Utusan Malaysia: Under Singapore’s Kuan Yew, the Malays are sidelined

Copies of Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s latest book entitled One Man’s View of the World are displayed for sale at his book launch at the Istana in Singapore August 6, 2013. The 400-page book contained harsh words about Malaysia

(The Malay Mail) – “Awang believes that Malaysia’s approach, while not ideal, is better in offering equal opportunity to the talents of all races than Singapore,” Awang wrote.

Utusan Malaysia told Lee Kuan Yew today to aim his criticisms at his own policies in Singapore, saying unlike in Malaysia, where Chinese businesses are allowed to prosper under a Malay rule, Malays on the island republic are sidelined.

The Umno-owned daily suggested that by criticising Malaysia, Lee was attempting to hide the weaknesses of his own country, particularly on the subject of openness and democracy “where his record is lowest”.

“Awang believes it is more appropriate for Kuan Yew to criticise his own country, although he is so proud with its meritocracy approach. Is his meritocracy system fair and perfect?”

“Which race dominates Singapore in all industries? Are the minority races given the full space to grow?” wrote Awang Selamat in today’s Mingguan Malaysia, the daily’s weekend edition.

“In some cases, meritocracy [in Singapore] is just cosmetic,” he added.

Citing examples, Awang claimed of numerous complaints of the difficulties faced by Malay job seekers in the island state’s airlines industry.

“The same applies for Cabinet ministers. Where in the past there used to be several Malay ministers, today there is only one,” he said.

Awang represents the collective voice of the paper’s editors.

Lee, Singapore’s founding father, had doused the administrative policies of his neighbour nation in cold water in his latest book One Man’s View of the World, suggesting that Malaysia had become a “much more orthodox” Muslim Malay country since the time Tunku Abdul Rahman.

In a Q&A section in the book, the former Singapore prime minister was asked if Malaysia could become more like Turkey than Saudi Arabia, in the sense of becoming “relatively open, imbibing some of the more international values”.

But Lee appeared to scoff at the suggestion, and reminded that the Malaysia of today was unlike before when its leaders were more “relaxed”.

“Now, under the influence of the Middle Eastern states, they are much more orthodox. They used to serve liquor at dinners and drink with you. When I was there, the Tunku would invite his friends over and drink whisky and brandy with them.

“Now, they toast each other in syrups,” he added.

Lee, who turns 90 next month, was also asked if Malaysia could become a “progressive Muslim country”, to which he replied: “You believe that? What do you mean by a progressive Muslim country?

“That they will not wear their headdress, that they will shake hands, men and women, and sit down, that a non-Muslim can be drinking beer and have a Muslim sit down and drink coffee with him?”

Lee also suggested that it was Malaysia’s adoption of orthodox Muslim ways and its alleged insistence on promoting that one dominant race above others that had led to the country’s major talent leak.

Malaysia faces a severe talent flight issue with an estimated 5 per cent of skilled locals exiting the country on an annual basis—with most bound south for neighbouring Singapore.

A World Bank report from 2011 concluded that 20 per cent of Malaysian graduates opt to quit the country, again with Singapore cited as the preferred destinations.

Worryingly for Malaysia, the report concluded that these migrants were being replaced by unskilled and uneducated foreigners.

In his new book, Lee had said: “They are prepared to lose that talent in order to maintain the dominance of one race.”

The New Economic Policy and other policies in its vein have been blamed for driving the country’s non-Malays to find an exit, with Singapore being the destination of choice for geographic and cultural reasons.

Lee noted that the percentage of the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups in Malaysia’s population had dwindled since 1970, saying that a 2010 census showed lower figures for both groups.

In the same book, Lee also indicated that Malaysians who are counting on either Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia concept or the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat to usher in a new era for race relations are being unrealistic.

The former Singapore prime minister said the 1Malaysia slogan had not lived up to the initial excitement it created, adding that the Malay ground had not moved with Najib’s ambitious plans to unite the different races in Malaysia.

However, Utusan Malaysia disagreed with Lee’s assertions and told the former Singapore prime minister to accept the fact that Malaysia cannot use the same development model as its neighbour.

The paper noted that just like Malaysia, Singapore too suffers a similar brain drain problem.

“Awang believes that Malaysia’s approach, while not ideal, is better in offering equal opportunity to the talents of all races than Singapore,” Awang wrote.