Talk of becoming a high income nation....

What does it take to become a high income nation? I am not an economist - so these are merely random thoughts from a brain that can't seem to stop thinking about how to make this country a better place for all of us (Malaysians first, naturally!)

1) Boost government income and reduce the budget deficit by improving the quality of our human capital.

How can one do this? Boosting the earning power of the rakyat hence deriving a larger proportion of government income through income tax contributions. (Singapore, Hong Kong are richer countries based on the quality of their human capital - yet these countries have lower tax rates than Malaysia currently..... it is not higher taxation that helps - it is the earning capacity of the people and this is not achieved by allowing our best brains to leave the country and leaving the bulk of the population in low earning, low productivity jobs - these low income wage earners do not contribute to the taxes that are needed to fund our economic progress.

2) There is talk of removing subsidies so that employers will be forced to raise salaries of workers. Having said that, what makes Malaysia competitive amongst our counterparts in the emerging world? Lower costs and our middle sized population. However, removing subsidies alone is certainly not going to be the driving force that will make foreign companies invest more in our country - what's the attraction for foreign companies when they know that costs are going to rise? What value is in it for employers especially if the quality of the human capital or productivity does not improve?

It is a question that we all try very hard to answer but did certain policies of the government in the past contribute to the state of the poor quality of the human capital currently? The fact is that the one thing that can improve human capital is open competition. What drives each of us to achieve success and what makes a winner a winner? Without that, we will only be subject to more mediocrity.

3) Government expenditure - so far I have talked about increasing government income. (Let's not talk about Petronas, yet, ok). How transparent is the government with regard to spending of taxpayers money? Failed mega projects? Mismanagement of funds (BTW, why is there no longer any news on PKFZ....?).

The key thing is this : How can the government request the public to tighten their belts with the removal of subsidies when they can't even be open and accountable with how they spend our money? The onus is on the government to prove that they are worthy in the management of taxpayers money.

What are the issues that are close to the taxpayers hearts?

1) Quality Education where the best brains are given the most opportunities - true meritocricy (how else do you improve human capital?), access to libraries and information technology .

2) Good public infrastructure (we pay tolls everywhere and yet we pay higher taxes than in Singapore - go figure) in the form of public roads, public transportation

3) Foreign investments and job opportunities - however this area lacks transparency and regulation (the key thing is that there should be some sort of conflict of interest clauses - politicians too often want a piece of the pie and that is not good governance) - if this is addressed, and policies do not get switched over and flip flopped all the time, perhaps the investors would have a better appetite to invest in Malaysia.

4) Rewards for innovation

5) Affordable Healthcare

We certainly do not need high spending on defense......

What value do I get for every dollar of taxes that I pay?

What will it take to make the government realize that the quality of the human capital in Malaysia desperately needs to be improved?

If we continue as a nation to fight amongst ourselves, we will eventually lose out to the competition globally. So should you listen to the fundamentalists (IA - PKS) with their protectionist measures and lose out to the rest of the world or should you listen to some common sense and move the nation forward? Because that will eventually improve the lot of everyone in Malaysia (including IA-PKS though they may be too small minded to see this now)

What should National Service be about?

Certainly not about a 3 month stint in the jungle by teenagers who still eventually fall back to their racial castes. National Service is all about bright Malaysians coming back from abroad to serve their country instead of switching their allegiance to a foreign country and contributing to the coffers of the "so called - first world"

However, the real challenge is whether the current policies in Malaysia are enough to bring back this talent to help us develop into a first world nation? Can we do this? Not with fundamentalists and protectionist measures. Malaysia has to grow up - that's just the point.

Oh think not of what the country can do for you but what you can do for the country? But in a nutshell - is this just idealism?

There may be more to the "Name" issue

After reading the analysis of the situation by columnist Jocelyn Tan, I started thinking more about the current situation wondering why the government took a stand to appeal the High Court decision. After all, was it wise to bring an additional parameter (politics) into an already complicated mix? It does not take a genius to know that this is a very sensitive and highly charged area and the potential that it could escalate into something bigger would be a very real threat. Why allow it to escalate further?

Who would stand to gain from this situation, I wondered?

There are several possibilities . However, these are merely my random thoughts.

The next General Election is fast gaining on us . What does the government need to do to retain their control? The major battle that must be fought, I would think is to regain the support of the majority of the Malaysian Malays who contributed significantly to the loss of 5 states in the previous general election in March 2008. What was the main contributing factor to the loss of support by this large and growing group? Was it the charisma of DSAI? Or was it largely due to the growing influence of PAS? Was it a combination of the two?

It is clear that the government realized the growing threat and needed to take action to regain this lost support base.

Here, understanding the enemy's weaknesses becomes an item of major importance.

What would be needed to weaken the enemy? Ever heard of divide and conquer? PAS, one of the largest political parties on the opposition divide is clearly divided on this matter...... the situation now is open to vulnerabilities but the fact that other parties are unknowingly being dragged into the mix is sad to watch.

Why allow the word to be used only in Sabah and Sarawak? Oh yes - wasn't it East Malaysia that saved Barisan Nasional in the last election..... Clearly, retaining the support of Sabah and Sarawak is also paramount. It is noteworthy that leaders from these two states have been distinctly silent on the "Name" matter.

There is also the other side of the coin to look at - would the opposition stand to gain from this?

Please refer to this article :

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LA16Ae02.html

Is this a ploy to win over Sabah and Sarawak by the opposition?

It seems to me that both sides of the political divide are jumping on the bandwagon and using this issue to gain political mileage.

We will watch as this situation continues to unfold. Let's hope that the affected parties will not allow themselves to be casualties in what many would see as an unnecessary battle. What happened to responsible leadership?

Let us not be pawns in this sinister battle.

Please don't use religion to gain political mileage. It's just not nice!

Where is Malaysia headed? In response to Romerz post

I agree with Masterwordsmith that it is indeed worrying to see where Malaysia is headed.
After the March 2008 GE, we watched and waited to see of there would be any improvement in the likes of our current administration.
We watched as scandals (Lingam-ism, PKFZ, Jet engines, Toyolism, stadium collapses... amongst others) are reported but no tangible outcome of investigations is achieved. We watch in sadness when we see lives lost (TBH being one of them)for no apparent reason. We watch as the government makes flip flop decisions that affect the public and the future of our generations to come like our education system.
We watch as religious extremism is allowed to be fueled in the form of cowheads and now the burning of churches
We watch as the democratic process is tainted with the Perak incident.(We have not forgotten)
We watch as all these issues continue to remain unresolved and politicians continue to bicker and fight for control.
Where is Malaysia headed? I think it is very clear.
It is good to see though that common sense does prevail with calls to remain calm and avoid retaliation or demonstrations that can further stoke dissent in a sensitive situation.

Pointless Politics

Nothing to say except that after all that has happened in Malaysia, God help us. It is sad that the focus is only on MCA and the opposition - diversionary if you were to ask me. It is a sad state indeed

What a load of bull!

I am truly ashamed of Malaysia.

We have had such bad press lately.

We made headlines, by the way - in the foreign news papers and news over the last two months

1) Caning of part time model Kartika for drinking beer in public - that was on the front page of the Straits Times and all over BBC and CNN

2) Indonesians threw eggs at our embassy over a traditional dance (???) and ....get this....the National anthem- that made headlines too obviously

3) PKFZ - now , how could that be left out of the news, right? It's really dog eat dog isn't it? Word on the street is that the in-fighting will see the demise of MCA.

4) The death of political secretary Teoh Beng Hock

5) And last but not least, we have the infamous and sordid Cow Head incident (this was really beyond words for me - just could not find any words to express my sentiments over this) !

This is really really humiliating for all Malaysians.

What sort of picture are we painting to the rest of the world?

Is is worth it? To the parties behind all of this - is it worth it? Is it worth losing our credibility and even worse, our common sense and spirit of decency?

Sigh.....

Sigh......

Sigh.....

Or do Malaysians even know what decency means?

I am begining to doubt it.

We have become the laughing stock in South East Asia

Land - An interesting point to note.....

Something interesting caught my attention this weekend. I happened to chance upon an advertorial for a development project in Ipoh. Therein, I noticed the conditions for the use of the land. *Land* - after all is under the purvue of individual state governments in Malaysia.

Restriction in interest for the land title : "Consent by the Menteri Besar is required" (for transfers etc.)

Huh?? What the"hey"????

What sort of condition is that? I have seen land titles requiring the consent of a state authority (ie. a committee etc) but to leave such decisions to one person? How can there be any transparency or exercise of good governance with this sort of condition?

I wonder whether this is common for other states ?

How can this be allowed ? This is an open invitation for corrupt practices.

Now I understand why it was so important for BN to "wrestle" control of the state.

Now I understand why the post of Menteri Besar is so coveted.

This is probably only the tip of the ice-berg......