UMNO TRAPPED IN NAJIB'S POLITICAL CRISIS: FEARING BACKLASH FROM MALAYS, CONFUSION REIGNS IN PUTRAJAYA

During the Chinese New Year, the issue that attracted the most attention was foreign workers, which has gained momentum after the festive holidays.

This issue has fully exposed the administrative flop and loss of direction of the government, along with the indecisive attitude of our policy-makers.

It will bring more trouble for the government if the issue is not properly addressed, denting further the government's reputation and the country's international image.

The government has wanted to "extract" additional tax revenue from these foreign workers and their employers to fill the shortfall from dwindling oil revenue. As a result, the levy has been drastically increased. As if that is not enough, the government plans to bring in additional 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh.

When our ministers are busy with bringing in new workers and legalizing the illegal ones, they seem to have overlooked our grand economic transformation program and Vision 2020.

To be a high-income developed country, we must transform ourselves from a labor-intensive manufacturing and services industry to knowledge-based economy. The government has in 11th Malaysia Plan set a target of less than 15% foreign workers in the workforce, and many of our ministers seem to have forgotten this.

The government has failed to draw up a plan for the reduction of foreign worker reliance, automated production and elevation in technology, and this will keep the country forever at the stage of over-dependence on migrant workers because our businesses are reluctant to adopt mechanized production, and spend on R&D. This leaves the responsibility of economic transformation with the government.

And now, even the government itself appears to be wavering, having little willpower to cut our dependence on foreign workers. Before we can even join the league of developed states, we already pride ourselves as a country of unskilled migrant workers.

A country that forgets about its vision will only retrogress on near-term interests as the long-term vision drifts further and further apart.

The reversal of the government's foreign worker policy has also exposed the gross inefficiency on the part of the federal government. A day after human resources minister Richard Riot signed an MoU in Dhaka, our home minister put a brake on introducing new foreign workers to the country, causing much confusion among the public.

But then why such a dramatic turnaround?

i think this has something to do with the attitude. When the public voiced up their objection to the additional 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers, the policy-makers were worried about more powerful backlash and abruptly reversed the decision.

On extending visa exemption facility to Chinese tourists, we once again witnessed the pathetic level of efficiency on the part of the Malaysian government. The cabinet had in last June approved the measure of extending visa exemption facility to Chinese tourists on tour groups, and the prime minister announced that Chinese tourists would enjoy visa-free entry into the country from October 1 to March 31, when he unveiled a series of measures aimed at stimulating the national economy on September 14 last year.

Unfortunately, this measure has never been implemented probably due to some political considerations.

The summoning of Chinese Ambassador Huang Huikang by Wisma Putra was yet another incident that has protruded gross rashness on the part of our ministers.

I personally feel that Umno's political crisis has now taken its toll on the altitude of policy-makers and senior government officials. To keep themselves firmly in power, they have become intolerant to criticisms and are excessively fearful of a backlash from Malay organizations.

As such, we see ministers voicing up against public comments on the cyberspace, threatening to take actions against netizens liking and sharing some unverified news messages and amend the relevant act to increase the punishment for violators. The government has slowly backed off from its legal reform agenda towards tightened control on civilians' right of expression.

There is no way for politicians to control how the people think and express themselves in the Internet age. Unfortunately, under the existing system, there is no chance for the civil society to openly confront the ruling body.

A country that backs down on its pursuit of democracy and freedom, where administrative and political confusion reigns supreme, and where its leaders go for their own interests and abandon our collective vision, will eventually drift further and further away, leaving the country and her people taking the brunt of their leaders' foolishness. -Mysinchew