Mahathir's outburst against the Malays is a distraction.
By Tong Ka Chua
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s characterisation of Malays as lazy, lacking in integrity and unashamed of failure is a distraction, not a sincere assessment.
It is easy to blame the people for the government’s failure. Mahathir’s outburst is really an indictment on the decades of leadership, policy, and management failure inflicted on this country. It’s absurd to say that the people who form the majority in this country have become lazy and dishonest due to some genetic, cultural or religious fault. It must be due to some systemic failure.
It is easy to accuse the people of laziness when our education system has become a complete failure. When our people do not possess the skills and knowledge to compete, it is so convenient to just call them lazy. When education has failed to equip our people with the mental fortitude to face the challenges of modern living, why not just castigate them for wanting to be mat rempit?
It is easy to accuse the people of dishonesty when an economic system perpetrated and perpetuated by the elite has become so corrupted and unfair. We catch people stealing some money from Mahathir’s bakery or a packet of milk powder from the supermarket, but turn a blind eye to the billion-ringgit pilferage, corruption and wastage at high places.
When the system has become highly exploitative and unfair, I think honesty would be a rare commodity. When opulent living exists side by side with abject poverty, we can’t expect people to be so honest.
Given the resources and wealth of this country, how much have we done that have a direct favourable impact on the livelihood of the people? We are told the government has provided billions of ringgit in subsidies, but the cost of living has continued to rise relentlessly. We are told the government has spent a lot on development and infrastructure, and yet almost all public utilities, transportation, amenities and even tertiary education are privatised.
How can you expect the people to feel ashamed of their failure when they have no pride left? They probably have tried many things just to survive. Feeling ashamed would be the last thing on their mind.
Instead of blaming the people, have we looked at the competence, honesty and integrity of our leaders in managing the resources and wealth of this country? Have we looked at how successful we have been in creating higher value-added jobs for the people? Have we looked at how business opportunities are being cascaded down to the ordinary folk?
If so many are excluded from the mainstream development, what pride are we talking about?
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