What have we done to suffer being a Malaysian? It does not matter if you are Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, Orang Asli or Penan, the reality is all of us are suffering from a political dilemma.
We are burdened with rising cost of living and quality of life is deteriorating. The new policies implemented will dig further into our pockets but we are helpless. We have become pawns in the political chess played by our leaders. We placed trust on leaders hoping for a change. We voted, campaigned, blogged, demonstrated, donated and sacrificed so much for our beloved nation.
It does not matter if you are pro-government or anti-government. The reality is that "people power" has been stripped from us. The democractic system is merely an illusion. We have been hoodwinked to believe that we belong in a democratic society and our opinion matters. The tragic truth is we are economic slave of the modern age. We have been systematically placed to serve the political masters and business corporations.
We are such fools to believe that we have the power to change the political landscape. Our primary role in this neo-feudalism is to work for the sustainability of the system and "donate" our income in name of tax for the benefit of corporations and politicians. The taxation system is part of neo-feudalism's ploy to keep the upper class richer.
A prime example of neo-feudalism is America. The politicians serve the corporation’s interest instead of people. Today, the American Dream is merely an illusion and the average American suffers. The champion of world democracy has lost the battle of philosophy and ideology. Barrack Obama could not do much to restore the rotten democratic system.
The American "cancer" is spreading all over the world. Soon we people of Malaysia will suffer the same fate as the Americans. Poor governance and ineffective policies would contribute towards our downfall. The dynamics in our political system is inconsistent. The policy makers need to understand that in order for business corporations to sustain, the middle class segment of the society must continue to grow. The short term thinking for political gain allowing business to capitalise on the policies will lead to disaster in future.
The current taxation system will push the working class into poverty. The middle class squeeze will contribute towards budget deficit, increase in unemployment rate, slower job creation and deterioration of overall economic condition. In years to come, the 1%-2% population of upper class will face the wrath from the middle and working class for their failure to grow and maintain the economy.
The chaos caused by the politicians is affecting us. The classic clashes of ego between the politicians are not healthy for the people. We are burdened with taxes, poor governance, weak leadership and ineffective political system. As common people, we have played our role for Malaysia. In return, the elected leaders are making a fool of us. The tragic reality is that without power and money there is nothing much that we could do.
When the world is progressing at an accelerated rate, we are pushed further back by our leaders. If we look back in history, weak leadership has always been a major catalyst for a failure of a nation. Louis XVI of France is a classic example of weak leadership. His indecisiveness and conservatism led to the French Revolution. The people revolted against the French king because of the weak leadership. They felt betrayed by the failure of Louis XVI to lead the people. One incident, known as "Affair of the Diamond Necklace", tarnished the reputation of the monarchy. Queen Marie Antoinettewas dubbed “Madam Deficit” and the public saw her as the person who singlehandedly ruined the financial institution of France.
In reality, the reason for the financial crisis was because of expensive wars and the aristocrats' refusal to pay higher taxes to cover the government cost. Despite having good intention serving the people, Louis XVI's popular decisions failed miserably and worsened the condition of French people.
We are in similar dilemma. The public are growing dissatisfied day by day. We need reforms in government policies that will benefit us, not burden us. We are aware that taxation is important for the economy. The system should be implemented concurrently by reducing government expenditure. The economic policies should sustain and grow the middle class segment of the populace.
The policy makers should consider the economic reforms policies. It will be meaningless to use taxation as a mean to recover budget deficit. The economist has developed several economic models that have proven to be successful in the past. The Nordic model has proven its effectiveness in the context of real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, freedom from corruption and generosity. We are an oil and gas export-based economy and are similar to Norway. The standard of living in Norway is the highest in the world. The working class in Norway are paid well and one of the highest in the world.
The leaders should commence an extensive study on a "hybrid" Nordic model and implement it to improve the economy and living standard of Malaysians. The politicians should spend more time thinking and talking on taking Malaysia to the next level. It will be tragic if the average Malaysian is pushed into poverty because of weak leadership.
Fifty years from now, a Wikipedia page entry may read, “...due to the poor governance, corrupt system, weak leadership, higher taxation and inefficient government policies, Malaysia went through a major political and economic crisis in 2010 to...”. If the elected leaders want to be remembered for their lack of quality, they can continue with their policies.
* Visnu Natesan reads The Malaysian Insider.
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