From riches to rags, from pandai to bodoh

From Malaysiakini:

Our performance facts the PM has forgotten

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MP SPEAKS Has Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak forgotten that Malaysia was second in Asia, after Japan, in prosperity and income when we achieved independence in 1957?

That we have been overtaken by Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and even South Korea, all of which became high-income countries 20 to 28 years ago?

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Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea, and of course Japan are also at the top of world rankings on those nations' students in science and maths performance.

Being born in 1953, PM Najib might have forgotten our 1957 prosperity but really, which of our PMs was the one who brought us down to our lamentable position vis-a-vis prosperity and income in Asia through profligate wastage, ironically and especially when we came into oil discovery and possession.

I have always believe our oil has been a curse rather than a blessing because it gave us or rather our national leaders an arrogant sense of wealth, temporary and fickle as that wealth will be, and thus an unbridled excuse to fling money around boastfully, wastefully and stupidly like a teflonized rich man's son, even unto 'satisfying' personal chips on shoulders.

"Our" oil has also been a curse for a second reason, when its so-called national revenue has been unaccountable. Perhaps it's not "our" oil after all but those of a very private circle.

And again, which PM destroyed our educational standards?