I am sorry that I cannot buy all this talk about calling for a special session of Parliament to discuss problems that were already discussed 30 years ago and which were not addressed when we said they should be addressed. Yes, maybe we have a problem. Maybe the economy and Malaysia’s education system sucks big time. But do not try to shift the blame to others and offer yourself as the solution when you were actually the problem.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The opposition coalition will send a letter to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak urging the latter to convene a special parliamentary sitting come January.
(FMT) – A special parliamentary sitting is needed to address the country’s worrying economic and education system, said Pakatan Rakyat.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in a press conference said a letter will be sent to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak by Pakatan Rakyat for the sitting to be held in January.
“A special parliamentary sitting is needed to debate the country’s worsening economy and the education system,” he said, at Pakatan’s launch of the “Understand GST, Reject GST” campaign last night.
Anwar then cited the 2012 World Bank report on the country’s finance, where it was found that the government has sold the country’s assets.
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The opposition wants a special sitting of Parliament to be held to discuss the matter of Malaysia’s worrying economic and education policies. I take it when they ask for an emergency session of Parliament to be held they mean that the problem regarding the economy and education are emergencies.
I can understand calling for a special sitting of Parliament when an emergency arises such as Indonesia declaring war on Malaysia, like what happened about 50 years ago. But to ask for an emergency session of Parliament to be held regarding something that has been ongoing for 50 years sounds a bit weird. After 50 years in the rut, have we all just woken up and realised that we are in an emergency situation?
For years since the 1970s we have been complaining about Malaysia’s economic and education policies. But did the government listen when we raised these matters? We held forums and conventions and invited government leaders to attend these events so that we can discuss this matter and explore how we can work with the government to improve the situation. But whatever we had to say or suggest was not acted upon.
Take one issue as an example, the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK). MCKK used to be an English school for Malay boys. Hence, as the critics would often enough say: MCKK was a breeding ground for ‘brown’ Englishmen. In fact, I once wrote that MCKK turned kampung boys into cricket-playing, whiskey-drinking brown Englishmen.
But at that time MCKK came under the Rulers, not the Education Department. Hence MCKK focused on turning Malay boys into ‘modern’ Malays who still held to their old customs, traditions and religious values (maybe with some single malt thrown in).
Then they decided that MCKK is not Islamic enough and they transferred the power over MCKK to the Education Department at district level.
Today, we complain that the current Malays are not the same as the Malays of the Merdeka period. The Malays of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s were gentlemen whom the non-Malays had great respect for. Today, the non-Malays do not have high regards for the Malays like they used to 50 years ago.
Many (the non-Malays especially) say that this is all the fault of the government’s education policy. The education system back during WWII and the Merdeka period bred great Malays. The education system today breeds intolerant and narrow-minded Malays who try to impose their Islamic values on everyone, the non-Muslims included.
Okay, say I agree with this argument. Let’s say you are right. But then who were one of these people who screwed up Malaysia’s education system? Yes, that same person who today wants a special sitting of Parliament to be called to debate Malaysia’s rotting education system.
The only problem is, when Anwar Ibrahim was the Education Minister, we were very concerned about this matter (in particular regarding schools like MCKK that were supposed to modernise the Malays) and brought this to his attention. But our concerns were not addressed and we were ignored.
Today you want to call for an emergency session of Parliament to debate an issue that we had raised a long time ago and which you were part of the problem?
Even the Chinese educationists are still sore with Anwar regarding the problems faced by the Chinese schools and which they blame Anwar for. Nevertheless, they still support Anwar mainly because he is the Opposition Leader who is a friend of DAP. If not the Chinese educationists would tell Anwar to go screw himself.
We still talk about the 1987 Operasi Lalang until today. Operasi Lalang was the result of the protest by the Chinese who were opposed to Anwar’s education policies (such as turning Bahasa Malaysia into Bahasa Melayu, turning all schools into ‘Malay’ schools, appointing non-Mandarin-speaking headmasters for Chinese schools, etc.).
No doubt, DAP blames Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for Operasi Lalang. But why does DAP not also mention that in the first place the whole crisis started because the Chinese were not happy with Anwar regarding his education policies?
And we also tried to address the weaknesses regarding Malaysia’s economic policies. When Anwar was the Finance Minister we held forums and conventions to discuss the problem, which in time would become a disaster if not addressed. Some of those problems were regarding the New Economic Policy (NEP), the government-linked companies (GLCs) such as the SEDC companies, unfair competition from the GLCs, manipulation of government contracts, monopolies, and so on.
We from the business community (Malays, Chinese and Indians) realised that the NEP could not go on forever and would have to end one day. The NEP cannot be a perpetual policy. After all, the non-Malays had so graciously agreed that they would ‘tolerate’ this ‘preferential treatment’ policy for 20 years to allow the Malays to ‘catch up’, after which it would end.
Well, 20 years is not a long time against the backdrop of the history of the world. So how do we make sure that we meet the objectives of the NEP so that this policy can end as scheduled without falling short of its targets?
We ranted and raved and threatened Umno that if this problem was not solved then they cannot blame us if we decide to abandon Umno and cross over to the opposition.
And who was the man that we ranted and raved at and threatened?
Why Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his Deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, of course. However, much to our disappointment, while Dr Mahathir agreed that we have a problem (after all he did write the book ‘The Malay Dilemma’) we could not get Anwar to listen. Instead, Anwar retorted: what do you expect from businessmen? Their nawaitu (intention or motive) is contracts.
We felt very slighted by this comment. We were not meeting Anwar to lobby for contracts. We wanted to discuss what we considered national issues. We even received word from Anwar’s office that he had instructed his staff to block us from making appointments to meet him. In short, we were persona non grata and not welcome in his office.
At one convention I argued with Sanusi Junid regarding a 20-point Memorandum that we wanted to hand to the government. Sanusi told me that the government would summarise the discussions of this convention and come out with a policy. I replied that we insist that our Memorandum be accepted and be part of that policy. Sanusi finally agreed.
Why did we argue this matter with Sanusi (the Agriculture Minister) and not with Anwar (the Finance Minister)? Well, simple, because Anwar was absent from that session. He was resting at home due to his neck injury (he had fallen from his horse and had hurt his neck).
While we were trying to discuss with the government the problems being faced by the country and what to do about it, Anwar was horsing around like a member of the British Royal Family.
I am sorry that I cannot buy all this talk about calling for a special session of Parliament to discuss problems that were already discussed 30 years ago and which were not addressed when we said they should be addressed. Yes, maybe we have a problem. Maybe the economy and Malaysia’s education system sucks big time. But do not try to shift the blame to others and offer yourself as the solution when you were actually the problem.
Sigh…I am just happy that after 30 years I can finally say what I had wanted to say for a long time now. This is certainly going to be a Merry Christmas as far as I am concerned. Being able to say ‘I told you so’ is the best Christmas present ever.
Anyway, today, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced that next year’s subsidies would probably touch a figure of RM42 billion. What does the opposition have to say about that? Is not RM42 billion a lot of money? Should not subsidies be abolished since the taxpayers are paying for this?
Well, if the government does not pay that RM42 billion then the rakyat would have to pay through higher prices. So are we still unhappy about subsidies and want subsidies to be abolished? It has to be one or the other. It cannot be both. So be very careful before you oppose for the sake of opposing because you may not like what you wish for.
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