Chapter 2: Ideas On The Evolution of Societies: From Ibn Khaldun to Jared Diamond –Cont’d

Presumed Primacy of Biology

The other element often cited in discussing the fate of human society is biology. It is easy to fall for the line that biology is destiny. The most advanced nations today are Western European and others settled by its kindred: America, Australian and Canada. It is tempting to attribute the success to their supposed innate superiority. In the heyday of colonialism it was accepted that the White Man was divinely destined to govern the rest of mankind. The remarkable observation is that the rest of mankind readily accepted this fate. Hence the British could rule mighty India with its glorious age-old civilization with a mere few thousand British civil servants, and humbled Imperial China with a few more thousand troops.

Today such claims of racial superiority are of course frowned upon, and rightly so as they reflect a dangerous underlying racism. Nonetheless the residuum of such thinking still exists, and not just among the White Man. In his book The Malay Dilemma, Dr. Mahathir, a man who should know something about human biology being a physician, bluntly attributed the backwardness of Malays to “dumb genes!” He went so far as to encourage Malays to intermarry so as to dilute the impact of these “undesirable” genes.13 He must speak from personal conviction, being the product of mixed Malay-Indian heritage.

To be fair to Dr. Mahathir, at the time his views were widely shared not only by the public but also by scholars.

South of the causeway, Lee KuanYew also entertained similar thoughts. His government is actively arranging marriages among university graduates to ensure that future Singaporean babies would be smart, or at least all above average, like the children of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon.14 Fortunately those bright Singaporeans of reproductive age knew better than to listen to some halfcocked genetic advice from their half-informed leaders. This line of thinking is no different qualitatively from Hitler’s eugenic ideas on the super Aryan race.

The problem with using biology to explain the conditions of human society is that there are many ready exceptions. While most of the First World may be White Man’s territory, nonetheless a large swath of the globe inhabited by the White Man is still mired in poverty: Eastern Europe, Russia, and Latin America. It is also easy and convenient to forget that the ascendancy of the West is very recent. While London was still in the Dark Ages, cities like Damascus and Baghdad were already flourishing centers of great civilizations. Similarly, China had an efficient and organized system of governance while Britain was still nothing more than a collection of feudal fiefdoms. Biological attributes do not change on such a short time scale.

Today with Japan, South Korea, and Singapore joining the First World, we no longer hear such previously commonly uttered phrases as “the dumb Japanese” or the “stupid Chinese coolie.” Old British colonials based in Singapore regularly referred to the Chinese as an “inferior Asiatic race” with “disgusting habits,” “loose morals,” and where “a life of chastity and continence was a phenomenon so rare as to be beyond native belief.”15

The fallacy of the biological argument is dramatically demonstrated by examining the fate of the North and South Koreans. Same biology, but after over a generation of being separated and brought up under two different political systems, what a difference!

* * * * *

Although I have presented a brief overview of human society from our hunter-gatherer forefathers to the present, the focus of my book is on the development of human societies on a much shorter time frame, that of a few generations. In that short time span, factors like geography, climate and biology remain constant and do not play much pivotal role. Nor can such factors be modified, thus limiting their usefulness. Why study something that you cannot do anything about?

To examine the factors influencing the development of societies over this shorter time frame of a few generations, we have to look beyond biology and geography to the social sciences, in particular economics. That will be my focus in the next few chapters.

Next: Chapter 3: The Diamond of Development

PART I:  On Being Competitive

Chapter 2:  Ideas On The Evolution of Societies:  From Ibn Khaldun to Jared Diamond

Verily, never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves.  (Surah Al R’ad (The Thunder) 13:11—Approximate translation)

 

In the 1950s, the Philippines was sending community development officers to South Korea. South Korea was then just recovering from the devastations of war, while the Philippines was enjoying bountiful American investments.

Today, the fate of the two nations could not be more different. South Korea is now firmly in the First World while the Philippines remains a perennial economic basket case, its people trapped in despair and poverty. This reversal of fortune occurred within the lifetime and memory of many of their current residents.

On a larger scale, at the dawn of the last century South America, with its vast resources and sophisticated populace, was poised to take on the world while North America was still a backward agrarian society. America had yet to come to terms with itself after a vicious civil war. While cities in the Amazonian jungle and Argentinean pampas sported elegant opera houses with divas from Europe regularly performing to packed houses, vast tracts of the United States remained largely entrapped in that aptly descriptive phrase, “The Wild West.” A century later, the difference between the two hemispheres could not be starker.

            To take an even grander perspective, consider this. While Europe was barely emerging from the Dark Ages, China was already using gunpowder, explosives, and printing paper. It even had rudiments of a primitive steam engine. Chinese sailing ships (some as big as World War II-era aircraft carriers) were regularly plying the vast Pacific and Indian Oceans, dwarfing the much-heralded maritime discoveries of Spain and Portugal. China’s fleet of sailing “junks” under Admiral Zheng Ho, with their tiered masts and elegant staterooms, made Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria look like a mere lake-dinghy by comparison.

The Chinese had all the makings that could propel them into their own industrial revolution. Yet it was the Europeans who started the Steam Age and the subsequent Industrial Revolution. They then went on to conquer the world, China included. (2)

These twists and turns of human history are not predestined; they are the consequences of the activities of humans, not of God. The corollary is that it is within the power and capacity of every society to determine its fate, as encapsulated by the Quranic verse in the epigraph. Studying the fate of societies past and present is instructive in helping us steer towards progress and away from stagnation.

The 14th century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, in his systematic study of the evolution of societies, postulated that when the ancient nomadic tribes decided to settle down at some oases, that represented a quantum leap in the progress of human existence. Such concentrations of settled humans, a primordial form of urbanization, permitted among others the division of labor, a concept that predated the thinking of modern economists by centuries. He further observed that humans are social beings; we depend on each other for food, comfort, and security. “Consequently, social organization is necessary for the human specie,” Ibn Khaldun wrote. “The existence and persistence of the human specie can materialize only through the cooperation of all men in behalf of what is good for them.” (3)

This feeling of social solidarity—asabiyah (group consciousness)—is what bonds the group together. It is the factor or incentive for cooperation on a larger scale. Groups with powerful asabiyah achieve predominance over others. In Ibn Khaldun’s time, this group feeling resulted only from blood relationships, or something corresponding to it.

Modern social scientists have an equivalent concept, social capital, and its corresponding notion of “circle of trust.” (4) In the Third World and even in the more developed parts of Asia, the circle of trust and social capital, like Ibn Khaldun’s asabiyah, are based primarily on blood, tribal, or ethnic relationships. Only in the developed West does it extend beyond blood relationship and ethnicity. With increased social mobility and urbanization, other bonds like class, neighborhood, and workplace assume greater importance.

One reason East Asian enterprises rarely make the successful transition onto the global arena is that their owners and senior managers cannot extend their circle of trust beyond family, clan, and ethnicity. They are trapped by their cultural and ethnic asabiyah. It is rare to see other than their own ethnic kind in the senior management suites of Japanese, Korean, or Taiwanese firms. Malaysian-Chinese firms too rarely have non-Chinese in responsible positions. A generation ago when clan organizations were strong, it was also rare to see a Hokkien Chinese enterprise employing a Cantonese in top positions.

Even Singapore with its supposedly enlightened and Western-educated leaders cannot escape this tribalism trap. While Singapore awards scholarships to students from fellow ASEAN states, on close examination those are given overwhelmingly to fellow ethnic Chinese. Its modern leaders still cannot escape their clannish mentality, notwithstanding their Oxbridge and Ivy League education.

 

Geography As Destiny

In his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, biologist Jared Diamond postulates that the first civilization developed in Eurasia rather than the Americas or Africa because of the physical geography of that continent.5 When our nomadic ancestral hunter-gatherers in ancient Eurasia successfully domesticated some wild plants and animals, and then assumed a sedentary existence, the idea soon spread to other hunter-gatherer groups. With each spread, the new group amplified and improved on the discoveries of earlier groups. With time, the entire continent was populated by settled farmers rather than wandering hunter-gatherers.

The physical geography of Eurasia, with its rivers and mountains generally lying in an east-west axis, facilitated this development, as those areas would have the same general climate being at the same latitude. Thus plants and animals would readily adapt to their new environment along these rivers and valleys. As these were also the natural pathways of human movement, successful practices in one area quickly spread elsewhere.

Africa and the Americas have mountains and rivers that run on a north-south (longitudinal) axis, and the climate would change along this axis and natural human pathway. Plants and animals successfully raised in one area would not readily adapt elsewhere along the natural path because of the differing climate. Species that would thrive in the sub-tropical Nile delta could not readily adapt to the tropical heat further upstream. Likewise in America, the climate—and the plants and animals it would support—is vastly different in the semi-tropical Mississippi delta as compared to its headwaters up in cold Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Geography influences climate, and climate in turn affects human activities. Ptolemy divided the world into six climatic zones from the hot humid tropics to the cold frozen tundra.6 The zone most conducive to human civilization, according to him, is the middle or Mediterranean zone, where his native Greece happens to be located!

Ibn Khaldun amplified Ptolemy’s observations and suggested, “Environmental differences affect and shape man’s character, his appearance and his customs.” He attributed the “joyfulness, levity and disregard for the future of the Egyptians” to the heat of their climate. “The Fez in Maghrib on the other hand,” he wrote, “lies inland and is surrounded by cold hills. Its inhabitants can be observed to look sad and gloomy, and to be concerned about their future.”3 Hence they work very hard to ensure the success of that future.

The definite seasons of the temperate zone force the inhabitants to accommodate to the climatic rhythm. You sow in spring, tend your crops in summer, and harvest in the fall. In the fall you prepare for winter to ensure an adequate supply of food and fuel. Thus the element of planning is incorporated into the culture. If you fail to do so, natural selection will do its work: You will freeze come winter!

The cold dark nights, being non conducive to procreative activities, are more suited for intellectual and other cerebral pursuits, hence the remarkable intellectual contributions of those in the temperate zone.

With the monotonous climate of the tropics with one day no different from the next, there is no sense of urgency or need for planning. If it rains today, wait for a few hours and it will dry up and you can go out hunting or fishing again. This breeds the manana (tomorrow) syndrome: Why do something today that can wait for tomorrow?

Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew goes so far as to credit air conditioning as the greatest invention of the millennium.7 By bringing the temperate climate to the tropics it enables tropical dwellers to achieve the same level of productivity as those in the temperate zone. Air conditioning certainly improves the comfort and productivity of not only office workers, but also others. American farmers can work throughout the long hot summer days because they are comfortably seated in the air-conditioned cabs of their tractors and combines.

Climate also impacts economic activities through its influence on the distribution of diseases.8 Malaria and dengue, endemic in the tropics, are both lethal and debilitating, severely impacting workers’ productivity. Malaysia’s remarkable economic progress is in part attributed to the fact that it had successfully controlled such diseases, especially malaria.

Climate also determines the type of crops that can be grown. The temperate climate is particularly suited to intensive single-crop cultivations like wheat, barley and soybeans. They are cultivated on huge farms using modern technology, superior seeds, and efficient fertilizers. In the tropics such large-scale mono-cultivations risk devastations through pest infestations. This is rarely a problem in temperate zones as the cold winter is a natural and effective break to the pest cycle. Not always, however. Vast forests can be devastated in a few seasons by the emergence of a single pest, as with the fungus infestation of California’s “sudden oak death” and the elm tree disease of the Northeast.

The tropic’s safety net lies in its biodiversity. While a square meter of temperate forest might contain only a dozen plant species, in the tropics there could be literally thousands. Were there to be an insect or other infestation, it would afflict only a tiny portion of the life forms.

The intensive commercial mono-cultivation techniques of the temperate zone have been successfully introduced in the tropics (rubber, palm oil, pepper), but the vulnerabilities still exist. A single fungus infestation wiped out the rubber plantation in South America, where incidentally the rubber plant was first discovered.

Next:  Comparative Advantage of Physical Geography

Towards A Competitive Malaysia #3

Introduction, Overview and Acknowledgment (Cont’d)

Returning to the Old Groove

One of the more unnerving aspects of my visits to my old village is how easily I slip into my old grove. Seeing those kids desperate for shelter under the roadside tree in the heat of the day waiting for the erratic (still!) rickety school bus brings forth my own old but not so sweet memories. But by the grace of God, those kids could be my own; indeed many are the children of my nieces and nephews, once or twice removed. I keep wondering who among that little crowd might be the lucky one (or maybe two) to enjoy a fate similar to mine, knowing full well that for the rest, they and their children will repeat the same pattern a generation hence. That is, if Malaysia keeps on its present path.

On one visit, the villagers—my friends and relatives—implored me to stay just a few days longer so as to partake in the wedding of the daughter of a distant but important relative. Surely as a surgeon in private practice, they argued, I could afford the extra few days off and not be constrained as other “mere” wage earners. Those villagers had not lost their knack for putting on subtle but powerful heart-tugging arguments! Alas, I had to leave. Yes, I told them, I may be my own boss and could take holidays at any time, but like the rubber tappers in the village, unless I am actually tapping the trees, I would have no income. Unlike them who would lose only their income, my being away would be a double hit. Not only would I have no income, I still would have my overhead to pay!

They may be simple villagers, but when I framed my argument in a metaphor and imagery familiar to them, they readily understood it. I missed the wedding without slighting anyone.

As I came to the West straight from my village after high school, I missed much of the modernization of Malaysia. My speech and mannerisms are still of the old Negri Sembilan village mode, with its distinctive sounds and images. I am thankfully spared the Bahasa Baku and other modish fads. I consider it the highest compliment when those villagers comment that while I have been away all these years nonetheless I still retain my distinctive dialect, very unlike those who venture to the cities for a few months only to return “forgetting” their old loghat (ways).

On another visit, I was harvesting rambutans from the yard of my old village house when I had to answer an urgent call of nature. My wife suggested that I wait until we return to our hotel, but unable to bear it much longer, I slipped right back into my old groove by disappearing into the stream at the back of the property. I may have flown in a 747 a few days earlier and stayed at the Marriott, but when push came to shove (or bear!), I readily slipped back to my old kampong form without skipping a beat.

Thus I have no patience for and am contemptuous of those who dismiss my contributions as the ranting of a dilettante luxuriating in the comfort of his California home.

 

Organization and Overview

This book is in four parts. The first surveys ideas on the evolution of societies. The opening chapter summarizes the views of the ancient, from the Greek philosopher Ptolemy to the 14th century Ibn Khaldun, and to modern thinkers like the biologist Jared Diamond. The following chapter, “The Diamond of Development,” is my concept on how the major elements bear on the development of a society during the limited timeframe of a few generations. I schematized this as a diamond, with each factor—leadership, people, culture, and geography—forming one angle of that diamond. Each factor influences and is in turn being influenced by the other three, as per the diagram on this book cover.

A nation progresses only when its citizens and enterprises are competitive. The next chapter explores the meaning of being competitive, and its relationship to efficiency and productivity.

Being competitive enables a society to progress; not being competitive means regress and decline. There is no neutral zone. While we aspire for progress and prosperity, there are consequences, good and bad as well as anticipated and unanticipated. I explore these in the chapter that follows.

Part Two, Basic Building Blocks, expands on the role of the four elements of my diamond of development as they apply to Malaysia, with individual chapters devoted to leadership, people, and geography. As culture plays such a pivotal role, I devote two chapters to it, one dealing with the role of culture as a society’s template, and the other to institutions, an important element of culture.

Institutions are crucial in development, and Malaysian institutions are fast losing their integrity and efficiency through the twin blights of corruption and incompetence. Next to the fragmentation of society, the deterioration of institutions is a major obstacle to the nation’s progress. To quote India’s President Abdul Kalam, we have to demand from our institutions the impossible, and the possible will emerge.6 For that to happen, our institutions must be effective and free of corruption. Anything less, and Malaysia risks becoming a perpetual “half-past six nation,” to borrow Tun Mahathir’s phrase. Meaning, only slightly beyond elementary.

In Part Three, “Where We Are Now,” I reflect on the Malaysia of today. An important aspect of reflection is to learn from our experiences, both the successes as well as the failures. Malaysia has done many things right, and well. It was spared destructive wars of independence, and is one of the few countries that successfully defeated communist insurgency. Malaysia also achieved the remarkable feat of having economic growth with equity. Those are remarkable achievements and reflect the great heights the nation is capable of through unity of purpose and the commitment of all. I recap these in Chapter 10.

The next two chapters examine the parallel challenges facing Malaysia: fragmentation of its society (the people component of my Diamond of Development), and the deterioration of institutions.

Chapter 13 examines environmental, regional, and global issues, all aspects of geography. It is appropriate that environmental concerns be addressed with regional and global challenges. Pollution and environmental degradations often require regional or even global approaches. The haze that now regularly afflicts Malaysia is a ready example. I follow this with a chapter examining past policies (Chapter 14); and another critiquing current strategies (Chapter 15). Malaysia is still enamored with the Soviet-style Five-Year Plans and central planning.

I begin the final Part Four, “Where We Could Be,” by contemplating the positive consequences if Malaysians were to be liberated and be granted their personal merdeka (Chapter 16). I then examine the tantalizing prospects of Malaysia leading the Malay world (Chapter 17), and being a model for the greater Muslim ummah (Chapter 18). The chapter following explores the unique and special opportunities for Malaysia to serve as the bridge between East and West, and between the West and the Islamic world.

Malaysia is already home to all the major cultural traditions of Asia, and Malaysians are familiar and comfortable with Western values. As a modern, liberal and developed Muslim country, Malaysia is poised to lead the larger Muslim world to greater heights, and to serve as a viable model of the compatibility of Islam with modernity. To Muslims, Malaysia would then represent the real meaning of being “modern,” while to the West, Malaysia would represent the enlightened face of Islam. I believe it is the nation’s destiny to play this crucial bridging role.

The last chapter critically examines the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah, and whether his promise of gemilang, cemerlang, and terbilang (excellence, glory, and distinction) is for real or merely temberang (hot air). I end with a summary in the form of an open letter to the Prime Minister.

This volume expands on ideas developed in my earlier books and essays, tailoring them to the Abdullah Administration. Some repetitions are inevitable; I do that for continuity and emphasis.

This is not the time for Malaysia to merely coast along; there are too many pressing problems that have been allowed to fester. Unless addressed effectively, Malaysia risks being trapped in perpetual Third World status, or worst. Creatively handled and Malaysia would be poised to enter its next trajectory of development, and with it, a significant improvement in the well being of Malaysians.

It would also enable the nation to play its rightful role on the global stage.

 

Acknowledgments

I am appreciative of and express my sincere thank you to the many readers who have taken their valuable time to comment on my essays and books directly to me, through postings on my website (www.bakrimusa.com), or through “Letters to the Editor” of the various publications I write for.

I am indebted to Steven Gan and his brave team at Malaysiakini (www.malaysiakini.com) for affording me a column, Seeing It My Way. Despite the many intimidations by the authorities, this news portal continues to push the boundaries for journalistic freedom. A special note of appreciation is due to Raja Petra Kamarudin. He started the very popular and highly successful Internet news and commentary publication, Malaysia Today (www.malaysia-today.net). He puts to shame the nation’s established journalists and pundits with his aggressive brand of investigative journalism and pungent commentaries. He too suffered through many intimidations from the authorities, including being incarcerated without trial under the Internal Security Act, and of course the seizures of his computers, as with Malaysiakini. He remains unfazed and not in the least intimidated, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Our nation is truly blessed to have him.

Still in cyberspace, I thank Arif Hazlan for doing something that I had wanted to do for a long time: to have my essays translated into Malay so as to reach the very audience I wanted to influence. He has done a superb job, and I thank him and the operator of Laman Marhaen (http://marhaen.kelatedaily.net).

The Sun’s Zainon Ahmad, Cheong Hai and Rash Bhattacharjee have generously granted me space in their newspaper. I am pleased that the Sun is fast becoming a must-read in Malaysia; it has the largest circulation in influential Klang Valley. Its Internet version (www.sun2surf.com) is well designed and a pleasure to read. The Sun’s success, as well as the increasing popularity of the alternative media, reflects the hunger Malaysians have for reliable and independent sources of news, information, and viewpoints. It also, sadly, indicates the sorry state of mainstream journalism in Malaysia.

The good news is that the erosion of credibility and quality of the mainstream media encourages the development of new and independent providers. Fathol Zaman’s Ipoh Echo (www.ipohecho.com) exemplifies this. Undoubtedly there would be many more if only those bureaucrats in the Home Ministry were to view their job as encouraging, not inhibiting, such positive developments.

A special appreciation and thank you to an old friend and frequent collaborator, Din Merican; I value his opinions, backed by his long and varied experiences in government, government-linked companies (GLCs), and the private sector. Din is of my generation; he graduated from the University of Malaya back in the 1960s. It was a reflection of the caliber of that institution then, the wisdom of the government of the day, and Din’s own considerable talent that he ended up and excelled at a leading American graduate business school. It is fortunate for Malaysia that he returned home; it is unfortunate that his considerable expertise is not more appreciated. Din is frank and unafraid to express his views. Elsewhere, that is a refreshing trait; in Malaysia, damaging to one’s career! Din is currently Visiting Professor of Business Strategy at the University of Cambodia and a member of the International Advisory Board of its Asia Economic Forum (www.aef.org.kb). Thank you Din for reviewing the manuscript and offering many useful suggestions! I appreciate that greatly. I have also taken Din’s suggestion for the subtitle of this book.

Back in California, many thanks to Susanah Ishak and Jason Pittam, a husband and wife team of graphic designer and former engineer respectively. If not for them, I would still be planning and mulling over my website. They rightly diagnosed my state of “paralysis by analysis.” One evening following a dinner visit to our home, they phoned me saying that my website was up and running, and that it was now my responsibility to post my essays, or else the website would be blank! That was the stimulus I badly needed! I thank Su and her Dayang Design for the imaginative book cover. It captures and illustrates well the concept of the reinforcing elements of the “diamond” theme of my book.

My sons Azlan and Zack also contributed, partly out of filial obligation and partly for the intellectual stimulation of the engagement (I hope more of the latter!). Azlan’s skills came in handy. As an instructor for the American SAT preparatory course, he was intolerant of gross grammatical gaffes and pompous ponderous prose. Alliterations he tolerated, sparingly! I readily tapped Zack’s editorial experience from his old campus newspaper. The legal training my daughter Melindah and her husband Nathan helped ensure that my reasoning and analyses are not sloppy; their international experiences lend me a wider perspective.

Lastly to my wife Karen; I am fully aware that my time at the laptop means less time at the tractor. The more time I spent pruning my prose means less time trimming the roses. She has been most forgiving. I have also imposed on her to read the manuscript numerous times, fully recognizing that I am at a competitive disadvantage with her own favorite writers. Such indeed are the true expressions of love!

 

M. Bakri Musa

bakrimusa@juno.com (www.bakrimusa.com)

Morgan Hill, CA

November 2006

Next:  Part I  Chapter 1:  On Being Competitive

 

Chapter 1:  Introduction, Overview, and Acknowledgments  (Cont’d)

The Power of Words

As a physician, I am fully aware of the devastating impact my words can have on my patients and their loved ones. I therefore weigh carefully what I say, and above all, I must be truthful. Anything less would be disrespectful of my patients and their families; it would also be unethical, if not illegal.

The 1970 Nobel laureate in physics, Abdus Salam, stated it simply and much more eloquently, “When all else fails, you can always tell the truth.”2 There is an art in packaging the truth. It need not necessarily be brutal, on the contrary, artfully handled it is often liberating. Inability to present the truth (as you see it) in a palatable form is not an excuse to deny or withhold it. Lying, even when skillfully done, is still lying, and no good purpose would be served. That is the premise I hold in writing this book.

The guiding principles of my Rotary Club’s Four-Way Test are helpful.3 It must be the truth, fair to all, build goodwill and better friendship, and be beneficial to all. Speaking the truth of the leadership is fair and would benefit all. Lying, or any of its infinite variations, does none of those.

We all can tell the outright lies and deceptions; besides, they will be exposed eventually. Those are not the problem. The human mind however is infinite in its sophistry. With time, practice, and adequate reward we can easily convince ourselves that flattery, cheerleading, apologia, spins, and of course “sparing the truth to be kind” are not lies but the unvarnished truth. Or, we may hide the truth and utter outright lies to ingratiate ourselves to the powerful—the ahli bodek (courtiers) and ahli kipas (flatterers), as my old villagers would say.

In early 1976, soon after I began working as a surgeon at the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, the Minister of Health summoned my colleagues and me for a meeting. What prompted the ‘invitation’ was the rash of complaints from the public about the hospital. That was nothing new, then or now. All forty of us specialists were assembled in this large room. The minister was as usual, late, very late. After the customary (and very tedious) introductions all around, he assured us that he was interested more in solving the problems rather than assigning blame. He then listened patiently as my colleagues took turns venting their accumulated frustrations. My turn came last, being the most junior member. I had nothing more to add; besides, I was too recent an addition. Earlier, my seasoned colleagues had assured me that nothing meaningful would come out of the meeting; they had been through many such sessions before.

I told the Honorable Minister that if he could solve only a quarter of the problems raised by my colleagues, I would be very happy. He was surprised, and inquired whether if that were to happen, would I remain in government service? I assured him that I would even if only ten percent of the problems were resolved. I then added that I did not notice anyone taking notes. Whereupon there was a scramble among the presumably senior civil servants present to find a piece of paper to write.

After the meeting, one of my senior colleagues remarked to me, “Bakri, I agree with what you said, but I would never have dared say it!” Today, thirty years later, that is still the familiar refrain I hear, this time from my readers.

When that minister queried me, I assumed that he wanted my honest opinion. I owed him that much: honesty and frankness from a subordinate. When writing, I have the same obligation to my readers.

Still, the question lingers. Why did my former colleagues feel that they could not be frank and honest with their superior, the minister? Likewise, why do my readers see fit to describe my writings as “brave,” “honest,” and “frank?” The corollary must be that much of what they read locally is not.

On reflection, what separated me from my earlier colleagues was that I had freedom and options. If I could not tolerate government service I could always leave (which I did thirty months later).

When confronted with an entity or situation that you are not satisfied with, you have three choices: exit, voice, and loyalty, to quote the economist Hirschman.4 You leave (exit), try to improve from within (voice), or stick with it and hope for the best (loyalty). Hirschman oversimplifies things. If the organization were the only entity in town, you would have no choice; and when you could not leave, your voice would automatically be ineffective and your loyalty not valued. If I have a qualification recognized only in Malaysia or fluent in a language that was understood only locally, then I would have been stuck. I was fortunate to be able to exercise not one but all three options. I left, but my voice and loyalty live through my books and commentaries.

This freedom separates me from other commentators in Malaysia. I do not have to worry about the police knocking on my door in the middle of the night, as had happened to Kassim Ahmad, Syed Hussin Ali, Raja Petra Kamarudin, and many others.5 If Malaysian outfits shy from publishing my commentaries, I can do it myself. Nor do I have to worry that the government would threaten my livelihood should I write something critical.

I am fully aware of the obligations that go along with this freedom: to be fair, honest, and constructive, and to remain within the bounds of common courtesy and good taste.

 

Reasons For Writing

My claim to originality—and hence the excuse to write this book—is in adapting the ideas and insights of leading lights elsewhere to the issues and challenges facing Malaysia.

There is a tendency amongst individuals as well as societies to think that the problems they face are unique unto themselves. The consequence to this thinking is that they feel that they have little to learn from the experiences of others; those are deemed irrelevant. My thesis is the very opposite. There is nothing unique to the problems Malaysians and Malaysia face. Others, elsewhere today and in the past, have successfully solved many of the same dilemmas, albeit expressed in their infinite variations and manifestations. There is much that we can learn from others both in how to as well as how not to in addressing these issues.

For some, learning from others is a natural; for others, it would take courage and more than just a little dose of humility. At the very least, learning from others would spare you from repeating their mistakes.

I am fortunate to be among the few in my generation to benefit from superior education, a necessary basic tool for understanding ideas and intellectual developments elsewhere. Additionally, again the consequence of my education, I am blessed with a profession that I truly love and where I find personal and professional fulfillment. Just as fortunately, it rewards me generously, thus affording me the luxury to pursue interests outside the narrow focus of my work.

There are many Malaysians who have benefited from even more superior education.

They may also have far greater resources, but living in Malaysia, they lack the social and intellectual stimulation to pursue their passion, or to express freely their thoughts. I am fortunate to live in a society that puts a premium on personal freedom. I am free to pursue my ideas, and equally important, free to express them.

The intellectual, social and other environments of my contemporaries back in Malaysia are much more constrained. They are limited to what they can read or view beyond what are officially approved. They are not free to explore ideas that are too far off the accepted wisdom. Their freedom to express themselves is similarly restricted. The courageous few who dare push the envelope find themselves, much to their and their loved ones’ anguish, paying a very steep price. Hundreds of Malaysians today languish in jails; their only offence being pursuing and expressing their ideas, thoughts, and beliefs.

Their numbers may be small, but not their visibility. It is not a surprise that they and their families are keenly interested in raising their profiles in public in the hope of securing their release. The authorities too are eager to highlight their plight, but for a different and more sinister reason. The incarceration of these individuals serves as a constant and chilling reminder to the rest of the population, especially those who otherwise feel tempted to push the accepted boundaries.

I am in a privileged position and therefore feel compelled to document my views. I am also driven by the fact that not many of my countrymen have chosen to reflect upon and record their views and experiences for the benefit of those following. I owe the next and subsequent generations that much.

The few who do write, succumb to the easy path of ingratiating themselves to the powerful and being essentially apologists for the establishment. When the nation and its leaders need sober analyses, they resort to unabashed cheerleading.

I write for another far more important reason. Like many, I feel strongly that the country of my birth is headed in the wrong direction. The challenges are many, from coping with globalization, increasing crime and corruption, polarization between and within races, declining schools and institutions, eroding competitiveness, and declining productivity. The responses have been nothing but senseless sloganeering and endless exhortations. These problems cannot be wished away by waving the magic wand. Leaders delude themselves and their followers if they think that they could solve these intractable problems merely by making surprise visits to agencies and departments, or by continually uttering positive pronouncements. Malaysia’s myriad problems require careful analyses, thoughtful policies, and imaginative executions to solve them.

This book is my attempt at this. My analyses may be flawed and remedies wrong, but if I have succeeded in at least ringing alarm bells and initiating a dialogue, that is reward enough.

I have no patience for nor do I wish to engage those who view ideas first and foremost on the pedigree of their bearers. Instead I am directing myself to those who weigh the message rather than the messenger. Nonetheless, knowledge of the messenger often enhances understanding of the message, hence a brief outline of my perspective.

I am one of the increasingly many Malaysians who for a variety of reasons choose to live outside of Malaysia. I still have a deep reservoir of love and goodwill towards my country of birth and care enough to write and comment about it. Despite having spent decades abroad I am still deeply rooted emotionally in my native village and culture. I may be out of the kampong but I am proud to say, the kampong is still very much in me.

Next:  Returning to the Old groove

[Note: Beginning today, and on every Wednesday, I will post the serialization of my latest book, Towards A Competitive Malaysia: Development Challenges for the Twenty-First Century. Each installment would be about 1-2,000 words. At nearly500 pages, the whole book should be completely serialized in about two years. Students may get a complimentary copy of the e-version of the book by e-mailing me directly. MBM]

Towards A Competitive Malaysia

Development Challenges in the Twenty-First Century

M. Bakri Musa

Author of The Malay Dilemma Revisited

All Rights Reserved ã 2006 by M. Bakri Musa

Tanah Airku

Di atas garisan Gunung Ledang

Merenung jauh beta memandang

Tampaklah hutan rimba dan ngarai

Lagi pun sawah, telaga nan permai:

Serta gerangan lihatlah pula

Langit yang hijau bertukar warna

Oleh pucuk daun kelapa:

Itulah tanah airku

Malaysia namanya, tumpah darahku.

[With apologies to the Indonesian poet, Muhammad Yamin (1903-1962). His original poem appears in the reference.]

My translation:

My Native Land

High atop the ridge at Gunung Ledang

Amidst the vast grandeur this thought had sprung.

Yonder verdant jungle, lush fields of paddy

Sustained by springs perpetual and pristine

Such intoxicating beauty this blessed country!

The skies above with splashes of green

Lithe coconut fronds swaying so smoothly.

This is my claim, this is my stage

Malaysia is its name; my native land, my heritage.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction, Overview, and Acknowledgments

Part One On Being Competitive

Chapter 2: Ideas on the Evolution of Societies – From Ibn Khaldun to Jared Diamond

Chapter 3: The Diamond of Development

Chapter 4: On Being Competitive

Chapter 5: Consequences of Progress and Prosperity

Part Two Basic Building Blocks

Chapter 6: Great Nation, Great Leaders

Chapter 7: People: Our Precious Asset

Chapter 8: Culture Counts

Chapter 9: Institutions Matter

Chapter 10: Bless Our Geography

Part Three Where We Are Now

Chapter 11: Learning From Our Successes

Chapter 12: Fragmentation of Malaysian Society

Chapter 13: Deteriorating Institutions

Chapter 14: Environmental, Regional, and Global Challenges

Chapter 15: Examining Past Policies

Chapter 16: Critique of Current Strategies

Part Four Where We Could Be

Chapter 17: Granting Malaysians Their Merdeka

Chapter 18: Beacon for the Malay World

Chapter 19: Islam: The Solution, Not the Problem

Chapter 20: East, West, Islam, and Malaysia

Chapter 21: Gemilang Cemerlang, Terbilang … Atau Temberang!

(Excellence, Glory, and Distinction … Or Merely Hot Air!)

Chapter 22: Summary: Open Letter to Prime Minster Abdullah Badawi

Chapter 1:

Introduction, Overview, and Acknowledgments

Globalization brings the reality of an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse world to the forefront. For Malaysians, such diversities have long been part of their everyday life. Today, the Malaysian drama of competing racial and other interests is also being played on a much larger scale and with far greater consequences on the global stage.

Malaysia’s success could offer the world a lesson or two on managing diversity, quite apart from the benefits Malaysians would reap. With failure, Malaysians alone would bore the terrible consequences, with the greater world simply ignoring them. Consider the global reactions to the continuing tragedy in such places as Darfur and the Balkans where ethnic diversity is a horrendous liability. That stark reality alone should motivate Malaysians, citizens and leaders alike, to succeed.

Chronicling the Malaysian story is thus a worthy endeavor. With this book I venture beyond simple narration by being critical as well as prescriptive. My motivation is to contribute to the success of the Malaysian experiment.

I began formulating my ideas soon after the 1999 general elections when it was obvious that it would be Prime Minister Mahathir’s last. I had hoped to be done by the time his successor assumed office on November 2003. The delay was fortuitous as it enabled me to assess his successor’s early performance instead of merely speculating how Abdullah Badawi would turn out to be.

If Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi were to complete his full five-year mandate that he received in the general elections of May 2004, the midway point would be November 2006. That would also mark his third anniversary in office. He had presented three Federal budgets, and on March 31^st, 2006 he unveiled the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), his development blueprint for the next five years.

We should be able to discern the direction he is heading, or whether he has been merely running around in circles. From his tracks we should also be able to gauge whether his steps are sure and deliberate, or flighty and light.

A few months before Mahathir transferred power to Abdullah, I participated in a panel discussion in Washington, D.C, on what to expect in the post-Mahathir years. My view was that we should not expect much from Abdullah. At best he would merely coast along; Malaysia should count its blessings if he would not mess things up. Mine was definitely a minority viewpoint.¹

It is premature to give Abdullah his final report card, but we can give him an interim evaluation. That is my purpose with this book.

Unlike with an undergraduate’s progress report where there is a graded evaluation, this exercise is more akin to a preliminary preview of a graduate student’s development. There are no grades, merely suggestions on improving the experimental model and ideas for possible further exploration. The objective is to ensure that valuable time would not be wasted and that the final dissertation would be complete, acceptable, and possibly exemplary.

The primary beneficiary of an excellent dissertation would be the candidate, with the supervisors and department sharing in the reflected glory. If Abdullah’ tenure is successful, the primary beneficiaries would be Malaysia and Malaysians. For Abdullah, he would have earned the gratitude of the nation. That must surely be the greatest reward and an enduring legacy.

The mark of great leadership is not where you have been or started at, rather where you are headed for and ended up. Initial reservations and expectations are therefore irrelevant; only the final results matter.

Next: The Power of Words