MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Can the Ninth Malaysia Plan succeed if it is for a few?

The Prime Minister, Pak Lah, has warned the people to stop complaining about the Ninth Malaysia Plan. He is not used to government plans being criticised, so his tetchiness is understandable. But it shows the Plan is not to improve the lot of the people in whose name it is announced, but of those who carry it out. This is, of course, not mentioned. But Malaysia Today has on its website who will benefit: the contractors, Chinese naturally, and not the people of Sarawak and Sabah. That happens in West Malaysia too. The withdrawal of the 30 sen subsidy on petrol is so that one man could get all the contracts in one section of the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Only RM160 billion was earmarked for that section. But this man had RM200 billion worth of projects. The withdrawal of the subsidy meant that this section could have the RM4 billion a year. He could get all the contacts. Those on the ground believe this, strengthened by reports on the Internet and websites and the government's refusal to deny it.

The people inevitably suffer. Every item in every day use has gone up, whether transported or not. The government threatens hell fire and damnation for those who complain but with no intention of doing anything about it. This time, the government misjudged the mood. But it revealed, inadvertenly, the Ninth Malaysia Plan benefits the people at the top, not the average Malaysian. Official statements to the contrary has only buttressed this view. It is made worse by the spin, usually badly handled, and the message falls like a thud on the people. It is remarkable how people who normally do not take any interest in politics or economics can come out to say good things about the Ninth Malaysia Plan. How they do it is the spin meisters' expertise, but these days work to the government's disadvantage.

The official media and the mainstream newspapers report to show the government is on the right track. Contrary views are rarely printed or broadcast. But something is wrong. Pak Lah has to threaten the people within a week if they don't accept the government hopes about the Plan as realities. The only discussion is on the Internet, and the government says little about that, as it does not what is opposed by the people. People do not wait for the newspapers to find what has happened; they get it from the Internet. In Singapore, the government not only says its piece on the Interest, but also warns the opposition from using it. In Malaysia, the Internet is for the foreigners to praise, not to use it to its advantage.

One example will suffice. Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahm was listed as deputy prime minister on a government website, although he had been sacked seven years earlier from the government and UMNO, and had by then served his prison sentence. It was corrected after it was pointed out on the Internet. The government thinks it is lord of all it surverys, would not stoop, so it thinks, to get public advice, gets it wrong, and. recently, have had to amend it. But it believes it can never be wrong. So the law is passed, as it would after the Yang Dipertuan Agung has signed it. But the government explains this away by insisting it has not been gazetted and so it is not yet law. But if it has not been gazetted, how can it be amended?

But that happened in the Islamic Family Law. This law makes Muslim women second-class citizens, even lower than the non-Malays. The women rebelled. The Pak Lah government, knowing that offending the women will not win elections, ordered an amendment. But it did it so hamfistedly that it creates more doubts. The cabinet minister in charge of women, a woman herself, first spoke with the Islamic authorities about the amendments. Legally, the amendment is flawed. The Islamic Family Law is not yet law. So how can an amendment be passed? But this what happens when every Malay – in Malaysia, he is automatically a Muslim – in government, whether minister or civil servant, regards Islam as more important than civil service procedures.

Every senior Malay civil servant leaves his post, having made sure the non-Malay is sidelined and is more Islamic and Malay than when he came in. The Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Bakri Omar, who is to retire shortly, has designed a new uniform for policewomen in which the tudung is compulsory. This was modified on protest to be used only at official functions. But the tudung is worn by Malay, not non-Malay. women. To leave his office more Islamic than when he came in, he ordered the new uniform. It is not provided for under the police or civil service rules. But the PaK Lah administration or the Chief Secretary say not a word. The fear of Islamic religious administration, for these Muslims, is more important than civil service rules or the smooth functioning of the administration and the government.

It is into this chaotic system of administration that the Ninth Malaysia Plan has been announced. It is every man for himself in the civil service, especially if he is a Malay holding high office. This is reflected in the Plan. Well connected men and women bend the rules to grab what they can for their benefit. The government warns the people to keep quiet. The public relations arms of the government, known to all and sundry as the daily newspapers, radio and television, faithfully carry out the government's bidding, ignoring the people in the process. Unless the civil service and the uniformed services function to their rules, and general service orders, it is every man for himself. And that is a recipe for disaster. It already is. The changes have resulted in a Malay dominated government that has adopted Islamic practices, with the few non-Malays in sidelined. Unless this is reversed, the non-Malay will not support the National Front, unless they stand to benefit. That their leaders do is neither here nor there. The non-Malays will not want to do anything with the National Front. How can all these plans meant for all Malaysians work, if the government stands for only the Malays?

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com