Malaysian
NEP and Singaporeans
They sometimes make callous remarks about Malaysia's problems. My answer: "First look at your own totalitarian state." By Jed Yoong,
Apr 3, 2008

One of my regular commentator who says he is a Singaporean suggests I post Rules of Life by Bill Gates. He says he feels many of the readers on my blog thinks the NEP is unfair. But since life is unfair, we should get used to it.

This is the type of callous remark from people who say to rape victims to get used to it or abused mothers to get out of the bad marriages. The diagnosis is clinical and the prescription equally devoid of human compassion.

Many people have suffered under the NEP. For an example, read Product of The System’s Slapped, Pushed and Kicked Around.

His account is one of the many in Malaysia. The tales of non-Malays being mentally tortured by Malays in the civil service and other government-linked companies abound.

In an email reply to the Singaporean, I said that the NEP has been abused and is the cause of much inter-racial resentment. Not to mention the brain drain.

At the same time, I said the whole scale dismantling of the policy, actually now called NDP or something, will cause social chaos. If any part of the policy should be kept, it should be the quotas for education.

Why not quotas for government contracts? Because these hardly reach the lower rungs of society it’s suppose to help anyway. Just look at the Maika shares scandal and other allegations of UMNOputeras enriching themselves with shares allocated to bumiputeras.

Justice is more than meritocracy. It also means equal opportunity. From there, we can then build a more empowered people to brave the storms of globalisation.

At present, because many cannot compete based on meritocracy, Malaysians have to compromise and help each other.

It’s not about one race helping another but generally a spirit of camaraderie. Just ‘cos a person is not too bright or qualified, he may not get a great high-paying job in some multi-national. But you can still employ him to do some other job.

I’ve said before that Malaysia is not Singapore. Although the small island state is much more developed and modern, it’s also an almost bland experience.

Here, we have the beaches, the mountains, the jungle and more. We have people from diverse cultures. Policies that work in Singapore may not work here.

The commenter is a typical go-getter who believes the purpose of life is to work and earn lots of money. In his words, no choice but to survive.

But I want to say, we all have choices. And living in the city, slaving away from dawn till midnight, with no time for your family and friends may not be what some want.

Like me, life is not about chasing money. It’s about living a fulfilling life ‘cos it’s a gift from God. God doesn’t care if you are rich or a CEO.

He said, not everyone can go live on a beach. The point is, he doesn’t want to live on a beach ‘cos he has chosen his path to live in Singapore as a slave in some big machine. Not like he will earn lots. Maybe enough for a few cars, and then some holidays.

So my point is just because my worldview or life choices don’t gel with your meritocratic or kiasu goals in life, please don’t condemn me. I am quite happy being myself. And being Malaysian.

The last thing I need is a Singaporean to dish out advice. Please look at your totalitarian, characterless state before offering words of wisdom on our uniquely Malaysian problems.
Cheers.

Comments
brood said,
frankly, singaporeans are an unimaginative lot when it comes to worldview and thinking out of the box. to compound matters further, those who do possess that imagination are often publicly demonised for “rocking the boat” when things are “smooth sailing”. singapore’s political climate is so impotent that its citizens find more excitement in talking about other countries’ issues: Myanmar lah, Taiwan lah, Obama lah, and of course Pak Lah.
unfortunately, this is unlikely to change. but the bigger fear is that, when Malaysia DOES become more successful, modern, developed, first-world, will it simply morph into another singapore republic?
I seriously hope not. I still want to enjoy Terengganu beaches. Haven’t gone to Kelantan beaches yet, not sure how they compare, hehehe.

hutchrun said,
Ever seen how Sinporeans behave when they are in Malaysia? In Club Med they used to pile up the plates with food, and then eat only a portion leaving large amounts unattended. It was so disgusting.
On the roads, they flout laws in their flashy cars like the roads were built by their fathers - not to mention the rubbish they throw out. What they can`t do in S`pore they do in Malaysia, polluting the environment.
It’s the repression. Also known for not paying speeding summonses…More scary tales from SG. One couple told me that the floor beneath postboxes at a service apartment were always covered with flyers and other spam.
When he asked why don’t you pick them up and throw them in the bin instead of chucking them on the floor? The man replied, we’ve already paid service charge. so they should work….

hutchrun said,
`He says he feels many of the readers on my blog thinks the NEP is unfair. But since life is unfair, we should get used to it.`
That I think would prove S`poreans like these are extremely idiotic. He sounds to me like one of those Code Pink or PETA followers.
It is Man`s natural inclination to better one`s self, and it was the 1st M`sian PM`s magnanimity that allowed these bums to go out on their own. Their `superiority complex` is based entirely on the sing dollar-a reversal in that will see them whining.
They may not have oil, but the infrastucture of port facilities was well in place that made it necessary for M`sian produce to be shipped thru S`pore ports. This is changing, and when Pelepas Port was opened many shipping cos. shifted operations out of s`pore. Then they started their whines. Why didn`t they live with the `unfairness` then.
Another thing, S`poreans exists in `their paradise` as long as M`sia is dumbed down. The more M`sia improves, so will S`pore recede.

a malaysian in riyadh said,
Well said Jed. You dare bit the hand that fed you. I like.

aMiR
Hey I also contributed to the college’s impressive results ok. Not like I didn’t contribute. Spore is very kiasu. So they make sure that the colleges get enough As, etc to stay at top ranking and I DID.

hutchrun said,
In the past few years, a number of my friends have emigrated from Singapore. Many of them are young gifted individuals on the upward swing of their careers. They have difficulties getting attractive jobs here, and they are aware of the exodus of manufacturing and consultation jobs out of Singapore. In addition my friends had become increasingly uncomfortable with the stifling nature of our bureaucracy, which prompted them to seek greener pastures overseas.
Ngiam Tong Dow wrote in the Straits Times of 14 August 2004 that Singapore's future economic survival depends on the number of talented and creative individuals that we can cultivate and retain.
Competition is now global, and we need to create new products and innovate old ones regularly. We are competing with the brightest and most creative brains in the world.
Each year we send large numbers of students overseas for study and research. Not all will return to Singapore, and we are suffering from a small but significant brain drain. Those who do return, will only remain for a while, and ultimately they will emigrate.
Top companies worldwide recognise the importance of talent, and they scour the world in search of gifted people, whom they will grab. How do we reduce the number of our brightest individuals being drawn overseas?
Ngiam suggested that one of the reasons why our talent leave is that they do not have enough creative space. Expanding this space can be achieved by giving greater freedom of expression, developing greater tolerance of divergent views and pushing out-of-bound markers. He also suggested that we make an emotional appeal to these people to return to Singapore, although he does not say how.
However he misses out on a couple of important points. Why do our young talent forsake Singapore? Yes, some find our academic and intellectual climate and our excessive government regulation, quite suffocating. Yes, we do not treat our own citizens as well as we treat our overseas visitors, and indeed we tend to look down on our own and do not accord them the recognition they deserve.

headache said,
One email and all singaporeans are tarred with the same brush…
Looks lilke we still have a long way to go..
PS: living in spore for the last 8 years. They have their good and bad - just like Malaysians.

Scott Thong said,
The Singaporean ought to remember his own advice on unfairness the next time PAP knocks down all Opposition contendors and canes + S$500 fines him for thinking non-PAP thoughts. Or heck, the next time someone kicks his butt because he’s smaller.

jule said,
Like me, life is not about chasing money. It’s about living a fulfilling life ‘cos it’s a gift from God. God doesn’t care if you are rich or a CEO.http://jedyoong.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/nep/

From a Singaporean

Hello Mr Seah.
Thank you for having this littlespeck.com site which I really enjoyed all these years.
I was laughing out loud when I read this article.

Another Singapore bashing session by our neighbours in the north, whom had rarely if ever set foot on Singapore. All due to the "expensive Singapore dollar" or "too far lah" or " hotel very expensive lah"? Or was it just their usual way of letting off steam for their election woes?

A nation's currency is it's world passport and report card. Remember how the RM$ had crashed 10 years ago, resulting in currency & capital controls.

It was like US$1 to about RM4.2 and dropping like flies then. I happily saw my S$ worth from S$1 to RM$1 to RM$1.4 to RM1.6 to about the current RM2.40 today. that is what the world think of their country's worth. No amount of bribes, mountains and beaches are going to tell the market forces o do otherwise.

It is Singapore's strong & stable government that had propelled this tinny red dot to world class standards. And resulted in a magnet for hords of malaysian willing to travel cross the jamed packed causeway to seek work and education in Singapore.

Did you ask how many of your relatives are Singapore PR holders or aspire to work here for that STRONG S$?

So, those kiasu fellas you see piling up the buffet plates in Club Med Malaysia, could actually be your countrymen who had earned S$ and spending them in support of the malaysian economy.

I had know of a straight A student whose application to all the local university were rejected. Her sin, being a Chinese and wanting to apply for medicine.

A causal suggestion that she should have a back up plan, which now sees her studying in the joint degree programme offered by Singapore's NTU. There are many more of such casualities from across the causeway whom we welcomed with open arms.

As one chap says it, the "mis-fit" and "hopeless case" are exported to Singapore. Welcome, if their education and scoring systems are to be taken with a pinch of salt, then we do welcome such rejects. Smart, productive and positively contributing (to Singapore economy) "rejects".

Kiasu. Obviously the writer and the commenters had either not travelled with Air Asia using their domestic terminals. Queue can form as early as 1.5 hour before flight departure, with the travellers bringing everything possible as "carry-on" luggage, to avoid paying excess baggage charges leived above the 15kg allowance.

That queue did not budge even when the flight had delayed arriving at the airport. I wonder who is more KS & cheapo?

It was just that one in a truely multiracial country like Singapore that we have a word to describe such a behaviour. Or perhaps it was a Malaysian invention, since they are so good at corrupting languages, that was exported to Singapore by their workers?

The toilets in Malaysia smells as bad as those near the checkpoints and in rural China. Some even charge you for the use of these smelly facilties.

This leads to me wondering if our clean toilet campagnes, courtesy campagnes and others good moral education campagnes are actually the results of Singaporean's bad practices or was it just our uncout neighbours working or travelling here that causes it?

For the past 10 years or more, if you count my 1st trip to Malaysia's genting highland, I had the opportunity to travelled most of West Malaysia as a motorbiker, and quite a few places in East Malaysia.

The latter still have many who questioned their elder's move to join the federation decades ago, only to see Singapore rises to world class standards.
http://youtube.com/watch\?v=3atvcI0oS-w
I rest my case.
Jimmy Ng

(Editor: Hi Jimmy, undoubtedly there are several grains of truth in what you and some Malaysians say about each other. It shows that 'the bashing game' is something both parties play too disturbingly often.)