once Malaysia runs out of oil there would be no alternative sources of income.

Today, Malaysia is not yet suffering the consequences. But in time it would, when the oil runs out. And by then it would be too late. By then the goose that lays the golden egg would have died and we would have no eggs left because we had wasted them all thinking that there would never come a day when we no longer have oil and would need to survive on our reinvested oil money.

Is it too late for Malaysia? I would dare venture that it is not too late yet. No doubt much have been flushed down the toilet and there is no way we can turn back the clock. But what is yet to come can still be put to good use if just the government knows what should be done.

And herein lies the problem. The government has not woken up to the reality that nothing is forever. One day we shall no longer have any oil. And that day is not that long away. But Malaysia is spending and wasting its money as if tomorrow will never come. The plundering of the nation’s wealth is not just continuing but has in fact been accelerated. My worry is that even if we do see a change in government there may be hardly much left for the new government to work with.

Is this why they are stepping up the plundering? Do they know that Malaysia will one day in the near future go broke and that the current government will be kicked out? And is this why they are plundering as much as they can, while they still can, so that when the inevitable happens then the new government can take over the country but there will be nothing left in the coffers?

I really don’t know and I just hope that this is not the case because if it is then the one million Malaysians living and working overseas will not only abandon their plan of eventually returning home to Malaysia but the one million may spiral to two in time to come. And Mat Sallehs like you who plan to retire in Malaysia may instead choose another country like Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines.

Anyway, enough of this ‘bad news’. Maybe what will happen in Malaysia if the present state of affairs continues is not such a bad thing after all. As I have always told you, a revolution can only start on an empty stomach. So maybe we need to see the collapse of Malaysia’s economy followed by much misery and distress to make Malaysians wake up from their slumber and vote for change.

I just hope that they wake up before the actual collapse and while there is still time to salvage the country. If they take action only after doomsday is upon us then it would be like trying to lock the stable after the horse has bolted. By then it would be futile.

But don’t let this discourage you from your plan of making Malaysia your retirement home. As the Indonesians say: dalam kesempitan ada kesempatan. This can be translated to mean that there is opportunity in a crisis. The only thing is you should stay away until after the crisis and then go in for easy pickings.

I can still remember what Siew Nim Chee, the one-time economic adviser to Genting, once told me about the 13 May 1969 race riots. Chinese were dumping their assets and investments at fire-sale prices so that they could leave the country, said Nim Chee, and he bought them up very cheaply.

I asked him why he bought up everything when others were selling and he replied that he had been through WWII, which was worse than May 13, and the country bounced back after that. “So what is May 13 compared to WWII?” he said.

So, going by Nim Chee’s ‘philosophy’, the country may go broke and even go through a period of turmoil and civil commotion, but one day it will bounce back. The only thing is you and I may no longer be alive by then but at least our children and grandchildren will be able to see better days again.

I suppose, therefore, our struggle should not be about ourselves. Our days are numbered anyway and we shall, in a decade or so, be buried in the ground. But 20 or 30 years from now when we are no longer around our children and grandchildren will benefit. That should be our aim.

Anyway, Tony, I am rambling, so allow me to stop here and thank you once again for remembering me on this day called Hari Raya. Hari means day and Raya means celebration or festival. Honestly, I do not see what there is to celebrate with the country going to the dogs. Maybe it is just as well I no longer celebrateHari Raya. It is like having a party during someone’s funeral. Would that not be in bad taste?

Please send my love to everyone at home and I pray we shall meet again one day soon.

Cheers mate.

Pete