How much more can Malaysia take from the global 1MDB-linked money-laundering flak?
How much more flak can Malaysians and Malaysia take or absorb from the rest of the world on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)-linked multi-billion-ringgit money laundering allegations.
To make matters worse, domestically, the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government is continuing to allow racial and religious bigots spew “poison” to sow hatred for non-Muslims or non-Malays in the country.
Must Malaysia go to the dogs, socially and economically, before the country can start reforming and healing?
World Bank Group Knowledge and Research Hub in Malaysia specialist Dr Michael Woolcock has been quoted by the media as saying "economic growth is necessary, but that alone will not be enough for the country to become a developed nation".
He said at the National Economic Governance forum organised by the Malaysian Economic Association on Aug 11, 2016, that “the Malaysian policy discourse is dominated by its economy, where rising gross domestic product per capita is necessary, but insufficient for sustaining national development”.
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| Woolcock |
“The big paradox of development is that it keeps changing and keeps getting harder, the richer you become, because growth itself transforms and challenges everything from how power is structured and managed in society, to what role the public and private sectors play in managing and upholding the social contracts that bind us,” he added.
He said the bigger picture that characterises development as a fourfold transformation includes the areas of economy, politics, society and administration.
“All of these have to work in sync with each other for the whole to play their role. Having a highly productive economy requires a coherent and legitimate management of political power, a well administered political system and a society that accords that process of legitimacy,” Woolcock said.
For those who are quick to dismiss Woolcock as uttering “rubbish” for he knows nothing about Malaysia, hold your horses.
Look at the “ups and downs” of Malaysia’s neighbour Indonesia, and you still say Woolcock's views deserve no serious attention?
Asiaone has this report:
"Haunted by the trauma of anti-Chinese rioting in 1998, a number of residents of Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra, have fled their homes following the recent ransacking and burning of viharas and pagodas in the port city.
A member of the Indonesian-Chinese community, Tony, alias Aci, said that those who had left were so traumatized by the incident, fearful that the 1998 anti-Chinese riots would be repeated, that they had decided to go abroad.
He said many of them had left for Malaysia and Singapore as both countries were close to Tanjungbalai.
“Many of them have still not returned from Malaysia and Singapore. They say they are still traumatized,” Tony, who runs his own business, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He said he was in Singapore when the riot broke out in city at the end of July and saw many people of Chinese descent from the city arriving in Singapore.
He himself was afraid to return home for three days after the riot.
“Who was not frightened at that time? All the temples were burned and destroyed, just like in the riots in 1998,” said Tony, who said he had always previously felt comfortable living in Tanjungbalai.
The trouble reportedly started when local woman Meliana, a woman of Chinese descent, complained about the volume of the loudspeaker that a local mosque used to broadcast the adzan (call to prayer).
Provocative messages then circulated on social media saying the woman had thrown rocks at the mosque and forcefully stopped prayers and these are believed to have fueled the anger of locals.
Tri Ratna Vihara Foundation chairman Petjong Li, also known as Akhun, said he was very surprised that the riot had been triggered by Meliana’s complaint.
“We deeply regret Meliana’s complaint, which triggered the incident in Tanjungbalai,” Akhun said after he accompanied a lawmaker observing the damage to the Tri Ratna temple.
He said that because of Meliana, a woman who was not well-known among the Chinese community in Tanjungbalai, the interfaith harmony in the city had been ruptured and temples burned down.
He expressed the hope that the people involved would face punishment for their actions.
Fourteen temples in Tanjungbalai were burned and ransacked by mobs on Friday night and early Saturday morning.
No fatalities were reported in the incident but damage ran into the billions of rupiah.
The local police have so far arrested 21 suspects in the case.
They comprise eight looters, nine people accused of burning or ransacking temples and four provocateurs, of whom two are underage.
A community leader in Tanjungbalai, Zulkifli Marpaung, said a number of major businessmen had left the city when the riot broke out.
Zulkifli said he did not know where they had gone.
“They left on the night of the riot,” said Zulkifli.
Zulkifli said that not all of the city had been affected by the riot but the businessmen still left because of fears of a bigger riot erupting as happened in 1998 …
In 1998, the Chinese-Indonesian community was targeted by mobs and many members of the community were killed and raped.
The mobs blamed Chinese-Indonesians for the economic crisis that led to the downfall of then president Soeharto.
In 2006, students in Makassar, South Sulawesi, rallied and called for the expulsion of Chinese-Indonesians after a local court convicted a man of Chinese descent of abusing his two maids and killing one of them."
And, look at another neighbour, Thailand. Just when you think it is safe to tour Thailand, twin bombings have rocked Hua Hin, an upcoming tourist coastal town.
Here’s a partial news extract from AECNews:
"The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal in Malaysia which has recently become the subject of a high-profile lawsuit by the United States Department of Justice’s asset recovery initiative highlights the problems with state-ownership in the Malaysian economy. To prevent such scandals from recurring in the future Malaysia must define the role of the government in business and develop adequate institutional arrangements to counter potential abuse by politicians.
Malaysia has a long history of high-level financial scandals, some of them involving the country’s government-linked companies (GLCs). Yet, the recent case of 1MDB is particularly shocking. This is the first time that a sitting prime minister is directly implicated.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has vehemently denied the allegations and claimed that the money was a ‘donation’ from the Saudi royal family. But the investigation by the US Department of Justice suggests the money originated from 1MDB.
Research into state ownership has long argued that GLCs are vulnerable to the problems of politicisation, corruption, and rent-seeking, which can cause them to be inefficient and mired in scandal. In Malaysia, GLCs have been used as a tool for politicians to direct benefits to their political supporters or even themselves.
The case of 1MDB illustrates the problem. It is alleged a total of US$7 billion (RM28 billion) of funds has gone missing. A majority of the misappropriated funds has allegedly flowed to offshore companies. It is also suspected that some of these funds were used to support the ruling coalition’s campaign in the 2013 Malaysia general election …"
So, the moral of the stories is: Malaysia gravely needs to overhaul its socio-economic-political policies to fast forward progress and development in multiple areas and sectors.
This can only start with wiping out bigotry - the menace of racial and religious extremists growing fast in Malaysia.
Does the Umno-led BN government have the political will to do it (reform)?
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