AS I write this article, I reflect upon my life at this ripe old age of 78 having to face the imminent war in the Korean Peninsula, flashpoint of US military might in the South China Sea and provocative stance on Venezuela laced with multiple corruption scandals in my home country, Malaysia.
I lived through World War II as a young child and survived in a poor family. At the worst of times, I had to eat cow grass to satisfy my hunger. Today, after more than 70 years, I find war conflicts growing and many of my fellow Malaysians struggling to live comfortably with the erosion of our currency and rising costs.
I would have thought people would have grown to be wiser and more virtuous. Have we progressed? Perhaps I have grown to view things in more philosophical perspectives. I know I cannot take power and money with me when the day of reckoning comes. Can you?
What has become of us? What have power and money done to us? Those who have the power can influence the electorate; those who have the money can influence the power.
This symbiotic relationship benefits the selected few at the expense of the masses. Power and public funds should be discharged for the benefit of the people at large rather than a selected few. Corruption is not just about money. It is also about abuse of power.
The military might of the US has extended to our shores in the South China Sea. The issues we are facing are not just Malaysian. Our lives are at the mercy of a few leaders, here or elsewhere.
How do you deal with a hot-headed leader in an organisation? I feel somewhat helpless that my life now depends on a few world leaders and many of us can become collateral damage. Whilst I cannot influence world leaders, I hope I can at least provide feedback to the leaders at home.
We are now living in the midst of political, religious and racial strife. Over the years, religion and racial overtones have been used to gain political mileage. Despite the growth in the literacy rate, many of my fellow Malaysians cannot see beyond their own religion and race.
Have we not grown wiser? Hasn’t education helped? Shouldn’t we be concerned with politics of issues rather than politics of race and religion that divide us? Let me share with you my thoughts on the politics of issues from both sides of the political divide, in particular, the hot topics of GST, Chinese investment and corruption of power.
I am a supporter of the GST. We had SST (sales and service tax) prior to the introduction of GST. Sales tax was at 10% and service tax then was at 6%. GST replaced SST and has been set at 6% since. GST is a more efficient and effective collection mechanism of SST. That is why so many developed and developing countries have switched to GST.
In the heyday of the Asean economic tigers in the 1990s, Malaysia had more than our fair share of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), particularly from Japan, Europe and the US. Our government of the day then would announce proudly the inflow of billions of ringgit in FDIs. Did you realise that the value- add of FDIs then was a lot less? The reason was because the FDI values were inclusive of the highly valued old plant and machinery imported into Malaysia. Many Japanese factories and plants were installed by their engineers with the input of cheap manual labour from Malaysia. Oh yes, a lot of the cheap manual labour were Indonesians. But I do not recall hearing any criticism of FDIs coming from those countries then, unlike the criticism of investment coming from China in our infrastructure.
I find the China investment in infrastructure is better in the long term than the traditional FDIs. When Vietnam and China adopted open market economies, the Americans, European and the Japanese packed up their factories and moved there for the lower cost structure and much larger markets. They then sold the land here at a much higher value. They left us after selling their factory land at a substantial gain. They hardly paid income tax with all the tax incentives that were given to them. Can China dismantle the rail and concrete infrastructure of the ports and leave the country?
Let us address the issues objectively, not because the idea came from the other side of the political divide. I agree that we need to question whether the cost of investment is justifiable just as we should have done so in the past of the LRT lines that we built crossing each other without interchanges, failed privatisation of IWK, bloated costs arising from the privatisation of water supply services, APs on importation of cars and many more.
The great concern I have for our country relates to governance. Do you realise that taxpayers have hardly any say to elect the government? The rural areas which probably receive more public funds than taxes contributed per capita decide on the government of the day. The largest electorate in Parliament is Kapar with a constituency of nearly 150,000 and the smallest being around 15,000. Kapar may have more taxpayers but I’m afraid they have little say.
We can blame it on gerrymandering but let us not lose sight of the fallacy of democracy. The person who does not pay any tax has the same say as you, a taxpayer; there are a lot more non-taxpayers than taxpayers.
The educated elites live in urban areas who can understand issues better than the rural folks.
The former may pay more taxes but their fate is sealed by the latter. Unless our education is reformed and we move away from the politics of race and religion, I cannot see how the rural folks can vote objectively for the next government and not keep harping on race and religion. Be proud of your own race and keep that personal. Keep your religion within your family. Instead, let our leaders address the socio-economic issues that manifest in society.
The line between lawmakers and the executive has been blurred. Politicians sit on regulatory boards and GLCs on both sides of the political divide. Both sides cannot see or refuse to acknowledge the conflicts of interest.
The front page of The Star on March 30 reported that 13 officers from various enforcement agencies were charged with bribery.
This does not bode well for politicians or retired politicians along with members who have little knowledge, skills and experience who sit on the commissions, boards or committees of these agencies.
Regulators are the bastion of good governance in the industry or sector in which it regulates. How can the regulator promote good governance when it does not practise it?
It is time Malaysia works towards proper governance, especially with the regulators. Regulators must promote transparency and accountability both in the industry or sector in which they regulate as well as within the regulatory bodies.
How can we tap the top brains to run the country? How long do I need to wait to see the light of hope to be free from the shackles of the military might of superpowers looming with nuclear warheads over our heads and live decently in my beloved country knowing my money is safe, or do we at some point in the future end up feeding on grass like I had to?
I can only pray that our leaders of today and tomorrow be guided by wisdom and compassion.
One day when you are old enough and have the privilege to be wise, you will realise that money and power mean nothing. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The world has enough for everybody’s need but not everyone’s greed.”
All that matters is the well-being of the people.
TAN SRI ROBERT PHANG MIOW SIN
Justice of the Peace
Source : http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2017/08/21/may-our-leaders-be-wise-and-compassionate/
No comments:
Post a Comment