Wednesday, March 12, 2008

This statement sums up everything that is wrong with Malaysia

*GOT THIS FROM MY EMAIL. should have post it earlier.. but NO sources cited. Don't know who wrote, but quite true though. I don't know if you all have read it or not. I've fwd to some of you all. It's quite thorough.. and can be sort of a checklist.. if changes have been made in all these with the new election results. :)

ELECTION: FOR, OR AGAINST UMNO-PUTRAISM?
03.03.2008

For the first time, there appears to be a clear-cut battle line between the opposition parties - PAS, DAP & PKR - and the ruling Barisan Nasional in the coming election.

Reading through the manifestos of the opposition parties, they seem to have said in one voice: "No more race politics please! Let us get on with genuine nation-building by restoring the democratic rights as enshrined in our Constitution to all citizens, irrespective of race, creed or colour."

BN says: "We have done well in the past 50 years, let us maintain the status quo."



Really?



Well, look closely and it is clear that what they really mean is: UMNO will continue its autocratic rule which is characterized by rampant corruption, bribery, pervasive racism, abrogation of democracy, impaired Judiciary, wanton abuse of power and authority, religious intolerance, perverting the course of justice, uncontrollable crime rate and runaway inflation!

Of these evils that are plaguing this country, what irks people most are the ones that have inflicted pain to the common people: the unbearable price hikes and the equally unbearable crime rates. So, let us zoom in on these two issues.

Crime rates have been spiraling uncontrollably in recent years due to two main factors:



(a) a hopelessly corrupt and incompetent police force, and



(b) absentee ministerial oversight under the Minister of Internal Security cum
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.



A corrupt police force is the natural product of a corrupt political leadership. It doesn't make sense any way for a corrupt political leadership to maintain a clean and competent force, for the latter, if truly uncorrupted, would surely put the former in
trouble.

That is why the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) will never be implemented as long as UMNO is in power. And that is also why crime rate will never come down as long as UMNO is in power.

What about inflation?

BN has a point when it says that local prices are affected by escalation of world prices of commodities. But why are Singaporeans, who are even more affected by world commodity price escalation than us, do not cry out in such pain as Malaysians? Shouldn't Singapore, which produces no primary commodity at all, suffer more than Malaysia, which is a major exporter of primary commodities?

The answer is simple. First, Singapore has been enjoying robust economic growth while Malaysia has not, despite BN's claim to the contrary. The vast majority of Malaysians
who have been struggling to make ends meet, could hardly stay above the water under the recent price spirals.



Secondly, Malaysia's notorious income disparity, which is already worst in the region, has further worsened under Umno-putraism - the policy of favoritism enjoyed by UMNO elites and cronies, resulting in vast majority being deprived of equitable share of the nation's wealth.



Thirdly, unreasonable hikes in costs of services - road tolls, electricity, water, telecommunications etc - due to one-sided agreements and monopolies favouring crony enterprises to the detriment of consumers.


Fourthly, we have a wantonly corrupt and inept administration that has lost its moral
authority to impose discipline on traders, many of whom are obviously indulging in profiteering.

It will be seen that, as all roads lead to Rome, all these evils could be traced to one root cause - racism.

It is through racism that UMNO is able to maintain its hegemony through racial divide and rule. While in power, it amends the Constitution and enacts laws that abrogate democracy in a continual eroding process that eventually allowed it to have amassed immense autocratic power to the Executive. UMNO manipulates the democratic institutions - judiciary, attorney general's chambers, police, ACA, election commission, civil service, etc ¡V not to serve people, but to serve the self- interests of its party leaders, cronies and the favoured.



Through these manipulations, the ruling elite have pursued its illegitimate interests with impunity, such as amassing illegal wealth and crushing down on political dissents.

As a result, racism and corruption have run unabated, devastating the nation to an untenable level in a dictatorial ambience. Apart from causing the worst racial polarization and brain drain through intensifying racial discrimination, Umno-putraism has seriously undermined the integrity and efficiency of the entire government machinery through uninhibited corruption.



In particular, our judiciary is held in scorn because the judges who are appointed for no reason other than their willingness to come to the biding of, and dance to the tune of their UMNO masters.



Our race-biased institutions of learning ¡V once recognized throughout the world before

and years after Merdeka - have now plunged to such lows that not only are our tertiary qualifications no longer recognized by Australia, UK and America and other western and Asian countries, it has now become the butt of bad jokes in the bar.

Malaysia's international competitiveness has slipped from the top to the bottom rank in the region, shunned by foreign and local investors alike. One of the most worrisome indicator is the slip of Malaysia's export growth to the bottom for the region for 2007 (refer to Star, Nov 29, 2007).



In 2007, when global economy expanded strongly and primary commodity prices surged, Malaysia should have enjoyed admirable export growth and economic boom since it is a major exporter of primary commodities and a net petroleum exporter. So why are the people groaning of economic hardship amidst rising costs of living and declining quality of life?

Hong Kong and Singapore have no natural resources whatsoever, and yet they are reaping bountiful budget surpluses and distributing generous cash to their citizens. In contrast, Malaysia is richly endowed with natural resources and yet it has to struggle to prop up its economy through ten consecutive years of heavy budget-deficit spending.

The country's performance is pathetic. No rational person can deny that Malaysia has been grossly misruled and mismanaged. And the culprit behind it all is UMNO's racist and corrupt politics.

On the eve of election, UMNO may be satisfied that it will continue to be cuddled by its core supporters. This feeling has no doubt been reinforced by the goodwill it has gained through Barisan's deceptive and cunningly executed bribe ¡V in the form of a hefty wage increase for the 1.2 million government servants in the bloated bureaucracy. But these people must be reminded that this unusual benefit may be short lived ¡V given that it will only increase the growing threat of soaring inflation for the country. Besides, such hefty wage increased favour basically only one racial sector while other races in the country are deprived and left to bear the brunt and burden of the cost of this wage increase. One can hardly blame them for feeling further deprived and marginalized. This is not something that any government can feel proud of. On the contrary, this is clearly a case of "robbing Peter to pay Paul".



What must be understood that only a clean and competent political leadership can extricate the nation from the present quagmire and bring long term prosperity to the entire nation.

Malaysians must now decide whether they want continue to tolerate the shame of living as second class citizens in a Third-World country under the bankrupt divide-and- rule policies of a racist UMNO for another five year, along with s with all the collateral vices intact. Or they want to hold their heads high and say, "NO MORE!" to Barisan.



The choice is clear. Let's grab the chance that is before us and give a fresh start to Malaysia by welcoming genuine multi-racialism to restore democracy and good government to the people.

In short, the vote to be cast on the 8th of March should be treated as a verdict on Umno-putraism: for or against?

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