Speaking Out

After reading through another posting on Citizen's blog ( Are we truly Malaysians ? ), i have nothing but total agreement for what have been stated.

Firstly, i must state that i am a truly patriotic and proud Malaysian currently persuing my tertiary education in Singapore. However, here is my dilemma. Whenever asked about my country of origin, i would proudly say that i am a Malaysian and not a Malaysian Chinese as what many do. The following questions that confront us would be " Does your government treat you well, or do they marginalize certain ethnic group ?". Being proud of my home country, my obvious answer would be no and by giving examples of how well the country has treated us. Then come the final nail in the coffin; " Why do you come and study in Singapore then?". All the time, i dreaded this question as it is a pain for me to tell them that i couldn't get my first choice local university. This answer still haunts me everyday as i struggle to find a reason as of why am i not offered my first choice in the local university selection, whereas the Singapore government willingly offer me full scholarship to study in a Singapore University of similar, if not better reputation.

Similarly, for many of the Malaysian scholars who have went studying abroad on their parents' support, there was once an issue accusing these scholars as unpatriotic and so on for not returning to the country after their studies. However, if we were to look at it in a different perspective, we sometimes cannot blame them for not returning to serve the country as their parents might have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of their hard earned money financing their studies abroad. Hence, it is not unfair for them to want to continue working abroad after graduating, where the pay might be higher and their contributions better recognized.

As what have been said in the blog ( Are we truly Malaysians? ). I am also not a keen admirer of the quota system and various restrictions implemented in Malaysia. This said, it does not mean that what the government does is totally wrong. However, there are other more effective ways of achieving the government's goal of wealth distribution. In this globalize world we are living in, the challenges facing us Malaysian are from the outside world and not among ourselves. Hence, we should liberalize the country policies so as to provide an equal playing field for everyone in the country and promote healthy competition. By implementing the quota system, the government would tend to over protect specific groups causing them to be in their comfort zone and unable to compete in a free market. All these would surely bring more harm than benefit to our country. As what economists say; " When market is allowed to work freely, equilibrium will be achieved and total economic surplus will be maximized. With a larger economic pie size, everyone will enjoy a larger slice of the pie. " According to the recent survey result from (ASLI), it is stated that bumiputras owned up to 45% of the country's business equity. Therefore, isn't the time ripe for us to move on as a nation and concentrate towards expanding our country's wealth creation, not on issues such as wealth distribution or economic protection according to race?

It has always been my intention to return to Malaysia to expand my career there after my studies here in Singapore. This is due to my belief that Malaysia has a large potential to grow and develop as a nation. There is again dilemma facing me as to whether that would be a wise choice. Besides the obvious restrictions and quota system implemented in the country, there are also other issues faced by Malaysia. Since coming over to study abroad, i am privileged to get the chance to compare between the 2 countries. There are aspects where Malaysia can certainly learn from it's neighboring country such as Singapore. For instance, when i was crossing the border back to Singapore the other day by car, i can't help but notice that at the Singaporean customs, there will be only 1 officer in charge in a booth. The officer will always be sitting up straight in a ready position and greet users with a friendly smile before requesting politely with; " May i have your passport please? ". As for the Malaysian side of the customs, there are 2 officers in a counter. One is in a sitting/lying position talking on the phone like no one's business, while the other would greet us with not much satisfaction is his expression; " Mana passport? ". This phenomena is not unique to the customs department only, whereas most of the government departments. When one deals with the government departments in Singapore, they provide you with a service that makes you feel that you are checking into a 5-Stars hotel. In contrary, in Malaysia one gets the impression that they are indebted to and begging for help from the government officers. ( I must note that there are also terrific Malaysian government officers which i have met over time, and also the bad apples in the Singaporean government. However, the majority of situations that i have come about is as described ). Therefore, to build an effective government organization, not only does the system have to be changed, the attitude of the people has to be changed as well. Government officers should feel proud to be serving the nation and adhere to what our PM said repeatedly; " Government officers are there to facilitate, not frustrate. "

As a summary, Malaysia has been and will always be my homeland. However, though we should always be proud of our own tradition and achievement, we should also be humble enough to learn from others to further improve ourselves. As time progresses, I believe we would see constant improvement, be it in terms of financial performance or internal policies. If there is a will, there is a better future. Come on Malaysia !


p/s : I posted this blog on the star online, wonder why they won't publish it :)