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<h1 class="entry-title">The 3 Malaysian agenda that Anwar should focus on</h1>
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<div class="gmail-td-post-author-name"> <a href="https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2018/10/15/the-3-malaysian-agenda-that-anwar-should-focus-on/">Koon Yew Yin</a><div class="gmail-td-author-line"> - </div> </div> <span class="gmail-td-post-date gmail-td-post-date-no-dot">October 15, 2018 6:43 PM</span> </div>
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</div></div><p><img class="gmail-aligncenter gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-989466 gmail-td-animation-stack-type0-2" src="https://s3media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/anwar-ibrahim-fmt091018-5.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="500">In
all my work and writing during the past 20 years, readers will have
noted that my major concern is for Malaysia to become a fully developed
nation in all the key aspects of life – economic, socio-cultural,
political and educational.</p>
<p>Towards this end I have provided numerous press statements, given
umpteen talks and speeches, and written hundreds of articles and a book
on how to attain what may be described as my own version of Vision 2020.</p>
<p>It is a vision which I believe is shared by the overwhelming majority
of moderate and progressive Malaysians, especially among the younger
generation which I am in constant touch with through the scholarship
system I have sponsored for the past decade.</p>
<p>Now that Anwar Ibrahim has won the Port Dickson by-election,
it is necessary for me to emphasise again on what are the crucial
policies and strategies that the heir apparent Prime Minister has to
articulate and implement to bring about the realisation of a united and
progressive Malaysia Baru.</p><div class="gmail-code-block gmail-code-block-5 gmail-ai-viewport-1 gmail-ai-viewport-2" style="margin:8px auto;text-align:center;clear:both">
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<p><strong>1. Language policy</strong></p>
<p>Continuing attempts by Malay ultras to downgrade the use of other
languages especially English and Mandarin are not only
counter-productive but will end with the Malay community being left out
of the global economy and world of knowledge, science and technology.</p>
<p>Anwar should realise that his standing among leaders in the region
and the world is partly or even mainly because of his ability to
communicate in English.</p>
<p>Nobody is disputing the role of Bahasa as the national language. But
English is the universal lingua franca par excellence and whoever is
Prime Minister of the country needs to make sure that all young
Malaysians from an early age master the language to propel us into the
club of advanced nations.</p>
<p>Anwar should make sure that the policymakers do not continue to go
back and forth on this issue. Further pandering to the Malay language
chauvinists will see the Malay community regress rather than progress.</p>
<p><strong>2. Malay rights</strong></p>
<p>Anwar and other Pakatan Harapan Malay politicians must bear in mind
that the use of Malay rights – constitutional and extra-constitutional –
to enrich the Malays is not only wrong. It will never work. You can
never legislate the poor from penury into wealth and prosperity.</p>
<p>Worse is to take away from those who have worked hard and accumulated
assets and savings to put into the pockets of those that are seen to be
needy.</p>
<p>The ultimate foolishness is to do this on a racial basis as was attempted by the NEP during the past 40 odd years after May 69.</p>
<p>All the analysis by foreign and local scholars’ points to the fact
that the NEP and follow up racial policies have been the breeding ground
of abuse of power, mismanagement of economy and super corruption,
cronyism and patronage. The NEP has been a major contributor to the
falling back of our economy and society to its present low level as
compared with Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and other countries that
were in fact at a lower or similar stage of development in the 1970s.</p>
<p>I am sure that Anwar is fully aware of this. He has in the past when
he was in the opposition talked about the need to do away with the NEP
and a racially configured national economic policy. Now that he is at
the point of becoming the Prime Minister he must not back down from his
previous statements and promises on rejecting the NEP for a truly
Malaysian agenda. On the contrary, he must act boldly to make the
Malaysian agenda a reality</p>
<p><strong>3. Restore meritocracy in all spheres of public sector</strong></p>
<p>During my time in the 50s and 60s as a student and young engineer it
could be said that the system of meritocracy was the dominant one in
Malaysia. This is the political and economic philosophy which holds that
certain things, such as economic goods or power, should be vested in
individuals on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement rather than
be based on factors such as race or family relationships or political
affiliation.</p>
<p>During the past decades of Barisan Nasional rule, the meritocratic
system was replaced by one based on race, political affiliation, family
relations and know who.</p>
<p>This has resulted in the dumbing down of the civil service as well as
resulted in inefficiency and mismanagement of the nation’s resources.</p>
<p>I am confident that if a study was done on the cost to the country as
a result of the loss of the system of meritocracy, the figure will run
into the trillions of ringgit.</p>
<p>Anwar must restore the system of meritocracy in the civil service so
that we are not handicapped in competing with other advanced nations.
For a start, I would like to propose two basic steps. These are</p>
<p>a. University places should be allocated based on examination results and should not be based on race or other forms of quotas.<br>
b. Entry and promotion in civil service, the police and army must
similarly be based on educational qualifications and working experience.
There must be no political or party interference in the civil service.</p>
<p>Anwar now has the opportunity to lead the nation into a new era of
progress, prosperity and unity. To do this he must implement the
Malaysian agenda outlined above.</p>
<p>I and other loyal and patriotic moderates in the country will be
monitoring him closely to make sure that he lives up to the cry for
reform and rejection of the BN racist policies which resulted in
Pakatan’s election victory and Anwar’s personal victory in Port Dickson.</p>
<p>Conclusion: I wish to quote the 5 most important sentences by Dr Adrian Rogers who has written 18 on politics and social issues</p>
<p style="padding-left:60px">1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.</p>
<p style="padding-left:60px">2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.</p>
<p style="padding-left:60px">3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.</p>
<p style="padding-left:60px">4. When half of the people get the idea
that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take
care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good
to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that
my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.</p>
<p style="padding-left:60px">5. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.</p>
<p><em>Koon Yew Yin is a retired chartered civil engineer and one of the founders of IJM Corporation Bhd and Gamuda Bhd.</em></p></div>
<br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>