Does Malaysia need millionaires?

For a nation of 28 million with about a third that are gainfully employed, have these glaring and hidden Malaysian millionaires and even billionaires made the life and times of the masses any better?

By J. D. Lovrenciear

The government of the day always crows 'Look at the number of multi-millionaires we have created'. On the surface this appears to sound fantastic.

How many ranked or rated individual millionaires and billionaires are there amongst Malaysians? How many more undisclosed millionaires are there anyway?

For a nation of 28 million with about a third that are gainfully employed, have these glaring and hidden Malaysian millionaires and even billionaires made the life and times of the masses any better? And what about all those who are in service and quietly raking in bagfuls of cash – at least going by the palatial houses they have renovated and the shopping list they discard all so frequently, do we need these filthy rich people?

Mind you some in the civil service even arrive in a Rolls Royce to cast their vote in a state election.

Would they all add to the wealth of a nation making the standard of living for the man in the street any better? Yes, some may argue that these millionaires set up huge corporations and provide employment for thousands.

But the thousands are living off from loan sharks, credit cards, tight-fisted frugal expenditures and hardly any gala holidays don’t you know? Not only that, their nightmare is also about getting sacked if they towed the wrong line.

The Malaysian economic agenda is unable to cushion the Ahmad, Ah Beng and Muthu and their ordinary families against any economic or financial tide that washes upon our shores. In the wake of such challenges, the government will rescue the billionaires first followed by the millionaires next. The poor employee or self-employed citizen will have to fend for himself, tighten his belt and if need be walk through the corridors of being a bankrupt.

How many families do we know in our neighborhood or amongst relatives and friends who are aching, breaking their backs and pockets to expand their shrinking pay packets? Is this an exaggeration or a reality?

Why couldn’t we have made sure that co-operatives and ex-servicemen’s associations and other such similar agentries that are in effect owned by the ordinary rakyat be the millionaire and billionaire organizations of Malaysia? That way we could have ensured that the millions and even billions of profits would have remained for the working rakyat. The rakyat would be able to, amongst other things, send their children to school and higher education of their choice without having to beg for handouts or even fight for such assistance.

The nation as a population would be richer and leading a better standard of living.

Indeed the government must remember that it is not a servant unto the rich, famous (infamous rather), the singular multi-millionaires. On the contrary the government’s duty is to serve the citizens, King and nation. With all the multi-billion (rather trillion) Ringgit that this nation has earned through its oil, tin, rubber, oil palm, as well as trading in rice imports, the APs, IPPs, Concessions, super-structures and multi-billion Ringgit developments and what have you, all Malaysians would be walking tall without debt.

Instead, the Great Bapa Moden Malaysia sold us the empty dream of ‘privatization’ that not only made cronies into mega-rich people but also in the process killed off the household entities like the Water Works Department, the Telecoms, the Tenaga Nasional and others that were well known for their fairly good performance. But we were led to believe that that these agencies are poor performers and that privatization will bring the rakyat greater benefits.

It did not. But unfortunately, we are straddled with economic and financial pains while the multi-millionaires float enormous profits. In between they make some handouts under the guise of donations and corporate social responsibility.

Does this all make sense? Or is our BN formula flawless? Let the rakyat decide.