I agree, Malaysia’s government is “Kerajaan Gagal”

The Malaysian yardstick of “Kerajaan Gagal” is how long it takes to withdraw your EPF money and how many months loan repayment moratorium you are granted. My yardstick for “Kerajaan Gagal” is wider than that. It includes the mentality of Malaysians while driving, race relations (where after more than 100 years Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sabahans and Sarawakians still hate one another), how Malaysians are myopic, braindead, narrow-minded and short-sighted even after going to university, and so on.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Yes, I agree, Malaysia’s government is “Kerajaan Gagal”. But then I measure the “Kerajaan Gagal” index differently from the way the anti-government people in Umno and Pakatan Harapan measure it.

The “Kerajaan Gagal” index cannot be measured from just one aspect. It is just like how you measure a person’s success or failure.

For example, a certain Chinese Tan Sri who is a multi-millionaire cannot be labelled a success when he made his millions from prostitution, loansharking, illegal gambling, and drug trafficking. Just because he has a Tan Sri title and millions to his name is not grounds to label him a success when his “success” is achieved against the backdrop of other people’s misery.

In that same spirit, the farmer in a kampung in Terengganu cannot be labelled a failure just because he is a farmer who never went to school when he raised seven children who are now lawyers, doctors, engineers, bankers, etc., and very successful in their respective professions.

Most Malaysians, of course, would consider the Chinese Tan Sri millionaire a success and the uneducated Malay farmer in Terengganu a failure. In short, we need to broaden the criteria in measuring “success” and “failure”.

So, I agree that Malaysia is a “failed country” and has, what the anti-government people from Umno and Pakatan Harapan say, a “Kerajaan Gagal” or “failed government”. But my reason is not for the same reason or reasons as argued by the anti-government people from Umno and Pakatan Harapan.

I mean we cannot measure “success” and “failure” based just on delayed EPF withdrawals and only three months instead of six months loan repayment moratorium. That is like labelling a scientist who developed the Covid-19 vaccine as a failure because he did not comb his hair properly and looks very untidy. That criterion is too trivial.

My list is actually very long, extremely long indeed, but maybe I can touch on just a few items — or else my extremely long article may be regarded as a thesis and a university might award me a PhD.

At the top of my list (but not necessarily in order of priority) is race relations. After 64 years since Merdeka and 52 years since “May 13”, Malaysians of different ethnicities still hate one another. And this hate is not just racial but religious as well. Furthermore, the hate is also regional where Sabahans and Sarawakians consider West Malaysians as colonialists and as “Malayans” rather than as fellow Malaysians.

The problem, though, is that this hate did not start just 14 months ago since 1st March 2020 when Perikatan Nasional took over as the government or since Muhyiddin Yassin took over as Prime Minister. This hate has been around since the 1800s when “wars” between Malays and Chinese had been fought in Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Singapore, Penang, etc., for more than 100 years.

The British knew that the Malay-Chinese hate will never end and that if Britain gave Malaya Merdeka the Malays might kick the Chinese out of the country and send them back to China. That was why the British forced the Malays to agree to a deal with the Chinese and Indians before Merdeka could be considered, and part of this deal was to grant citizenship to the Chinese and Indians. The Malays, therefore, had no choice but to reluctantly grant the Chinese and Indians citizenship or else no Merdeka.

But that was 70 years ago when they formed the Alliance Party. Since then, nothing has changed. The Malays, Chinese and Indians (and now the Sabahans and Sarawakians as well) still hate one another and still cannot get along. Just see what the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sabahans, and Sarawakians say about one another in the social media. We can pretend all we want, but the hate is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

Second on my list is education, Islamic education included and in particular. Malaysians go to school, no doubt, but going to school does not mean you become educated. And that is one of the reasons why I live in the UK. I want all my grandchildren to receive a UK education and not turn out as myopic, braindead, narrow-minded and short-sighted human beings like the majority of Malaysians.

Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi put it very aptly when he said Malaysia is a country with a first-world infrastructure but third-world mentality. And Malaysian Muslims are even worse. They are so narrow-minded that it makes me ashamed to call myself a Muslim. Malaysian Muslims are so high-and-mighty and holier-than-thou that they make me sick. Malays would call them bodoh-sombong — dahlah bodoh, sombong pulak.

I can understand why the Malaysian Christians hate the Muslims and I would agree that Malaysian Muslims are a most misguided bunch of people. All the religious departments and Islamic institutions at state and federal level should just be closed down. They are costing billions and they are doing more harm than good. Why the hell do we need so many people (and Muftis) employed to “protect” Islam when Islam is being damaged by these same so-called “protectors”?

Okay, that’s two reasons — race relations and education. Both those are failures and have been so since Merdeka 64 years ago. I am sure many of you can add to that list and come out with 10 or 20 more “indicators”.

The traffic accident and death rate in Malaysia is very high. On a per capita basis, it is ten times the rate of the UK. Over the last 30 years, about 250,000 Malaysians have been killed on Malaysian roads. And Malaysia’s roads are better than the roads in the UK. So why so many accidents and deaths? That’s because Malaysians are arrogant and inconsiderate, even those who have gone to university.

Malaysians grumble because cars cost too much in Malaysia and that the tax is too high. Imagine if cars in Malaysia were as cheap as in the UK (like how Malaysians want it to be). The death rate over 30 years would be one million instead of 250,000. Covid-19 would be nothing by comparison.

So, yes, Malaysia is a negara gagal with a “Kerajaan Gagal”, as what the anti-government people in Umno and Pakatan Harapan allege. Malaysians want more democracy, civil liberties and freedom of this and freedom of that (to become “Negara Berjaya”). But then Christians cannot preach to Muslims and Muslims cannot leave Islam. So, do you want more democracy, civil liberties, and all sorts of freedoms or not? Yang mana satu?

The problem is Malaysians do not understand the meaning of “Kerajaan Gagal” and “Kerajaan Berjaya”. Malaysians want more democracy, civil liberties and freedom of this and freedom of that as long as this does not include freedom to preach Christianity to Muslims and freedom for Muslims to leave Islam.

The Malaysian yardstick of “Kerajaan Gagal” is how long it takes to withdraw your EPF money and how many months loan repayment moratorium you are granted. My yardstick for “Kerajaan Gagal” is wider than that. It includes the mentality of Malaysians while driving, race relations (where after more than 100 years Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sabahans and Sarawakians still hate one another), how Malaysians are myopic, braindead, narrow-minded and short-sighted even after going to university, and so on.