In my opinion the teaching of science and mathematics in English as stupid. Rural Malays is hardly catching up science and mathematics in their own mother tongue and ou expect them to understand science and mathematics in English?

I say that is a stupid opinion anf Mahathir another doctor followed your advise, well I cannot say he was too smart either.

1. Go back to the land of your fore fathers land and leave the Malays alone. China seems to be booming with growth. India has a lot of specialized professionals who conquer the job market in Malaysia. Streamin’ in like Water.
2. Help the Malays and get something in return at least you get the satisfaction that it was your doing that he became rich and famous.
3. Just keep quiet. God, if there is one, will give us what we deserve when we die.

Not siding anyone on this.I don’t find it necessary to waste brain cells on issues like this.

Just a thought.

Well… yes…I’ve seen them too often… but then…. I am not an anthropologist…. my observations would be at best annecdotal.

Perhaps Bintang may want to refer to works on Malay culture written by anthropologists and sociologists…

Its good that you raise the issues of misconception about globalization in the mainstream Malay media… it would be very long to describe them here… but a careful reading in the op ed and the foreign news section of Berita Harian and Utusan yoeld fruitful insights on how the media is trying to potray the globalization to the Malays…

Having read similar sections in New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Financial Times, AWSJ, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Jakarta Post, Republika, etc (so many papers I read…but I read at least 3 a day… print versions not online….) I got this feeling that there is a coherent message that the editors of BH and utusan are trying to convey to their readers….

He ends by stating that ‘As Proton goes, so shall the NEP and Malay Dominance.’

How wonderful if those twin evils (NEP and the Fascistic “ketuanan Melayu”) do one day disappear as MGG predicts. Alas, however, he has got so many things wrong before, I do hope he is right on this occasion

Hoi Bakri kenapa diam je, ber? I will accept “ketuanan Melayu” in Malaysia if you can honestly say that you would accept “ketuanan orang putih” in the US.

You won’t and so don’t I.

Parang Panjang & beramok!

LJ

“LJ Says:

January 23rd, 2006 at 3:21 am
60% have 30% of economy - members of perfect religion of justice, fairness, equality, very upset (not fair konon).

60% have 99% of government jobs - members of perfect religion of justice, fairness, equality, say: very fair, very just & vey Islamic.

Lagi sekali LJ says: Ya Right!”

NO you won’t because you are just a Melayu with no conscience!

Interesting. I read Malay papers from time to time and blog comments from various Malay posters. But perhaps not enough to form a definitive opinion. Maybe I can hear from you what is going on inside the mind of the Malay? You said false impressions of globalization. What are these false impressions? And what is this image of how a Malay is supposed to act?

Anyway to share my own personal experience, there is a difference between a Malay in UMNO and a Malay who is not an UMNO member. I don’t know how widespread is this phenomenon. But the non-UMNO Malay is usually concerned with daily life while the UMNO member is usually quite concerned with politicking, even in daily relationships and among friends - any comments?

Introduction
This will be a long reply. Mmmm….. I can’t have an editor for my blog comments. This comment was typed in about 10 minutes - have to thank LJ for that (esp comment on January 24th, 2006 at 6:28 am )… LJ you make me so angry with your remarks……but I will keep my word not to inflame or incite racial hatred.

Anyway as this comment was typed in about 10 minutes it may not be polished and refined like M Bakri’s postings…. ha ha ha…

So have fun reading my comments:

About GLCs
I agree that GLCs has to be made more efficient and rational – in the Adam Smith sense….But I think M Bakri has to first clarify what does he mean by GLC. He said in the blog topic “Remembering Tun Razak” that it was Tun Razak that started the GLCs. Well truthfully I think the term SOE – State Owned Enterprise is more appropriate as during Tun Razak’s time a lot of wholly owned govt corporation were created. GLCs or parastatal in the usual meaning refers to partially privatised SOE. And I think in discussing about SOE or GLCs M Bakri has gone beyond his expertise. The topic of SOE or GLC management is a discipline of its own. In particular SOE and GLCs cannot be like private sector firms profit maximization (and efficiency maximization) is not the only goal. GLCs are glorified SOEs in which partial privatization brings in the illusion that it should operate like a private sector firm. But this is meaningless as the govt has control of a GLC. Of course one may cite Singapore GLCs as being successful. But Singapore GLCs can be said to be autonomous parastals which enjoys less interference in their operations compared to SOEs from other SEA countries. But my current readings of the GLC affairs in Singapore have created doubts in this regard.

There are many other factors that affect SOE/GLC performance. The most salient is political interference. Perhaps in Malaysia being what it is, we can expect more political interference in the running of GLCs. That is why….if you remember, in one of my earlier comments with regards to govt involvement in business: I stressed that govt should only be involved in providing public goods as theoretically it cannot compete with the more efficient private sector if it (the govt) were to provide competitive goods. So the best way forward in this regard is to restrict govt involvement to in the economy to public works, public welfare, internal security and national defence.

On the imagined concepts
Well…. you should read Benedict Anderson’s book.

Applying Anderson’s ideas- Malay ethos and nationalism is a created concept. Surely many may feel this when looking at the definition of Malays which include indigenous ethnic groups such as Kasazans, Bajau, Iban, Kayan etc…..

Now look at Indonesia…. In Indonesia: the Javanese is a distinct and separate ethnic group compared to the Malays in Riau and Minangkabau and Achehenese in Sumatera.. But in Malaysia…. these three ethnic groups becomes Malay… do you get what I mean?
If the beliefs surrounding Malay ethnic group and its accompanying nationalism are imagined concepts… they can be de-constructed….. theoretically of course…

But it will be difficult as you got to have a dedicated cadre and a mechanism such as the media to bring forward your alternative ideas. There is a short cut though….Given the situation in Malaysia… I think it may be wise of you to convince a group of well connected people in UMNO to adopt your alternative ideas… if you can do so, i.e. by having well placed patrons who believe in you…. You are in a better position to spread your ideas….

Of course you can do it with out powerful patrons… but…. That will be the more difficult way…..alternatively you can spread your ideas using the alternative elites (or elites in waiting i.e. the opposition) or in collaboration with NGOs…… Of course these options have advantages and disadvantages…. Advantages is that you can tap into their organisational and networking resources…. But you may have to sacrifice your ideas to accommodate the other side(s)….

On globalisation
Yes… there are definitely benefits of globalisation….particularly when Malaysia is such a small country… (the population of Beijing or Tehran is more than half of Malaysia !)

Dude… no need to lecture me on the urgencies of formulating sound economic policies with regard to globalization…. But the real challenge is to persuade the masses to accept globalization…..

I personally wish the Malaysian govt to embrace globalization wholeheartedly rather than in the manner that is going on right now… in particular the govt should empower the people to reap the benefits of globalization than fighting against globalization. But the reality in Malaysia is…well…. You know what it is…

Now…. govt and ruling elites must accommodate the will of the people to stay in power…. If the people can be made to embrace globalization and forget ethnic identification, then the govt has no choice but to do the same….

Sadly at the grass root level there is an insular feeling (you may called this protectionist attitude) among the Malaysian public and Malays especially. In my opinion, this is attributable to the media who tend create false impressions on globalization…Of course one the contributing factor esp for the Malay mainstream media is that they want to project a certain kind of image i.e. an image of how and what a Malay should think…. This of course goes back to the core idea of Malay ethos that the ruling elites wish the Malays to have…ergo the imagined community…..

Now as I mentioned in my previous comments… to change Malaysia, you must change the attitude of the Malays… and to do this you must create a grass root based organization that can capture the imagination of the ordinary Malays. I have discussed how you can do this. Now lets talk about what do I mean by grass root Malays. Grass root Malays are the ordinary Malays….

In this regard…my suggestion is to project an alternative view of Malay ethos that is relevant to the ordinary Malays… a sort of Melayu Baru… have you read Rustam Sani’s book?.. but my vision of Melayu Baru is different from Rustam Sani’s…. While Rustam Sani think of corporate Malays and mostly western educated cosmopolitan elite … I am thinking of the ordinary wage earners and salary persons….and the ones educated in national schools and national tertiary institutions….

Of course, if you want to change the attitude of the Malays, antagonising the Malays will not help. Some may think that this is pandering or “bodek”…. But you got to remember…. To change a nation… you have to change at least the majority of its people…. In this got you have to make the ordinary Malays accept your alternative view(s) of Malaysia.

This is the challenge to M. Bakri and to anyone out there who wants Malaysia to be more prosperous in the future. It is not enough to regurgitate the obvious i.e. sound economic policies..good education policies and acceptable social policies….. It is equally important to think how are you (–who are not in the position to change policies –) going to make others share your vision.

So what do you think?

You rule by force, you grabbed power by force and will remain where you are until greater force is applied; after all Amit does say “never antagonize the Malays and the Muslims….”

You guys are evil and the good news is that history is replete with examples of evil being defeated. It might take a while in the end you will be defeated.

LJ