Never Wait Until It's Rotten

Do you know the impact of  
corruption, abuse of power

and injustices on Malaysia?

CORRUPTION

Malaysia comes out at the top of bribery table in the world in 2012. That made Malaysia world No.1 in corruption!! We are world champion??!  This is not badminton that we are talking about. It is corruption! Corruption has unfortunately become a lifestyle of ruling regime, Barisan Nasional (BN) which is led by UMNO. Cost of doing business due to bribery in Malaysia today is worse than Indonesia, Philippines, China, India or Mexico.

 

You can read more about bribery in Malaysia that has made it to international league table here: http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/12/11/malaysia-tops-bribery-table/

The below video says it briefly but succinctly:

On top of bribery recorded by corporate executives, there many other forms of corruption that have flourished under Najib Razak administration, causing unhappiness among the people. Corruption benefits cronies and their masters. Just before an election day in Malaysia this year, a case of benefited person or crony who in turn channel back part the benefits to his political master was reported.

ABUSE OF POWER AND INJUSTICES

You can ask any Malaysians on the streets. Many of them will be able to tell you about abuse of power and injustices against the following deceased persons.

Ahmad Sarbani

C. Sugumar

Teoh Beng Hock

A. Kugan

Kugan's injury

All of the above died of mysterious death. Neither the ruling regime or government institutions could provide simple and direct approach to solving these unfortunate incidences. Autopsies and findings by coroner's court or royal commission of inquiry have not been sensible or acceptable to the Malaysian public. The inquest into Teoh Beng Hock's death was in fact inexplicably hilarious. You can further click on their names above to know more about alleged abuse of power and injustices.

Nurul Izzah

Nurul Izzah is currently a prominent leader in opposition party. She was also one of the victim of abuse of power and injustices. She went through torturous and very difficult years as a youth when her father, Anwar Ibrahim was arrested and charged for sodomy in 1999. Her experience has made her more passionate and firm to uphold justice for everyone in Malaysia. Anwar was subsequently acquitted in 2004 by the Federal Court of Malaysia. Anwar was again charged for sodomy in 2010 and was again acquitted in 2012 by the High Court.

A simple way of explaining how corruption, abuse of power and injustices can happen at the same time in a country can be found here.

WHAT DO WE HAVE NOW?

What do we have after 50 years of corruption, abuse of power and injustices? A summary of key situations that Malaysians are facing today:

1. Debt of Malaysia doubled to RM502 billion in 2012 from RM274 billion in 2008 . The country debt has always been below or around RM200 billion prior to 2008. Najib took over the leadership of BN ruling in 2009. It is suspected that the additional debts were mostly raised to pay for some exorbitantly over-priced government contracts. Najib is known to have a preference to award government contracts to his friends, and to Syed Mokhtar or his related companies.
2. Incomplete information on government's full debt. BN government exclude hidden debts that are called contingent liabilities from its total debt calculation. These hidden debts that the government has guaranteed to pay off on behalf of some corporate entities in the event that these corporates' default is estimated to be at RM117 billion in 2011. Hence, total national debt obligations could be at 619 billion. With the hidden debts, Malaysian government total debt has exceeded the 55% statutory maximum limit. Najib's administration has regrettably played with creative hidden debts by adopting off-balance sheet-borrowings to cover up the actual total debt obligations. Possibly efforts to hide the country's total debt have become so complicated that Bank Negara reports themselves carry inconsistencies in Malaysia's total debt. BN goverment has raised the maximum debt limit from 40% of GDP in 2003 to the present 55% in 2009. This shows a lack of BN government's discipline in adhering to Malaysia's maximum debt.
3. Financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) reported that a total of RM880 billion of funds were illegally transferred out of the country between 2001 and 2010. That made Malaysia world's No.1 or the highest in illegal capital flights per capita basis! Illegal capital flights could possibly be a result of corruption activities in Malaysia. In illegal capital flights, Malaysia is ahead of China, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and Philippines.
4. When it comes to income disparity or income difference between the rich and poor, Malaysia is No. 3 in Asia, and No. 1 in Southeast Asia! In Asia, we are only behind Micronesia and Papua New Guinea. Again, Malaysia is worse than all our neighbors including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, China and India.
5. Crime rate is another heated discussion topic among Malaysians. Very few, if any, Malaysians believe that Malaysia is the safest country in Southeast Asia today even though that is the claim by BN government and  Global Peace Index. Many allegations have been made against BN government of manipulating crime statistics to look good. They may have over-played the crime statistics which have resulted in Malaysia ranking better than Singapore. Singapore is widely known as a very safe country in the world. It is hard to comprehend that Malaysia today is safer than Singapore.
6. Malaysia has not faired well in the field of education either. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said that our education system is better than that of the US, UK and Germany. It is another claim that Malaysians find it hard to believe. Malaysia turned out to be the “worst-performing country” in the latest international mathematics and science survey, by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011. Malaysian students were the only ones among all those in the 59 countries tested who suffered the biggest drop in scores for every component in both subjects between 1999 and 2011. The TIMSS results confirms the 2009 PISA study that Malaysian students are 3 years behind the international average and half of our students do not have an aptitude and command of knowledge of science and mathematics. Without a strong foundation in science and mathematics, it does not seem that BN government is serious about the progress of Malaysia into a developed nation. Hence, Vision 2020 by BN is more of a political propaganda than a real executable plan.
    

Continuous decline of scores by Malaysian students

When we look at the above issues that are facing this country, one can agree that BN government for the past 50 years have failed to bring Malaysia forward. We have been stagnant or even gone backward in many aspects. At the current momentum, Malaysia may end up as a bankrupt but still under-developed country in another 5 years. We will certainly not become a developed nation by 2020.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM OUR NEIGHBORS?

Let's look at the impact of a corrupt and abusive regime on a country.  We evaluate the situations once faced by our neighbors:

Philippines

Philippines was under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos for 21 years from 1965 to 1986. During which time, there were wide spread corruption, abuse of power and injustices reported. Marcos went into exile in 1986. Philippines regained democracy but reforms were hampered by national debt, government corruption, lack of finances, etc. Philippines had 4 different Presidents after that, namely Corozon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, before Benigno Aquino III took over in 2010. This country went through no less than 20 years of difficult economic development before regaining robust economic growth in recent years. It is not wrong to say that 21 years of corrupt and abusive Marcos rule had setback Philippines for another 20 years in lackluster economic development. Philippines provides a good example of what corruption, abuse of power and injustices can do to a country.

Indonesia

Indonesia was under Suharto rule for 30 years from 1968 to 1998. Indonesia suffered incidences of corruption, abuse of power and injustices during the period of the authoritarian rule by Suharto despite that country's economic growth. Since Suharto's resignation in 1998, Indonesian political and governmental structures have undergone major reforms. During the reforms, Indonesia continued to face economic instability, political changes, social unrest, corruption, etc. Indonesia was subsequently ruled by 3 different Presidents, namely Bacharuddin Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri, before Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took over in 2004. Indonesia did not enjoy good economic growth for 10 years after the end of Suharto's regime. Suharto's rule is a testimony that widespread corruption, abuse of power and injustices can hamper economic growth of a country even if there were some favorable economic policies. The collapse of Suharto's corrupt and abusive authoritarian regime further held back Indonesia for another 10 years in good economic development.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

If there is any lesson that we can learn from our neighbors, we must learn not allow a regime that is corrupt, abusive and indulge in injustices to persist. We must end it as quickly as we can. The implications are big if they persist.

• Look at what Marcos's 21 years have done to Philippines. The country needed another 20 years to recover from the damage. It is not wrong to say that 2 generations of Filipino livelihood were lost to Marcos even after he went into exile.
• Look at how Suharto's 30 years have caused problems to Indonesia. The country needed another 10 years to recover from the damage. Suharto arguably had many good economic policies then, but his corruption, abuse of power and injustices eroded and negated those policies. Indonesia further lost one generation of people's livelihood to Suharto despite his resignation.

The situation of Malaysia is bad now. Our rankings internationally can be stated as follows:

• 1st in the world in bribery table for 2012.
• 1st in the world for illegal funds outflow from the country on per capita basis for the last decade.
• 3rd in Asia, and 1st in Southeast Asia in income disparity or income difference between the rich and poor. We are worse than Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.
• Malaysia is now the “worst-performing country” in the latest international mathematics and science survey, TIMSS 2011. Malaysian students today are 3 years behind the international average of science and mathematics. Our younger generations are getting less competitive internationally and regionally in Southeast Asia.
• Our national debts have effectively gone passed the permissible 55% of GDP. This country is overly indebted. BN incurred the debt on our behalf. The rest of Malaysians and their next generations will have to pay back eventually.
•  We have a government that plays so hard with statistics  to look good that we are now ranking better than Singapore in crime rates. Singapore is well known for low crime rate in the world. It is unthinkable today that Malaysia is safer than Singapore.
• The list can go on including issues on stagnation of income etc., but the message is very clear here.

Malaysia needs a change for better. Our world No. 1 status is for wrong reasons. These reasons are the result years of corruption, abuse of power and injustices perpetrated by BN and UMNO. Hence, Malaysians are not asking for change for the sake of changing. This change is needed after 50 years of BN rule that has deteriorated our international and regional competitiveness. BN has shown their incapability of change. Despite losing their customarily held 2/3 majority in Parliament in 2008, BN has not become better. From the problems faced by Malaysians now, we can see that the BN government have in fact become more corrupt and more abusive in ruling Malaysia since 2008.

Should Malaysians be able to effect a change of goverment this year in General Election 13 (GE13), we will probably need 5 - 10 years to recover from the damage done by BN and UMNO, looking at the experience of Indonesia and Philippines. Should BN retain power for another term of 5 years, Malaysia may possibly need 10 -20 years to recover from the more dire damage done by BN and UMNO, assuming Malaysians manage to change government in General Election 14 (GE14). Losing one generation of livelihood is bad enough. We simply cant afford to lose 2 generations of Malaysian livelihood.
 
By GE14, Malaysia may lack financial resources and may not be able to borrow any further to improve the situations and implement changes in the country. What I fear most is that there may be chaos even before GE14. The poor will have become too poor. The severe poverty level will longer be acceptable to them. They may take to the streets. Social unrest and chaos may happen. The new government after GE14 will have limited options to improve the conditions of the people and the country. We can learn about these implications from the history of Philippines and Indonesia.



To all good Malaysians out there, we simply do not have time. Malaysia is in need of a better government now. The time is now. If you believe in stability of country, there is more reason for you to vote for a change on 5th May 2013.



ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY ON
5TH  MAY  2013,  OUR GE 13.


We only have 2 options to choose today. We either vote Pakatan Rakyat (PR) into power to better manage this country as per their promise, or we allow BN and UMNO to worsen our country's situation, competitiveness, and possibly causing chaos and social unrest by GE14. PR have shown competence in administrating the state of Penang and Selangor. Despite having control over Malaysian Attorney-General and Judiciary, BN federal government has not been able to successfully institute any case against PR administration or their key leaders on corruption, abuse of power or injustices in Penang and Selangor. That is a sign that PR state governments have been clean and fair. That is really what our country needs most right now. A clean and fair government at federal level. The time is now. This is it!

The below videos are further evidence of intolerable corruption of BN government in Malaysia.:

I have added a new video above as the below video has been removed.