I met a Malaysian who has been living in Taipei for the past 20 plus years. He came back to Penang recently for a short visit.
In 2004, he was tempted back to Malaysia by the government's brain gain promises. He is an engineering consultant. His 3 years stay in Penang ended up with nothing. In 2006, he packed and left Penang for good.
He told me that Taiwan is set to become the next high growth state in the new decade. Taiwan's lacklustre past decade was due to its politics. A number of my Taiwanese friends lamented to the same fact that ex-premier Chen Sui Bian was more interested in playing up political rhetoric than mending the economy and find a new area of growth for the city state. Chen's tenure is now known as the lost decade.
Malaysia may end up with the same fate if politicians continue to play up unhealthy political rhetoric, stoking racial and religious sentiments and use the monarchy for their political mileage. Our politicians should respect the spirit of the federal constitution and not meddling with the monarchy and accuse one another with 'treason'.
Adding the monarchy element into the already messy political situation muddled by race and religion will turn our politics into a dangerous cocktail.
It is sad to note that Malaysia is slipping down a slop of regression. We are no longer a top destination for FDIs. I wonder how top brains can be attracted to come to Malaysia if politicians behave like feudal lords.
We continue to quarrel over Islamic state, history textbooks, a simple handshake of a Muslim woman, personalities etc.
Politicians in Malaysia are probably the biggest hypocrites. Imagine a leader who was caught in a private sex video questioning a married Muslim woman on her choice not to have any skin contact with other men. Imagine a former activist dumping his party and his principles to join another race based party just because he was unhappy with its leadership. Malaysian politics is too personality centric but lacked principle and sincerity.
I am afraid that our politics is going to fail us. Bad politics, poor public institutions, corruption, poor governance and policy direction are among the ingredients of a failed state.
Until and unless the voters can think straight and focus on quality of governance, this country may not turn its declining fortune around.
Sadly, more talents and frustrated people are going to leave the country before the Talent Corp can even start its full operations.
- Staright Talk
Coup for MCA as PKR founder-member joins up
A PKR founding member has acted on his criticism of the party leadership in applying to join the MCA - and claimed that more than 1,000 PKR members will follow suit in March.
Ng Lum Yong 
Dozens of members and leaders, as well as Umno's Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor - once the PKR Youth head - looked on.
Ng, a former supreme council member, lambasted PKR for having changed from one that struggles for justice to one that only serves one person - de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.
"I have witnessed how it has changed during my 12 years in the party. Its struggle has no agenda, today it is merely about a person named Anwar Ibrahim," he said.
Likening PKR to the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party - whose president Chen Shui Bian had been charged with corruption - Ng said PKR and Anwar have politicised every single issue.
"The people must realise that this is very dangerous," he said, commending Chua and Prime Minister Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for their commitment in transforming the nation for the benefit of the people.
At a press conference, Ng tore up a mock PKR membership card bearing the number of 0000012, which indicates that he had been among the earliest to join the party.
The 49-year-old businessman has been involved in opposition politics for over 25 years. He was a member of Parti Rakyat Malaysia before it merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional to become PKR.
He contested on a PKR ticket in the 1999 general election in the Tanjung Malim parliamentary seat in Perak, but was defeated by the MCA candidate.
PKR offered Ng a chance to contest the Wangsa Maju parliamentary seat in the 2008 general election, but he rejected it.
Since then, he has been inactive in the party, although vocal in his criticism of the leadership in relation to various issues.
Something 'very wrong' in PKR
Mohd Ezam , who had brought Ng into MCA, said over 90 percent of the PKR founders - those with a membership number from 0000002 to 0000007 - are no longer in the party.
"Anwar has lost his credibility. There is no party in Malaysia or in the world where 90 percent of its founding members have quit. There must be something very wrong," he said.
PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail holds the 0000001 membership number, while Ezam held 0000007.
Chua called on the people to reconsider their support for PKR in view of the desertion of so many leaders and representatives after the last general election. He attributed this to their loss of confidence in Anwar's leadership.
The MCA president continued to harp on the issue of Islamic state, citing the previous Perak Pakatan Rakyat state government as an example of PAS dominance of the opposition coalition.
He pointed out that PAS had only won six state seats in Perak in 2008 compared to DAP and PKR, which controlled 18 and seven seats respectively. Yet, the mentri besar was selected from PAS.
"If Pakatan Rakyat wins at federal level, Anwar will not be the taiko (big brother). It will be PAS because it is more disciplined and has more resources than PKR and DAP," he added.
- Malaysiakini
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