LETTER | The Association for Welfare, Community and Dialogue (Acid) agrees with the statement by Tengku Razeleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) that Malaysia was never an Asian Tiger, contrary to a claim by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The veteran Umno leader was cautioning against giving in to illusions of grandeur.
According to Ku Li, Malaysia could not stake a claim to being an Asian Tiger as the country had financed most of its projects, including dams and highways, because foreign investors had skirted around Malaysia.
While the Umno stalwart has raised an important point, it is also vital to point out that macroeconomic management alone is insufficient to become an Asean tiger.
There is a need to take into consideration the distribution of wealth for empowerment, a culture with strong values, and a vision that is not merely limited to industry.
Acid is of the view that Malaysia’s aspiration to become an Asean Tiger was always difficult to materialise because Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s vision and of his successors were based on the false premise of enriching a few capitalists at the expense of the majority.
The middle class that Mahathir created are more in the civil service that was built on loyalty around him along with ethno-religious sentiments, instead of building a diverse workforce of merit and excellence.
The failure to build high standards of governance that is transparent and accountable that abhors corruption is Mahathir’s greatest failure, which can be felt to this day.
Besides the importance of a clean civil service to become an Asean tiger, one of the important critical aspects of becoming a vibrant economic nation is to focus on human capital development with the vision of empowering the workforce.
According to statistics taken in December 2023, only 28 percent of Malaysian workers are classified as skilled workers, while 60 percent are categorised as semi-skilled workers and 12 percent fall into the low-skilled category.
Only 37.2 percent of the national income goes to workers’ earnings, with the remaining portion allocated to employers or capital owners, according to economist Professor Noor Azlan Ghazali.
He said this distribution differs from other developed countries like the US and the UK where workers earn 55 percent and 53.4 percent of the national income, respectively.
If Malaysia was an Asean tiger that was progressive and growing, why are we having these poor statistics?
The lack of ecological vision for the country during the Mahathirian years has created more vehicles on the road and massive traffic jams besides polluting the environment.
We are in dire need today of efficient public transport around the country to be really considered Asean tigers.
Therefore, Acid urges the current Malaysian government and also the opposition to focus on what really matters for the country, which is the broader vision of human capital development and ecological vision of sustainability instead of archaic tribal ethno-religious sentiments that would not lead the country forward.
We need unity in diversity that would empower each community instead of the current socioeconomic vision that is ethno-religious-centric. Merits should overtake ethnic sentiments.
We need to develop our workforce and open ourselves to the best minds around the world to progress instead of being comfortable with cheap labour.
To become an Asean tiger, transformation of mindset and culture is critical.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
