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Globalisation, for Malaysia, means the foreigner will control what the local always did in the past

THE WAR ON TERROR, as dictated by the United States, is fast becoming one in Malaysia, as it already is in many countries with fealty to Washington. This is adopted to keep the opposition away from politics, but all it has done is to keep it alive. In Indonesia, this is more widespread than is reported in the news reports, that getting prominence only when this affects the government or foreign countries with an axe to grind, usually and not exclusively Australia. In the process, President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono is seen against the war of terror, the fine elements of which are Washington's, or Australia's dictates. Malaysia has gone wholly with the United States on this, because its largest opposition is Islamic, which it wants to say is pro-war on terror, mainly to blame it Islamically, but gets caught in a bind as the National Front's version of Islam – now Islam Hadhari, but that is under the present prime minister, Pak Lah, only; it was not under the former leader – does not cut much ice in the villages.

Where it should have had any relevance – in the Pengkalen Pasir byelection in Kelantan, for instance – it was banned by the National Front. Instead, PAS's use of Islam was highlighted, it was Pak Lah's son-in-law, whose knowledge of Islam is far less than that of a 12-year-old boy in a madrasah in the constituency, who decided how to use Islam to defeat PAS. But this is par for the course. Policies are forced on the people by default, usually the National Front does not want any discussion of it, the opposition will argue one way, the others would argue the other way, but the National Front will keep quiet, and do as it likes. That is how it has acted in the past, and thinks if it worked then, it should now. But it does not. The National Front's policies are challenged by the people, and that includes UMNO members. There is now an opposition within UMNO, where its leaders especially those in the government, adopt a police more attuned to Washington than Kuala Lumpur.

In the process, the National Front government, in reality what its main member, UMNO, dictates. The National Front today accepts what the UMNO leaders want. They may not know what that is, but they know which side their bread is buttered. In the process, the Chinese, Indian, native leaders forget why they were elected or supported by their members because they want to remain in the cabinet at all cost, even going against their ground. So, it is rare for frequent changes in their leadership, or democracy in their election, their succession to favoured cronies by making sure the favoured successor is eliminated. This will succeed for a while, but it will work eventually against the community they represent. This has led to the Malaysian Indian Congress having had only four presidents since Tun V.T. Sambandan seized the presidency in 1954, transferring the leadership from the North Indian to the south, and the Indian community has become moribund in the years since. Today, the MIC asks all Indians to make it relevant by asking what it could do.

The National Front, when it is mentioned, refers only to those in power. Its members are more interested in money. One new politician, with no known sources of income, has acquired nearly RM750 million, after he became close to those in power. It believes it has more in common with the leaders in other countries than with the people on the ground here. It has annoyed the middle class by ganging up against them. What has caused this is the withdrawal of the 30 sen subsidy on petrol, allegedly because one man close to the levers of power could get all the contracts he wanted, and the subsidy would bring the shortfall in that section to what his list of projects would cost. But this happens throughout the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Less than two months after it was announced, it is not talked about, and Pak Lah has to make pronouncements about it which show the disinterest in people of it, and warn the people not to criticise it. But have Malaysians heard of the details of the plan yet. They probably would not, as it is not the government to let people know, unless it wants to tell them.

But government policies are for foreigners to take over projects that used to be run by the government. To make that possible, the National Front government said it had no role in money making departments. Water, among others, were privatised. But the National Front saw it as a means of rewarding its members. All privatisation in Malaysia is run by the former civil servants, but with a salary more than what they took home when in the civil service. Today, it is ripe for a foreigner to step in, so that he could take the profits home. Statements from foreign governments and companies state this as fact. Our bottled water is, would soon be, owned by foreign companies, who would use Malays as local leaders. The National Front government has not made a policy statement about this. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Datin Seri Rafidah Aziz says one thing here, and the opposite overseas. But this is par for the course in the levels of leadership in the National Front.

This would mean the foreign company is going to be involved what for centuries were in local hands. Even the British in their colonialism did not touch that. In this new world of globalisation, which the National Front government enthusiastically supported, mainly to beat PAS's policies to make life for the rural folk better. But this has now come to its head. Globalisation it supported would result in foreigners controlling what the government does not. Malaysia will produce goods cheaper than the West can for items made there, it would improve its balance of payments, but it would not be in control of the country. This is done in secret, because the only publicity allowed, in its newspapers, actually its public relations arm, is its version of events and policies. The New Straits Times only carries what the Prime Minister and his people say or do; even the deputy minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, is ignored, except when he supports his boss. But this cannot last. It will be a matter of time before the truth emerges.

[This is my column in Harakah, the PAS official organ, in its latest issue, out today, 20 April 2006]

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