“Rooting”
is the right word to use because corruption and patronage are so
entrenched in the system it needs to be pulled out by the roots. It is
not going to be easy but such a drastic change in a system which is so
used to corruption needs very strong people at the top at all levels in
and out of government.
Who will they be? And how will it be done?
What problems will be faced and how will they cross them? This will be
Anwar’s greatest challenge.
It
involves a multitude of simultaneous actions - ensuring reasonable
prices, fostering competitiveness, freeing up space for innovation and
so on. But there is a ministry already for this specific purpose with a
competent person who should spearhead this mission.
It is vital
that a small board of economic advisers be set up - no more than 10 with
a small secretariat. Then a diversity of views can be obtained,
collated and discussed. One of the board members can be the government’s
chief economic adviser.
There is
actually a blueprint for this. All it needs is dusting and updating to
the relevant requirements by a small group of recognised experts. The
education system needs a revamp of teaching, an injection of quality,
new teachers, better schools and facilities, an entire rewrite of the
syllabus, and a de-emphasis on religion, amongst others.
The
current education minister does not inspire much confidence and her
credentials don’t seem to be up to mark to undertake such a difficult,
delicate and demanding process. She is a first-time minister. Her
background is in Islamic law and she does not seem to have any education
credentials at all.
This
is a difficult one. All state governments from Sabah and Sarawak to
Perlis and down to Johor seem set on destroying the environment in
return for quick, private gain in deals which may well be related back
to our number one problem, corruption. The involvement of people in high
places complicates matters.
Only money talks when it comes to the
environment. For the proper protection of our natural places and
spaces, it looks like federal laws have to be enacted to stop the states
from destroying the environment. But as a number of states are now
under the unity government, that route must be used to exert pressure as
well.
Sustainability
also means long-term use of limited resources and paying attention to
the impact of development on the environment and livelihoods.
5. Prosperity for all
This
means two things - first ensuring that all jobs, in time, pay a decent,
living wage. The minimum wage is only a starting point. Employers will
resist this with all their might because it will reduce their profits.
It also means controlling migrant labour, which disrupts all attempts to
ensure a decent wage for Malaysian workers.
Second, it means
providing the means for anyone who is interested to get out of their rut
by providing opportunities for education and training and chances for
equal employment throughout all sectors of the economy. Except for
affirmative action, which should be clearly specified, there should be
no discrimination anywhere in the workplace - that means both the
private sector and the public sector.
Note that the statistics
show that out of 15 million employed workers in Malaysia, only 1.7
million are employed in the public sector, including government-linked
companies. The private sector employs nearly eight times that of the
public sector!
6. Promoting innovation, competition and enterprise
One
key way of doing this is to simply reduce bureaucracy. Many innovative
attempts to come up with new businesses and processes have met with
failure at the door of red tape, and yes, corruption.
The
government needs to provide incentives for local businesses and
companies to take root and flourish, including funding for deserving
enterprises. One business owner I know says he has to pay several layers
of government every month so that he is not harassed, which goes back
to the issue of corruption.
Innovation can be tied back also to the education system, an example of how these 10 are related to one another.
Bureaucracy
also limits and stifles competition, maintaining the dominant position
of some companies and considerable inefficiencies. Misguided rules and
regulations introduced in the past to promote patronage and produce a
class of businesspersons who fund the ruling parties must be dispensed
with, forthwith.
Examples include the production of instant
billionaires through such things as independent power producers, toll
road operators, approved permits for cars and a whole lot of other
goods, and ridiculous government contracts, amongst others. Again, they
relate back to corruption.
7. Respecting all Malaysians
There
are two aspects to this - one where the authorities are guilty and
another where the people themselves propagate discrimination and lack of
respect for communities other than their own. As Anwar pointed out,
politicians are big culprits and corruption is often the root cause.
Thus,
every Malaysian must have his place in the sun. Discrimination on any
grounds should be taboo (except for affirmative action), and labelling
people, eg pendatang, or lazy Malays, infidels, etc, must be disallowed with serious consequences to those who disobey.
It's a long process as attitudes need to be changed. But we can start quickly by targeting bad behaviour.
8. Building trust among the people
Easier
said than done and more long-term. The government needs to start first
by being responsible, accountable and trustworthy in everything that it
does. It should foster peace and amity amongst all people and refrain
from using religion and race for political purposes. Royalty should
remain well above the fray and the last bastion for upholding people’s
rights.
Over time then, it will be possible to get back to a
Malaysia that older citizens are familiar with where we fought with one
voice for the betterment of the country and all the people in it.
9. Compassion towards everyone
This
starts with accepting everyone as our equal, and that includes foreign
workers and migrants. It starts with authorities and enforcement
agencies understanding that they are there for the benefit of the people
and not to beat or oppress them into submission. That means zero
tolerance by the government for any oppressive measures.
That also
means having more tolerance for those who may be different from us and
hold different beliefs and values. So long as they cause no one any
harm, they should be left alone to practise what they want. We don’t
need people peeping into bedrooms, bathrooms and bushes to try to weed
out what they consider to be immorality. Truly, that’s part of
compassion.
10. Performance and delivery management
All
the previous nine points are so much fluff and castles in the air if we
do not have a system to measure performance and delivery. The
government must engage with the people, state its objectives, measure
achievement at least twice yearly, and report back to the public.
Despite
all objections, these can be done. Let's take an example, compassion -
one measure may be deaths in lock-ups throughout the country. How many
are there yearly? When do we want to reduce it to zero? What reduction
per year will this entail? How did we do in the first six months?
Without
such numerate targets, all this is meaningless. Let’s see if PM Anwar,
the one on whose shoulders rest the hopes and aspirations of the rakyat
now, is up to it. Or as in the past, will it be much talk and no action?
