Not a failed state, but certainly not doing well

 

There’s been a lot of debate recently on this topic of a failed state. Of course, things have got political, too, like any good Malaysian debate. Why should a good debate go to waste?

Are we a failed state then? Are we in the ranks of Haiti or Lebanon or some African or South American countries which often hog the headlines for the wrong reasons?

Lots have been written about what defines a failed state. Most focus on the criterion that a failed state is a nation that has become ungovernable, with the mobs in the streets looting the nation as enthusiastically, if less elegantly, as its own leaders have done.

Are we such a nation? Of course not. Apart from political party general assemblies, the thieves are generally few and far between. While some parts of the nation can be a pretty hairy place to find yourself in (including said general assemblies), most of Malaysia is pretty safe, boring even.

Is there a hidden agenda behind the recent Bloomberg article? Political motives meant to destabilize the country so the Jews, Orientalists, or Western Capitalists will come in and colonise us again?

You’d never know. Being hidden, it’s quite difficult to see, but as we are so good at seeing hidden things, we see them everywhere.

To me, it’s just the opinion of one journalist, but man, does it strike a chord in Malaysia! The anger and support it received were dialled up to 11. You’re either for it or against it – there’s no common ground.

Then a minister stepped in with rebuttals. And if it wasn’t political to start off with, it’s definitely political now!

Much of the debate seems to focus on how Malaysia doesn’t meet the strict definition of a failed state. It’s almost like saying we may not have passed with a distinction or even a credit, but we didn’t get an F!

But implicitly, it’s also saying “don’t mark us on a curve”. Having a passing mark that can go up or down when compared to others…that sucks. We don’t want to hear how much the ringgit is worth against the Singapore dollar now, or even the Thai baht. Or how we used to be a top Asian footballing nation.

Some pull out clever sophistry explaining why so many of us easily fall for such titillating “hidden agenda” attacks, but ironically the explanations seem to emanate from the warm cosy mental holes we’ve dug for ourselves.

The insecurity and fears that drive our politics are palpable. The Malays have a great saying ‘buka pekung di dada’ – when you take off your fancy clothes you reveal the festering sores on your chest. So let’s not take the clothes off.

No, I don’t think we are a failed state. We’d know if we are one and nobody would debate it any more, except perhaps for the baboons who brought us there.

But we’re this: an increasingly dysfunctional state, flailing around wildly in a more dangerous world where the enemies could be invisible viruses that can bring nations to their knees while the usual rivals, economic or geopolitical, pile on the misery.

When I lived and worked in Indonesia about 10 years ago, I noticed some similarities but also some differences between our two nations.

Clearly Indonesia then, and even now, was a messier place, with a lot of corruption and social and political issues pushing it this way and that.

But I felt optimism among the people, the feeling that things will get better and tomorrow will be a brighter day. The future that beckoned then looked fresh and inviting and much better than the present.

Malaysia presents a different picture. Underneath it, those of us who have to earn our living the hard way without the steady sinecure and guarantees of a government job or a government-linked job or government-subsidised jobs or government contracts, are in deep funk.

While we are still ahead of Indonesia by many measures, there’s a feeling it’s all going away. Many feel we need to get away too, and that those who remain will do so with doom and gloom as our constant companions.

But there’s another bunch of people with a different reaction, though driven by pretty much the same signals. They feel time is indeed running out, there are too many snouts at the trough, the trough itself is shrinking, and at some point, everything will fall apart.

So, the instinct – in good old Malaysian tradition – is to whack everything, take everything that’s not nailed down, shake down everything that has any value, pawn everything that doesn’t belong to you.

Sapu everything.

The mediocre is ascendant over the competent. The dishonest has overwhelmed the true. The quacks prescribe cures to ails they themselves created. The baboons are running the zoo.

No, we are not a failed state.

And we probably will never be. I always believe Malaysia is good at pulling away from the brink.

But we’re a nation that has squandered away our advantages.

The sorry situation of how we’re managing the Covid pandemic is a reflection of where we are as a nation, flailing around, playing the same old tired racial or religious or political songs while things are teetering on the brink of collapse.

Despite all the jingoism coming from our political leaders, there isn’t much will or desire to lead. They remind me of Donald Trump – all thunderbolts and lightning, or sweet sugary syrup, but destined to fall at the first hurdle that demands some leadership and competence.

We’ll pull out of this, but the underperformance will continue. We won’t be comparing ourselves against Korea or Taiwan or Singapore any more. Indonesia, with its huge domestic market and optimistic and hardworking population, will leave us behind soon enough, if it has not done so already.

The class of countries we compare ourselves against has gone down a notch or two. Instead of being perhaps in the middle or the bottom of the top rungs, we’re barely making it in the next division down.

Nope, not a failed state, but you have to be deluded to think we are doing well.- FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.