FORMER finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was a guest speaker at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) Regional Outlook Forum 2010 at the Shangri-la Hotel, Singapore on Jan 7.
Following are more excerpts of his address which, among others, touched on Malaysia's regime crisis and race politics.
See also: Holding the country together
“UMNO started in 1946 as a grassroots-based party that commanded the idealism of my generation.
"After 1987 it was transformed into a top-down patronage machine. Party membership became a ticket to personal gain.
"The party attracted opportunists and ne’er do wells while good people stayed away in droves. For any organisation this is a death spiral.
“The challenge of Umno and of Malaysia today is not simply reform but restoration, not simply democratisation but re-democratisation.
“This is because we are not building from scratch but trying to recover from the decline of once-excellent core institutions."
Tengku Razaleigh, the leader of the now-defunct Semangat 46 party who once challenged Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the Umno presidency, said there are regional implications to Malaysia’s crisis.
"The formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 precipitated a regional conflict to which, in part, the formation of Asean in 1967 was meant to be a solution.
Country run as unitary state
"Now, in a clear sign of the erosion of the rule of law, agreements that structured state-federal relations over matters such as the distribution of the petroleum revenue are casually ignored.
“Malaysia is a federation of sovereign entities, but one of the consequences of authoritarianism has been that it has come to be run habitually as a unitary state.
“We have to learn again how to be a federation."
The former finance minister said while shortcuts in governance may appear to work for a while, they wreak long-term havoc on the institutional capability of a nation.
"What is clear is that there is no secure basis for long-term growth without a return to strong institutions, transparency and good government.
"The challenges of economic development, nation-building and institutional integrity are linked, more so in complex countries like Malaysia.
"The success of Asean collaborative measures depends on the core countries taking a lead, and it is in everyone’s interest that these countries have strong democratic institutions and the rule of law.
Going from crisis to crisis
"When countries lack good governance and transparency, domestic economies falter, domestic politics goes from crisis to crisis, and the country turns inwards and away from engaging constructively with the real world and with their neighbours."
Tengku Razaleigh said the economic success of Asean economies up to the 90s was based, in part, on the superiority of their institutional frameworks to those of Eastern Europe and South America. In the early days, Malaysia and Singapore played leading roles in Asean.
“The present Prime Minister (Najib Abdul Razak) has made some helpful gestures towards liberalising the economy and pursuing more multiracial policies.
“These initiatives, however, must do more than skim the surface of what must be done.
"Malaysia is in need of fundamental reforms. The reforms we need include, at minimum:
- An overhaul of the party system which rules out racially exclusive parties from facing directly contesting elections. This will inaugurate a new era of post-racial politics.
- The restoration of the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of the media, and
- An all-out war on corruption, the root of all the evils in nation-building and economic development.
"The greater economic collaboration we aspire to in Asean requires that we pay attention to the internal conditions in each country that make it possible.
"We need to place the promotion of governance and institutional reform on the Asean agenda.”
Malaysian Mirror
10/01/10
Following are more excerpts of his address which, among others, touched on Malaysia's regime crisis and race politics.
See also: Holding the country together
“UMNO started in 1946 as a grassroots-based party that commanded the idealism of my generation.
"After 1987 it was transformed into a top-down patronage machine. Party membership became a ticket to personal gain.
"The party attracted opportunists and ne’er do wells while good people stayed away in droves. For any organisation this is a death spiral.
“The challenge of Umno and of Malaysia today is not simply reform but restoration, not simply democratisation but re-democratisation.
“This is because we are not building from scratch but trying to recover from the decline of once-excellent core institutions."
Tengku Razaleigh, the leader of the now-defunct Semangat 46 party who once challenged Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the Umno presidency, said there are regional implications to Malaysia’s crisis.
"The formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 precipitated a regional conflict to which, in part, the formation of Asean in 1967 was meant to be a solution.
Country run as unitary state
"Now, in a clear sign of the erosion of the rule of law, agreements that structured state-federal relations over matters such as the distribution of the petroleum revenue are casually ignored.
“Malaysia is a federation of sovereign entities, but one of the consequences of authoritarianism has been that it has come to be run habitually as a unitary state.
“We have to learn again how to be a federation."
The former finance minister said while shortcuts in governance may appear to work for a while, they wreak long-term havoc on the institutional capability of a nation.
"What is clear is that there is no secure basis for long-term growth without a return to strong institutions, transparency and good government.
"The challenges of economic development, nation-building and institutional integrity are linked, more so in complex countries like Malaysia.
"The success of Asean collaborative measures depends on the core countries taking a lead, and it is in everyone’s interest that these countries have strong democratic institutions and the rule of law.
Going from crisis to crisis
"When countries lack good governance and transparency, domestic economies falter, domestic politics goes from crisis to crisis, and the country turns inwards and away from engaging constructively with the real world and with their neighbours."
Tengku Razaleigh said the economic success of Asean economies up to the 90s was based, in part, on the superiority of their institutional frameworks to those of Eastern Europe and South America. In the early days, Malaysia and Singapore played leading roles in Asean.
“The present Prime Minister (Najib Abdul Razak) has made some helpful gestures towards liberalising the economy and pursuing more multiracial policies.
“These initiatives, however, must do more than skim the surface of what must be done.
"Malaysia is in need of fundamental reforms. The reforms we need include, at minimum:
- An overhaul of the party system which rules out racially exclusive parties from facing directly contesting elections. This will inaugurate a new era of post-racial politics.
- The restoration of the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of the media, and
- An all-out war on corruption, the root of all the evils in nation-building and economic development.
"The greater economic collaboration we aspire to in Asean requires that we pay attention to the internal conditions in each country that make it possible.
"We need to place the promotion of governance and institutional reform on the Asean agenda.”
Malaysian Mirror
10/01/10
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