The Malays: We are our own worst enemy

Orang Melayu ni, bila dah diberi kesempatan, gunalah kesempatan yang ada to show that we can do it on our own. Show that we can actually scale the world. We need to show that while the country is indeed ours, we can manage it better than the colonial powers, and that we are not up there by virtue of simply being a bumiputra. That we are a world class society. Ini tidak, we screwed up everything we have. We destroy everything in our path and within reach of our hands, as those in power and those given the opportunity plundered the nation's wealth for themselves.

How do you expect others (non-muslims especially) to respect us (and Islam)? Even if we don't really care about how others think of us, don't we have religion? And believe in the Day of Judgment? And hell and heaven? Or haram and halal?

We are our own worst enemy.

Take MAS for example. TR was handed MAS on a silver platter in 1993. It was a share swap between Malaysia Helicopter Services (1 share @ RM14) and MAS (2 shares at RM8). After so many years of incurring loses, it was resold to the government at RM8.00 even though its value then (2001) was RM3.68 per share. Until today, MAS has not recovered. What is its current share value? RM0.20? Could TR take MAS to greater height so that we could hail him as a Malay hero? Rather than a traitor? With MAS becoming the butt of our jokes with RM50 Nasik lemak and now the Nasik lemak telanjang?

The signing of funding of the project by the Ministry

And take the National Feedlot project. Again, it was handed on a silver platter to you know who. RM250 M soft loan to AgroScience Industries belonging Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, husband to a Cabinet Minister. What happened to the money is very well documented. High-end condos, and posh restaurants in Singapore etc etc. And they hired  our own sons and daughters and paid them handsomely; a salary that you and I can only dream of. Did it become the biggest cattle company in South East Asia that has thousand of hectares grazing land with ranches from Australia to Argentina? We can only wish.

What about Perimekar? In Perimekar, do we have a company that can design and construct a submarine, and sell it to the world? Or is it just another rent-seeking vehicle for certain individuals? Didn't we have any pride and ambition to make it big in maritime? Did they not even try? Or is that commission of RM500 M sufficient to cover a few generations already?

We still hold top positions in critical government agencies, including the army and police. The majority in civil servant are still Malay. Can we not make sure that the agencies are run efficiently that we in the private sector and the people of this country can be proud? From the army chief to the radar operator, I can safely say that they are my own kind. Can you all not run it as if your life depended on it? Is our army better - in term of training and morale - that the army at our Southern end, never mind the sophistication of warfare that they may have..

Why didn't we have the best run airlines that can rival that of Singapore Airline? MAS was up there in term of services. Why didn't we have a car company that at least can match the Koreans, never mind the Germans (or Japanese)? Why can we be self sustaining in agriculture - be it rice or cattle? We are nowhere near the Thais in this area. Why do we have difficulty in being self sufficient in fishery and need to employ foreigners for our deep sea trawlers?

We bought tools for RM5,000.00 a piece when you can purchase the same thing at your neighbourhood hardware store for a few ringgit. We are such smart businessmen.

Let's not forget sports. We use to take the bronze in Asian game soccer (in Teheran). But in the 80s, with the likes of Azizol (Abu Hanipah) earning RM16,000.00 a month, and Azman Adnan earning RM20,000.00, bribery became our downfall. Mind you, as fresh graduate from an overseas' university, I was earning a few miserable ringgit a  month (no where near as much) toiling as an engineer at a local cement plant.

And we are still there somewhere at the bottom, thirty years later.

Can you see the common denominator? Can't we all  see it? Can we blame the Chinese at all? Should we all blame the Chinese for all the bad things in this country?

Please, this is not a political piece. Just an view from someone who had been educated by the people's money in the 70s and 80s by the government of the day to whom I am extremely thankful. We all owe it to this country of ours to make right what had gone wrong somewhere in time, somewhere along.