Former premier Mr Lee Kuan Yew, on being awarded the Lincoln Medal from
the United States government for his contribution to the growth and
development of Singapore, stated that “an important basis of what made
us successful was the putting in place of the practice of meritocracy
since we became independent of Malaysia.”
The use of and the practice of meritocracy underlines the great strides
the island-state has made since it separated from Malaysia to become the
richest country in the world today.
If Malaysia languishes today, in comparison with Singapore, it is not
just the lack of meritocracy that is not practiced but a host of other
wrongdoings that has spelt doom to true democracy and the emergence of
an inequitable society at friction with themselves.
Everything was quite fine and dandy with the attainment of Merdeka and
the government of the popular Tunku Abdul Rahman. But the race riots of
May 13, 1969 saw him eclipsed as prime minister and the rise of Tun
Abdul Razak to power.
During Razak’s tenure as premier, the New Economic Policy (NEP) was
formulated, much to the dissatisfaction of non-bumiputras. The
hastily-conceived NEP created ill feelings and while rightly trying to
restore the equitable distribution of wealth, used a completely poor and
weak method of implementation, one that seemed to lack much thought,
consideration, debate and discussion.
The NEP engendered a feeling of disquiet. Under the execution of the
NEP, throughout its life span and existence, it violated greatly the
practice of meritocracy and caused race relations to begin to
deteriorate.
The NEP violated the use and practice of meritocracy
While one of the factors that the race riots of 1969 was the result of
the Malay community, being lagging and left behind in the Tunku’s push
for economic prosperity, it was a situation of their own doing, and when
the other major races began to make gains, it blew up into a restive
atmosphere.
In his bid to appease the Malays and to restore peace and stability,
Razak initiated the NEP in the hope that it will bring the largely
underclass Malays to the forefront of the nation. While the intentions
were noble and lofty, what has evolved out of the tenure of the NEP was
the emergence of a minority governing Malay elite while the large
majority of bumiputras stayed in limbo.
If the NEP brought about benefits to any quarter, it was only in carving
out an elite Malay society, those who were politically-connected to the
ruling Barisan Nasional via UMNO, all at the expense and sacrifice of
the practice of meritocracy.
If we have witnessed the emigration of much valued Malaysians, the state
of race relations becoming fragile by the surfacing of racial
polarization, and the general sentiment of anger, frustration and
bitterness arising from non-bumputras and even bumiputras, it is largely
because the NEP completely eliminated the use of and the practice of
meritocracy.
What has now evolved out of the NEP’s duration of practice, a situation
which is much more worrisome, is that most bumiputras are still in the
“have not” category and seem to yearn and foster a handout mentality
from the ruling BN government.
The practice of meritocracy can be a tacky, touchy issue in a country
that does not seem to have an open, unbiased understanding of how it
works, especially by a government who feel they know the way forward but
does not in reality.
What has happened without the use of and practice of meritocracy?
The lack of meritocracy being practiced in Malaysia has caused the
distance between the “haves” and the “have not’s” to grow wider. This is
especially true among the Malay community where the large majority have
failed to make progress in their daily lives beyond being boosted by
government intervention to give the impression that the community is
making progress.
Such a falsehood is easily evident, yet the government tinkers with
statistics to convince Malaysians and the international community that
Malays are economically prosperous and doing just fine.
But all is definitely not fine now. Malays have become a disgruntled and
disunited lot with their political allegiance being skewered three-ways
now between UMNO, PKR and Party
PAS. If the meritocratic and fair, right and proper approach of the
Tunku was perhaps explained and taught to the Malaysian masses in a
wider way, then all will still be well with Malaysia and BN.
Since the implementation of the NEP up to now, the nation of Malaysia
and its citizens of all races have had to pay the price of a BN
government that began the race of democracy well but faltered through
its formulation of the NEP and has since lost its way.
While the untold damage of meritocracy not being in place has not and
possibly cannot be charted and be placed on record for all to concur and
realize, what is clearly evident is that the failure to practice
meritocracy even until now is taking a heavy toll in causing much social
injustice and oppression among the rakyat.
World concerns grow over Malaysia’s lack of meritocracy
In recent reports in the mainstream media, it is alleged that “foreign
hands” are involved in a far-fetched bid to topple the BN government by
funding financially and making use of the alternative media and various
NGOs in the country.
While the funding revealed totaled to a miserable RM20 million
purportedly from organizations mostly linked with the United States and
Zionists groups, it is inconceivable that this amount is enough to
topple the multi-billion ringgit BN government of Malaysia.
The reasons given by the funders and those who have very openly and
honestly acknowledged having received the funds is more believable than
the ‘sandiwara’ that is being spun by the Malaysian government that
there are foreign hands trying to topple them.
In reality, the concerns of these foreign organizations and Malaysian
groups associated and linked with them is not without basis as they see
that the use and the practice of meritocracy, fair play and justice is
not in place in this country.
This has caused them to do whatever they can as concerned and
responsible persons and organizations who do not wish to see Malaysia go
the way of rogue nations like Pakistan and Iran but instead wish to
liberate and free Malaysians from the tyranny and oppression of the BN
government who have violated their terms and conditions of democratic
governance.
It is really in reneging on the use of and practice of meritocracy that
concerns are mounting within the right-thinking members of the
international community to try and assist Malaysia in going down the way
of destruction towards becoming a failed state.
It is even preferable and a much wiser and better option that foreign
leaders and organizations get together to consider how they can pull
Malaysia out of the evil clutches of a BN government that has completely
violated democratic values to become a country governed by despots.
Voters to call the shots in the coming 13th GE
In the coming 13th GE,
if BN hopes to make any improvement on their hold on power, if they are
to even win by a simple majority, they need to ensure that they begin
to practice meritocracy in an open and transparent manner.
Otherwise, there is that real and grave danger that Malaysia will
descend into a society at disarray with itself, and worse, what we will
probably be witnessing is that power and wealth will be concentrated in
an elite minority while the Malaysian masses continue to endure hardship
and deprivation.
The thrust is now upon the BN government of Malaysia to show the way
forward through fair practices, the practice of meritocracy or risk
being shown the exit door by voters. However, the failure on the part of
BN to practice meritocracy for decades should spell its downfall as
dissenting voters of all walks of life vent their frustration on the
ruling party for going awry.
This means the case of trying to backtrack now may be all too late for
the BN government. The years of bad, ill-will governance by BN for the
last four decades has started to fester and turn ugly and evil in the
hearts and minds of Malaysians who can no longer stomach the conniving
corruption and cronyism of the governing BN coalition.
If the last political tsunami of 2008 was a wake-up call for BN, their
transformation efforts are seen by most Malaysians as a façade and
ineffective in reality, as it is really a case of merely doing some
cosmetic changes while the core issues that are causing Malaysians to
rise in anger and resentment, such as corruption and cronyism, are still
not addressed.
Worst still, it is yet to be seen by Malaysians if the use of and
practice of meritocracy is fully in place by BN and based on these
grounds alone the governing BN is set to lose further ground in the
upcoming 13th GE.
Malaysia Chronicle
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