Impact of Demography on Politics and Economy in Malaysia

Workers and rural folk form a very big percentage of the population. The reform movement must reach out to them and form an alliance. And an alliance is not possible if the reform movement pushes cut-throat, free for all, free market capitalism and 100% merit based political platforms. This actually is a platform for frogs and elected opposition representatives turning corrupt. 

By batsman

 

Actually it is good to learn from advanced countries. That way we can take lots of short cuts without going through the misery of making costly mistakes. Unfortunately, there are still quite a few people who are so obsessed with learning from the advanced west that they no longer use judgment in applying these lessons to local conditions in Malaysia. 

These people copy blindly. The sad thing is that when one copies blindly one in actual fact fights the battles of the west rather than the battles of Malaysia. These people become subconscious mercenaries of the west in upholding western ideologies and values. 

The west differs from Malaysia in many ways among which history and demographics need to be taken into account when applying to actual conditions in Malaysia. The difference in history means that the west has already achieved success in most of their struggles and their institutions and traditions including finances are well established while in Malaysia we still lack all of these. 

One of the special consequences of a difference in history is in demographics. The west in making advances in their struggle to progress has built up a thick layer of middle classes in addition to a militant and strong working class. In Malaysia, we only have a relatively thin layer of middles classes. Worse still, our workers and rural folk are neither exposed enough nor independent enough and seem to be willing mercenaries of those who call the shots and pay the bills. These differences alone make the character of the reform struggle in Malaysia completely at variance with that in the west. 

In the old days, a pass in Form 5 means that one is set to be part of the growing middle class. This just testifies to how thin the layer of trained technocrats and middle classes is. 

These days, things have changed somewhat and we are now in the middle income bracket of countries. Unfortunately, owing to a short history, we still lack many of the necessities that made the reform movement strong in the west and hence we are still weak. This fact has to be taken into account in the reform struggle. We still suffer from some of the curses of under-developed countries even as the middle class grows and the demand for reform grows in accordance. 

At the same time, we can count ourselves lucky in that some of the curses of extreme liberalism in the west are already well-known and there is still time to avoid some of them, even as UMNO imports these wholesale into Malaysia as the current top comprador into Malaysia without any impediment (see the analysis in UMNO – From Feudal Bureaucrat to Comprador). 

In the west, there are reasonably good checks and balances because there is a thick layer of middle classes and a militant working class. There is money for such things and western institutions support lots of people employed in NGOs, trade unions, ombudsmen, even independent newspapers and journalists or individuals with a personal crusade to get justice done. 

In Malaysia the thin layer of middle classes mean that there are too often no independent alternatives. Everybody is sucked into the chase for status and position because of the shortage of skilled technocrats for national development. The individual hero is a dead duck or considered a fool to rock the boat. There is no support structure for such heroes and they must soldier on alone. 

When there are no checks and balances, no support structures for independent integrity and no heroes who fight for justice and fairness, the road is open for opportunism and graft. That is why we see lots of cases of spent heroes turning into frogs and elected opposition representatives turning corrupt. These are some of the curses of under-developed countries that we have to get rid of. Actually, we don’t even have to learn from the west to see some of the curses of rampant capitalism. China is already having lots of social problems and it is exporting plenty of prostitutes to Malaysia, just as Japan used to export prostitutes to Borneo during its period of cut-throat capitalism. We can learn from these lessons too. 

Luckily again, things are beginning to change and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. There is now hope and Malaysia Today is one of these bright lights. 

However the future is still uncertain and if too many people do not use judgment in applying what they learn from the history of past struggles to the conditions in Malaysia, there may yet be a real setback and we have to wait another 50 years for another “tsunami”. 

How does one take the conditions in Malaysia into account? For one thing, the workers and rural folk form a very big percentage of the population. The reform movement must reach out to them and form an alliance. And an alliance is not possible if the reform movement pushes cut-throat, free for all, free market capitalism and 100% merit based political platforms. This actually is a platform for frogs and elected opposition representatives turning corrupt. 

It is true that UMNO has failed not only to develop the country to its full potential by relying on corrupt cronies and it has also at the same time not met the aspirations of the millions of rural folk and workers. UMNO alienated some of the best talents and skills that the country needed when it pushed a racialist policy to maintain itself in power. The country wasted great opportunities by alienating and isolating such people who were already trained at great cost by relying on half-trained and corrupt UMNO cronies, but at the same time, UMNO has also failed to meet the aspirations of millions of rural folk and workers. These are 2 aspects to UMNO’s failure. 

It is therefore imperative that the reform movement pay attention to BOTH aspects of the problem. It cannot rely purely on 100% merit based, cut-throat capitalism to solve the country’s problems. While it is correct to use all the talents and skills available for the country’s development to their fullest potential, it will be a disaster to rely 100% on them with all investment concentrated for their use and management. The layer of middle classes and trained technocrats must be broadened at the same time as the skills and talents of the workers and rural entrepreneurs improved in a very visible way. This “second” investment must be made. 

This “second” investment is not just some political allusion to helping those in need regardless of race or religion. Such patronizing, soothing but ineffectual policies sound too much like what UMNO dishes out. It must be a real investment in broadening the base of trained technocrats and increasing the numbers and quality of skilled and trained manpower both as technicians and as entrepreneurs. Many of these ends are already stated in the People’s Declaration although perhaps in a somewhat different way. 

It appears to me that this is the only way to effect a real alliance with workers and rural folk, not just an alliance of opposition political parties. Without such an alliance the future will be uncertain and UMNO will have a lot more room to play racial politics and maintain itself in power for much longer. So, please think about this.