The Rise And Fall Of Malacca

In 2003 just shortly after Dr Mahathir had retired I met a long time business associate who runs a department store chain that is listed on the KLSE.  He said, 'This is the end of the good times for Malaysia. We had a good leader and prosperity for 22 years. Now we are looking at an uncertain future'.

I thought he was being overly pessimistic. Maybe at that time I was being too optimistic. Now 10 years later, what my fried observed has turned out to be quite true. And along the way I also found it necessary to write my book 'Malaysia And The Club of Doom - The Collapse of the Islamic Countries'. I wrote that book in 2006.  

An entire nation can go from boom to bust or from bust to boom just because of one man - the leader. Another disaster has also struck our country.

On 5th May 2013 the Chief Minister of Malacca lost in the general elections. As a result he is now out of office. Ali Rustam has been very closely identified with the rise of Malacca for the past 14 years.  After his exit, Malacca now has a new Chief Minister by the name of Idris Haron.

In 14 years Ali Rustam has put Malacca on the world map. In 2010 Malacca declared itself an OECD compliant state - Malacca has achieved Wawasan 2020 ten years ahead of time. You have to live in Malacca and do business in Malacca to know that this part of the country is diferent from the rest of Malaysia.

Malacca is super clean. One reason (among others) is that the trash collection teams in Malacca rebranded themselves from a long time ago. They did not 'kutip sampah'. Instead they 'mencari sampah'. A small twist of words but with huge implications. Meaning their street cleaning crews are mentally prepped to go out on 'search and destroy' missions to 'mencari sampah'. 

A friend who runs a succesful hotel in Malacca said that all necessary licenses and approvals to open his hotel were obtained in 14 days. This is unheard of - even in Singapore, Tokyo or London. 

All this efficiency translates into money and economic growth. That is why Malacca is a mecca for Singaporeans and other Malaysians on weekends. If you have not been to Malacca please do drive down.  Well - you better do it fast because things are changing in Malacca.

After Ali Rustam was deposed he has been replaced by Idris Haron. Things have not been 100% right in Malacca since Idris Haron became Chief Minister.  I recall among the first things he said after becoming Chief Minister was  that the State would spend money to renovate a mosque.  Ok no big deal. But the Chief Minister was making his priorities known. 

I thought he would say great things like Malacca will move forward to compete with the best cities around the world in Asia, Europe or America in terms of quality of life, standard of living for the people, environment,  tourism, business and industry. 

Instead when he said the State would channel funds for a mosque - well ok lah. No big deal. But since then Idris Haron has been saying (and doing) other things that are not exactly business friendly or oriented to help the economy. 

This morning's paper carried a shocker from Malacca.

Jonker Street must never be shut down, say traders

• MALACCA: About 100 traders staged a walkabout in Jonker Street to protest the state government’s decision to shut down the famous weekend Jonker Walk.
• group gathered at about 9pm on Sunday at a stage near the area.
• They started chanting “Jonker Walk to stay forever” and “No shutting down of Jonker Walk” 

Loud and clear: The traders carrying placards in the protest at a stage in Jonker Street.

• protest was to bring to the state government’s attention the predicament they faced
• adding “Jonker Street must not simply be shut down”.
• “Many traders and residents have benefited economically since the street was turned into a pedestrian mall 13 years ago.”
• It had been announced recently that the area would be opened to traffic every day instead of being closed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
• Traders have been prohibited from conducting any business on the road.
• It isn’t just Jonker Walk that is affected. Other cross-streets in the area would also have to oblige to the directive.

First of all to all the people in Malacca, especially the Chinese voters, who voted AGAINST Dato Sri Ali Rustam in the recent elections, SERVES YOU RIGHT. PADAN MUKA.

For 14 years this man had been making you rich - super rich in Malacca. His plan was to build a deep water jetty to bring in Cruise Liners to Malacca. That will make Malacca even more wealthy. For 14 years Malacca has been on the rise. Then what do you do? You go and vote him out of office.  You killed the goose that laid your golden egg.  How stupid can you get? 

If Ali Rustam had won, he would most certainly have been appointed to the Cabinet as a Federal Minister. He would still have had his eye on Malacca. And in the coming UMNO election he would rise even higher in the party. All this will bode well for Malacca and the country.

Now you have been blessed with a new Chief Minister Idris Haron who wants to close down the 'Jonker Walk' - he wants to open it up for traffic again - after 14 years.  It already seems like the lights are dimming in Malacca.

Maybe Idris Haron will slowly introduce 'semi hudud laws' in Malacca. Wait and see. If he does do that,  then it serves you right. Padan muka.