Passing of a friend and 3rd year room mate at University of Malaya

Last week I received the sad news from a causin who is a Professor at UPM about the passing away of Dato' Dr. Halim Hassan, my room mate at the First Residential College at the University of Malaya [UM]in Acedemic Year 1961/62. Although he was in and out of hospital for three months prior to his demise, nobody had told me about his deteriorating condition. I was all the time thinking that he was still in Sarawak where he had been working after retiring from his last position as Director General of PORLA, a government research organisation for oil palm. I understand that YAB Tan Sri Taib Mahmud had kindly invited him to go over to work in one of his family owned companies. As we are all aware, government pension is so small that most government pensioners have to continue slogging if they want to maintain a quality of life that thay are used to.

What I want to emphasise here is the lack of connectivity or exchange of news among old friends when we are no longer in active service. In Islam it is "saliturrahim" which is glaringly missing among us once we are "out of circulation". Of course there are those who still keep up with their golfing or clubbing activities but then it will still be limited to those who share the same hobbies. To improve this connectivity or linkages with old friend, I think the internet presents the best option. But here again not many of those in their 60s and 70s want to learn and adopt this new "tool".

MSAbdullah.

Can Malays rely on UMNO to help them survive the onslought of economic competition

As a result of the recent major erosion of the popularity of UMNO among the Malays as evidenced by the poor performance of the Organisation in the General Election, all kinds of questions are being asked and answers given as to the cause of such a drastic change in the fate of this overwhelming popular organization which has ruled the country, with its coalition parties, for over 50 years.

It cannot be denied that the Barisan Nasional [earlier The Alliance] has not done too badly if we compare Malaysia's economic achievement with all the other colonies that had gained independance in the last six decades. Of course Singapore is a glaring success story but then it is only a city state. However considering the resources that Malaysia had we could have done better, if the government had not invested too much money on grandoise projects some of which were ill concieved and less beneficial to the nation. Due to tainted procument procedures, much resources were also wasted through leakages which are visible to the younger and more educated rakyat.

What is becoming more intolerable to the younger, more educated generation, is the hollow talk by the UMNO leaders that they are always championing the future survival of the Malays in this new economic reality, whereas they are only interested in enriching themselves and their families and cronies and "hand kissers". We just have to observe how the majority of the Malays cannot stand the economic competition of their neighbours who are more agressive and acquisitive. After a certain age most Malays are also less competitive in their outlook due to their religious dogmas. Fifty years of UMNO "revolusi mental" have not changed them very much and to top it all PAS has further increased their rejection of wordly competitive inclination. Although Islam encourages them to strive hard for this world as if they are going to live forever and also to carry out their religious obligations as if they are dying tomorrow, many Malays are only more concerned with the next world.

As a result Malays are losing ground in many areas of the economy. The often exggerated share of the equity ownership is actually dismal without the GLCs. What about ownership of properties in urban residential areas? No statistic has ever been published on this. By the high number of drift out of Malays from expensive residential areas of Kuala Lumpur such as Damansara Heights to urban fringes such as Sungai Buluh, very soon it will be rare to find Malays living in such posh areas. In every 100 new factory and shop lots opened throughout the country, we will be lucky if we can find 10 operated by Malays. What is UMNO doing about this disparity? What are the many Government Agencies charged with the resposibility of helping Bumiputra doing about it.

I think those are few examples of the things that Malays feel that the very Government they elected are not doing very much to help them. Many have to be satisfied buy just being drivers, delivery boys, office cleaners and junior clerks in big businesses not owned by their own people. Higher jobs are denied to them for lack of ability to master Mandarin. In the rural areas they are encouraged to work on the land, farming or keeping ruminants. But when the do it, they find that when they are ready to sell their vegetables or fruits, they have to go through the middlemen who pay 1/3 or less of the price they have to pay if they go to the market. If they keep animals, when their animals are sick, no veterinary help is forthcoming when they need them most. Can you believe that the whole district of Bentong does not even have the service of a government Veterinery Doctor. One pet shop in Kuala Lumpur I know has six Veterinary Doctors. Is this how to encourage productivity among rural youth?

In conclusion, I fear that if UMNO does not make a drastic turn around to make itself relevant to the hopes of the Malays to help them survive the onslought of economic competition in their own homeland, its futur is truely very bleak.

MSAbdullah.

A most disappointing revelation of corrupt UMNO leaders

Today a friend sent me a long list of details of fixed deposit receipts belonging to the family,relatives,cabinet ministers,state chief ministers and senior personal staff of Tun Dr. Mahathir totalling to hundreds of millions of US and Singapore dollars issued by several overseas banks, including the Isreali National Bank. The details in the list are very convincing and the originator of the e-mail is listed as one Harry Pinder.As most of the persons named are UMNO political leaders; a few are still in the present Cabinet, the question asked at the end of the message was whether we can still trust them to govern the country.

As an UMNO member, if the revelation is correct,I feel that this information should be investigated and if the sources of those big sums of money deposited cannot be explained, the UMNO disciplinary committee should expelled them in order to uphold the integrity of UMNO leadership. Vote buying is bad enough. Hoarding millions of ringgit of ill gotten money in foreign banks is an unforgiveable sin.

MSAbdullah.

Special meeting to discuss Malay issues

Page 13 of The New Straits Times of some weeks back carried the above caption.To many this is just another item of news. However to me it presents a momentus occasion for Malays to discuss their political future in view of the recent crisis of confidence among people of the Malay race.

Before the discussion mode is put into place, I think it is best that the word or term Malay and the issues to be discussed be clearly defined and agreed among the interested parties. The Malaysian Constitution defines the word "Malay" and if we are all are agreed on that, then what remains to be identified are the "issues" to be dicussed. Can we agree that economic achievement of the Malays is an issue? Can we also consider educational progress of the Malays as an issue to be discussed? So through a process of selection and elimination we may draw a long list of subjects which we can consider as the issues confronting the Malays.

There is no point just dicussing if we do not try to find the solution to resolve those issues. So if we get on to the discussion stage and also come up with the recommended solutions to those issues, who or which body will implement those solutions?

From our observation of the past two decades,most of the well conceived plans to help the common people have been wrongly managed and finally benefitted only a few. What happened to PERNAS which was born out of the Kongress Ekonomi Bumiputra is a case in point. What happened to HICOM which had achieved monumental growth in th 80s and early 90s is another example of massive diversion of public assets in favour of cronyism.

In conclusion, however well the Malays or for that matter the whole nation, try to resolve our issues and put in place a programme to overcome it, poor accountability,
lack of transparency and above all a corrupt political leadership will nullify all our national efforts. Unless we can find a way to stop all these nonsence, we may be wasting our time in carrying on these discussions.

MSABdullah.

What is the future for UMNO now?

Bleak or Bright depends on what we do form now on. GE 12 has given very clear indications that the poppularity and support for UMNO is at its lowest ebb. So many political analysts have given their views as to the dismal peformance of UMNO and its allies in the Barison Nasional and perhaps for the next six months a few more dozens of analysts will provide their findings.

From my point of view, I see the main problem with UMNO is its resistance to change. Like all successful organisations it has all the trappings of an organisation that has been "Seduced by Success". A book of the same title by Robert J. Herbold describes clearly the 9 traps the UMNO has fallen into. Unless UMNO can get out of the traps and transform itself into a dynamic organisation that can appeal to the current voters, the future of UMNO can be very bleak indeed. Hitherto the performance of the Barisan Nasionl Government led by UMNO can only be compared with PAS led State Governments in Kelantan and Trengganu [only one term]. By the next election, the voters will also have DAP and PKR led State Governments to compare with.

MSAbdullah.

Why has UMNO been accused of sidelining the Non Malays.

Being a member of UMNO myself, I think the Organisation is being unfairly accused of giving more favour to the Malays than to Malaysian of other racial origins in this country. On the contrary if you examine the tract record of the UNMO led Government over the last 50 years,the scale may even show that the weight is even heavier on the side of Non-Malays.

Look at the development of residential areas around urban centres in Malaysia. The most backward areas in terms of infrastructure are in Malay Reserve Areas. Look for yourselves at Kampong Baru, Kampong Morten in Malacca and many many more if you care to search your memory, where physical development has lagged so far behind that they look like slums. The UMNO led Government could have justifiably done much more if it wants.

Look at the award of Mega Monopolistic or Oligopolistic Businesses in gambling, sugar, steel, space terrestial communication, flour, import and export of major commodities. Who are the beneficiaries?

But what is being grudged is the employment of too many Malays in the Civil Service, the Military and the Police. These are employments which trapped them in low paying jobs at the end of which they get pensions which are hardly enough to keep their bodies and souls together, unless of course they succumb to corruption and NOT get caught. In the private sector they are mostly confined to menial and clerical grades.

Recently, poverty eradication schemes like FELDA has been cited as unfair schemes for the Malays only. How much more do these people want to push the patience of the Malays?

Display of Jalur Gemilang on Merdeka Anniversary

It is encouraging to see that most owners of premises have now taken the initiative to display the Jalur Gemilang. However the enthusiasm and preparation taken to put up the displays appear to be at various levels.

For most it can be seen that the attitude taken is very lackadiasical. As long as it is stuck up somewhere the show of loyalty is fullfilled. The flagpost can be a bent pvc water pipes or any material that can stand just a few feet above the gound. It would not be wrong to say that less than 5% of homes and shopping premises really show seriousness and respect for the National Flag.

After 50 years of Nationhood, I think it is high time that all Malaysians give the right respect for our National Flag. To start with, all Local Authorities should prescribe that all new buildings should include at least a flag post in the design in an appropriate place. Such a move, would also instil the conciousness that flying the National Flag is part of our citizen's obligation.

MSAbdullah.