Monday, January 28, 2008

Malaysian NEP had Nobel goals

Upon greater investigation of the NEP, I must say that its goals are pretty nobel but I cannot see how it is to be fulfilled given the current trajectory it is in. It does speak volumes for the wisdom of our earlier leaders.
I put here an excerpt of the NEP goals taken from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Dept.:

The NEP underscored the importance of achieving socio-economic goals alongside pursuing economic growth objectives as a way of creating harmony and unity in a nation with many ethnic and religious groups. The overriding goal was national unity. To achieve this goal, two major strategies were adopted:
1) To reduce absolute poverty irrespective of race through raising income levels and increasing employment opportunities for all Malaysians; and
2) To restructure society to correct economic imbalances so as to reduce and eventually eliminate the identification of race with economic function.


How did we get so far off tangent??
Emmmm.....

Friday, January 25, 2008

will they invest in Malaysia......

It is very obvious to many that we are losing competitiveness because of NEP. In the area of education and economics. We are shooting ourselves in the foot if we persist. Anwar Ibrahim reiterates here "NEP is OBSOLETE." Unfortunately asking for an end to such policies is like asking an end to the political party who started it...

AFP Malaysiakini,Jan 24, 08 3:08pm

A leading opposition figures today said the country was losing out economically to regional rivals because of long-running policies favouring ethnic Malays.Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia's ability to attract foreign investment had been compromised by keeping the country's affirmative action policies in favour of the Malay majority."That policy is obsolete... We are losing our competitiveness. Malaysia is less competitive than the 1990s," Anwar, whose PKR party is formally led by his wife, told reporters in Hong Kong."Foreign investments, we have lost. Growth, we have lost. Attractiveness, which is key to an emerging market, is lost."Not to China and India, but to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia because of our obsolete policies. If you persist in pursuing this agenda, you do it not only at the expense of the Chinese and the Indians, but also of the Malays."Malaysia has pursued the policies for Malays and indigenous groups known as bumiputeras since the 1970s to close a wealth gap with the minority Chinese community.In recent months, the government has been shaken by rare public demonstrations which erupted last November, including against alleged discrimination against Malaysia's ethnic Indians.

Religious controversies

Anwar added that Malaysia's creeping "Islamisation" was also turning away foreign investors.Malaysia has experienced a string of religious controversies in recent months.A Catholic newspaper was banned from using the word "Allah", or "God", in its Malay language section, while a Hindu woman lost her bid to stop the conversion of her child to Islam after Malaysia's highest court ruled that her now-Muslim husband can convert their elder son.Anwar was sacked from the former government of Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and then jailed for six years following sodomy and corruption charges.The sodomy charge was later overturned and Anwar was released but he is barred from public office or holding any position with a political party until April because of the corruption conviction.insist on going down this path.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Founding fathers had deep convictions

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Thomas Jefferson - Declaration of Independence

The foundation on which all [constitutions] are built is the natural equality of man, the denial of every preeminence but that annexed to legal office, and particularly the denial of a preeminence by birth.
Thomas Jefferson, April 16, 1784

The freedom and happiness of man...[are] the sole objects of all legitimate government.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1810


The founding fathers of America had a conviction, obviously derived from their Christian heritage and the Bible. This in turn influenced the writing of the Constitution and the crafting of the United States.

The understanding that no preeminence was to be given to anyone, especially out of birth right as each individual was created equal in the eyes of God. Not only equal, but each individual was special and therefore to be respected and accorded the same Rights as the other. Rights which they belive were endowed by God. Psalm 139:14 Each of us are fearfully and wonderfully made

If we are mortal beings, sharing the same fate, living in the same land, drinking the same water - should we not seize to give support to any political party who uses race and religion as a dividing factor and who gives priveleges to those who are born of a certain race; irregardless of their wealth and social status.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Giving people something to hope for...

The Republican Party are setting their target on Obama after his successful stint at the caususes. This is what Republican candidate Huckabee had to say:

But there was also a sense that Mr. Obama had upended the race by using optimism and calls for change to draw support from first-time and independent voters. "We'd better be careful as a party, because if we don't give people something to be for, and only something to be against, we're going to lose that next election," said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

When I heard Obama on The Oprah Show in October last year, I thought this man is going far. He speaks with conviction and principles.

I presume in anything people are looking for hope. In Malaysia, apart from a corrupt and racist government, what can the people hope for? What can the opposition promise in terms of a brighter and better Malaysia?

This is what we have to make clear.