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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Ridhuan Tee and bumiputera wannabe

arsehole Ridhuan Tee Abdullah 1
arsehole Ridhuan Tee Abdullah 2

Want to know what Malaysians including Malaysians of Malay origin thinks of this arsehole Malay wannabe? Read the comments by Malaysians in Helen Ang's Malasiakini: Ridhuan Tee and bumiputera wannabe (commentators' names changed for privacy):

by TF - 3 hours ago
There's still the pig shit in his blood afterall his lineage is Chinese. Dr? MY FOOT! Pariah is more apt......Pariah Tea!

by P.DAP - 3 hours ago
All one needs to do to win over the Malays is to convert to Islam, have a Malay name, start speaking impeccable Malay and act according to their customs and walla! one can be one of them. But what the Malays forget is that these kind of individuals will do the same if some other race is in power. Therefore simply put, they are nothing but opportunist. If the Malays support this kind of individuals, who are just too shy to admit their roots, then it will be a detriment to the advancement of the Malays because all it would take for the non is to convert and he can then even become the PM because he would then have that ever so important "bin" in his name. Just think of what would happen to the Malays if the Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Nepalis, Africans and all other who are not of Malay race do the same? The malays will eventually go back to square one " iaitu balik ke dalam belunggu penjajah". That is the reason why Malaysia is a haven to many but as usual we the locals don't realize it.

by A - 3 hours ago
I am an educationist and its a sheer pity that learned people like Dr. Tee giving a biased comment about race and religion. When I was trained to be a educationist, my lecturers were malays as well as non malays and in each lectures, we were reminded that our duty as an educator is to impart knowledge without any reference to colour or religion. Here we have a "PhD scholar" uttering nothing but garbage. And not only that, he is kicking the very ladder he came into the world - that is as a chinese. Perhaps in Malaysia we can accept criticisms levelled against the non muslims but not the other way round. And interestingly, in my years as an educator, I always find the converts barking more of their conversations be it among the muslims or the christians. Perhaps Dr.Tee will be applauded among the Malays but you are still a chinese by birth. May Allah guide and show you the rightful path of spreading harmony and tolerance among the humans. Grow up Dr.Tee.

by PHCH - 4 hours ago
一脸的奴才相,狗嘴吐不出象牙的狗奴才。

by LTW - 5 hours ago
Who is this Ridhuan Tee ? Why need to care what he says or writes ?

by w - 5 hours ago
[Chinese boys and girls have become inseparable from the economic functions of pirated DVD trading....] With better-than-DVD high definition pirated movies which can be easily downloaded and exchanged among friends and the proliferation of cheap high density hard disks, even this will not longer be true if it had not already happened.

by d - 5 hours ago
This sick guy obvious is an extremist !

by tired - 5 hours ago
u said "the special position of the Malay is respected". a one-liner on this important aspect of the discussion is barely sufficient. why don't u elaborate on this special position vis-a-vis the constitution, in what way it is being respected and whether the non-malays are aware that the malays have some certain rights. this is important because some malays think this special position is being threatened by non-malays who are pushing for equality.

by Y - 5 hours ago
Ridhuan Tee has to be more Malay than a Malay to be accepted as "one of them". He doesn't grasp the concept of being "one of us". Us, as in Malaysians. But frankly, he is deluded to think that Malays accept him. He's being used as a pawn in the overall scheme of things. Just that he's not aware of it yet.

by T - 5 hours ago
This guy Ridhuan will make the perfect mascot for Najib's 1 Malaysia campaign for he represents all the hypocrisy, ignorance, delusion and arrogance associated with this farce camouflaged as a vision to unite Malaysians.

by T - 5 hours ago
This guy (I can't even mention his name) is full venoms and he's an educationalist? God help our children. He seems to think that being Chinese is a disease or something, forgetting that he's one. What a despicable character, trying to kiss the Malays' feet like they needed him. Malays should steer clear of characters like him. He will only bring them bad karma and his gutter.

by k - 6 hours ago
Terms like Ketuanan Melayu, Malay special rights, Bumiputra and social contract are unknown at independence and not found in the constitution. They were invented by Umno politicians in the 1980's to justify their racist implementation of the NEP. With the shrinking non-Malay population there will be another classification in future - Umnoputra - to distinguish bumiputras who are more privileged than others.

Malaysian's comments re: Stolen jet engines: Gov't to tell all next month

The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Ahmad Maslan made a laughable comment regarding the 2 stolen (he called ite two missing) RMAF F-5E jet engines, that it would be explained to the people next month. Want to know what Malaysians think of that ludicrous statement? Here are the comments from Malaysiakini: Stolen jet engines: Gov't to tell all next month:

1 - 25 of 37 comments
1 2»

by Yuvan - 53 minutes ago
Government to tell all? Really? Well, the government should have told all it knew about this scam long ago, especially since it discovered the theft more than a year ago and claims to have been investigating the incident for many months now. The theft was huge (in terms of value and the sheer logistics used in moving the stolen goods out of Malaysia) and it happened in a high-profile and highly sensitive security environment (the armed forces). If the government is really serious about revealing all it knows, then it should move with the urgency the issue warrants and clearly show its determination to nail all the culprits. And while we wait to hear the whole story from the government, we should not be surprised if it comes up with its typical ‘excuse’ later on to say that it cannot reveal all because that will jeopardise investigations and/or court proceedings (that is, if and when all the people involved are finally charged).

by cala - an hour ago
Absolutely entertaining and relevent comments from Mythots, Amaso, mangodurian and many more. You make my day. Thank you Sirs.

by ezilan - 2 hours ago
Hello Brudder Deputy Minister, You need one month to come up with some cerita donggeng about missing engines? This time you will say the engines committed suicide from the 10th floor and were disposed. All records of the Government belong to the people and should be readily available at short notice to the people anytime unless you have a lot to hide and hoodwink the rakyat. Like Mahacon who said Anwar punched himself when he was arrested.

by lim chong leong - 2 hours ago
Haha, they now need one month to get their story together and everyone to stick to it. They will be having a meeting of all parties involved in a prominent lawyer's office for a white board discussion and briefing.

by Thomas Foo - 2 hours ago
Stop kidding, BeEnd government!How cock sure are you genuine enough to do that. Perhaps, you should start with Lingam or maybe Aminah or PKFZ or TBH. You have been lying for the past decades. We know and you know. We don't vote for a lying government!

by Sentinel - 2 hours ago
Rakyat diutamakan, performance NOW! Hoi... why wait for 1 month to tell all if there is so much urgency in this? I thought 1Malaysia is all about PERFORMANCE NOW! Loads of Bull if you ask me!

by Doc - 3 hours ago
Are you sure that one month is enough time for the BN/UMNO to come up with a really credible, believable and acceptable reason for the missing jet engines and why BN parliamentarians were missing in action on the 14th Dec. I would advise the UMNO boys to appoint a new spin doctor to come with believable excuses/reasons that are palatable to the rakyat. The rakyat are not DUMB so please don't get a dumb spin doctor to give us stories lah!

by mangodurian - 3 hours ago
Yeah, I can see the explanation ... "Urm .. yes para Rakyat yang senang faham, you see there were no stolen engines. The F-5E are old junk from the 70's and we've already retired them. We already had plans to flog them off on eBay and BTW, RM50M each is the price for new. Nowadays you can get them from eBay for less than RM100k. So it is not true that we lost RM100M worth of equipment. What was *missing* however are the documentations from PayPal about the sale, so we have our hush-hush military Polis looking into this. The matter does not arise, and anyone else commenting about this may be liable to OSA action."

by Thiru - 4 hours ago
Every media statement now days ends with 1Malaysia concept...good branding and marketing...blowing trumpet but no songs...

by Dr. Jacob George - 4 hours ago
Only an absolute idiot will make a statement like this! There has been a multi million ringgit theft and many similar such thefts earlier in other areas! Ahmad Mazlan should go and do some homework not recycle old fairy tale excuses or worse create diversions! If not - be a man - have the courage to resign! No wonder we are not moving forward as a nation!

by tan hong kiet - 4 hours ago
Need more time to cook up another story to cover the trecherous fiasco. Common mr. minister, this is the information age. you can't hide anymore. 10-20 years ago you can fool the rakyat but not now.

by kaysee - 4 hours ago
They are probably negotiating to buy back the engines from Argentina. Then it would be spun as "the engines are sent there for repairs" or something along those lines. Whatever the spin, do not waste more taxpayers money please.

by Jamin - 5 hours ago
Aiyah, cakap cakap saja dan berikut dengan lebih cakap cakap. Apa yang rakyat perlu ialah cekap cekap. What is there to explain? 2 missing fighter jet engines! It is no joke or a small matter that can vanish. The culprits (real ones) involved in this fiasco must be bought to book to allay the fears and distrust of the general public to BN's poor poor governance. Any thing lesser is another white wash.

by rhi - 5 hours ago
"We will reply to criticism the opposition who had used the missing jet engines and other issues to confuse the people" so said Ahmad Maslan.Mind you this is the lame excuse BN goons used to actually CONFUSED the people and in Malaysia Bolihland country the opposition parties are considered as THREAT and the real TRAITORS are not.

by Amaso - 6 hours ago
Henry Basil, thanks for enlightening me and others, you have made us realise that ya betul lah - BN component parties have been silent on this serious issue. Not even a word from MCA Ong Tee Keat (nickname Big Mouth), MIC Semivalue (nickname I've not been informed), Gerakan's Koh Tsu Koon (nickname Mr.Good). It shows that UMNO is the boss in BN, others are servants to protect their rice bowls, not people interest and welfare. BN is a bunch of white collar thiefs. Kick BN out.

by Mythots - 6 hours ago
It is a confirmed fact that the jet engines were stolen from the TUDM base. Who else is repsonsible, besides the perperators of this theft? Why was this not revealed earlier to the people? Why didn't the Auditor-General's last report include this item missing in its audit? Why was a police report not lodged as soon as it was discovered missing? Why is it taking so long for the police to investigate and bring to book those involved? So many questions but sadly not enough answers. What is the protocol for such a situation and what action is being taken in the recovery of the 2 stolen engines? Don't expect the people to provide the answers, this is the job of the government, that we elected. A blunder took place, and it is time to answer the questions the rakyat is asking.

by Henry Basil a/l S Joseph Xavier - 6 hours ago
I am yet to hear a comment from any of the other component parties in BN. This is proof that all the chinese,indians,ibans,dayaks,kadasans,etc who are members of BN are comfortable with the missing jet engine,which translates to endorsing corruption.This is why all these corruption continues unabated and the time is right to stem out BN as it is corrupt.Malaysians, whether you are malay,chinese,indian,others speak up and reject corruption by voting opposition at any by election or next GE.

by yobama - 7 hours ago
"We will reply to criticisms from the opposition who had used the missing jet engines and other issues to confuse the people. ============================================ We are not that easily confused, lah, Oh Minister. We Malaysians have well developed brains that Allah has given us. So don't give lame excuses that the opposition is trying to confuse us. Please accept responsibility for the loss and get the releavnt minister to resign immediately for the shoddy performance. Ironically, the same man is trying to peddle 'performance now' slogan to the people whom he had betrayed. The sheer folly of it all! Malaysia Boloh!

by mark chin - 7 hours ago
.....the missing jet engines, PKFZ scam, missing PI, death of TBH, the extension of APs to 2015, the Perak takeover, the sodomy charge of DSAI etc etc and of course the 1 Malaysia...yes Minister, Malaysians are all very confused.

by Tan Teng Wah - 7 hours ago
Does 'all' means the true story in full? Nowadays, we are somehow less inclined to believe what the government says. Then comes the remedial actions. We have seen the government dragging its feet on RCI findings. Where are the the transparency and accountability?

by nil - 7 hours ago
Whatever the explainations, the fact remains that two jet engines worth RM millions were found to be missing under the noses of the big brass.....they were lost, and later found sold, and this was acknowledged. Don't confuse the people anymore.

by kgan - 7 hours ago
Why next month? Haven't you had enough time to prepare your lies?

by cala - 8 hours ago
Sivananthan Kanapathipillay. I read from Sin Chew a few days ago that the current going rate in the market for that model of jet engine is RM 10 million per unit. I wonder where is the figure of RM 50 million coming from. Do you want to check it up from google?

by Artchan - 8 hours ago
Ahmad Maslan...or whatever your name is. I am NOT CONFUSED. I am damn sure the engines were lost under Najib's watch. Just in case you could be confused, a jet engine is BIG...not something you can put in your underpants and walk out with it.

by Lin Wen quan - 8 hours ago
I am not going to be excited by whatever BN is going to explain about their sins of omission, least of all the stolen jet engines. It will be more of the same crap they dish to us everytime something screws up. They are working feverishly to spin a tall tale hoping the people will swallow it hook, line and sinker. Please wake up....we are not stupid like you blokes. I can almost predict the line.....some RMAF kuching kurap stole the engines.....falsified the paper work...abetted by some airport workers....and voila the fat cats culprits get away scotch-free to enjoy the 100 million!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Tip - use Google search to detect malicious sites


A blogger reported that he clicked a hyperlink (active URL) contained in a message from a Google group and was led to a malicious site and his computer went haywire. If not for his prompt actions, his computer would have met the deadly "blue screen" kiss of death. Another blogger posted a neat solution to try to avoid a similar fate when you want to visit a site through a hyperlink in your email or any other website. Highlight the URL, press ctrl+C to copy the URL (or right-click on the link and select "copy shortcut" (Internet Explorer, other browsers will be slightly different like "copy link address for Firefox),

screenshot right-click on hyperlink to copy URL

go to Google Search Engine, paste the copied URL into the search box and search. If the site contains malicious software, there is a good chance that you will get a warning message, otherwise, click on the link in the search engine to go to the site.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Malaysia must allow private schools to use English

Malaysiakini: Gov't has no hand in Astro rates: "Deputy Information Communications and Culture minister Joseph Salang Gandum said the paid services provided by Astro were not basic communications service but rather a choice made by subscribers to have a choice of more channels"

Also Mahathir said the government was exposing Malaysia to peril by reversing the policy of teaching maths and science in English. “English is the language of the Knowledge Age. Countries which do not master English will not only be left behind but risk being colonised either directly or indirectly.” Source: Dr M: Forsaking English is the nation’s folly.

Lots of very concerned Malaysian parents are desperate for good schools and desperate for their children to master English and are despondent over the sorry states of our Sekolah Kebangsaan (National Schools). English is now the International Language whether we like it or not, the language of commerce, language for science and technology and anybody and any nation must master English to be able to compete not only nationally but also globally. Why must our Government and some of our citizens not allow us to set up private schools which uses English if not as the medium of instructions while also using Bahasa Malaysia, then at least as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics.

I hope politicians will take up this issue and raise the matter in Parliament and fight for private schools which have greater latitude in deciding on the language of instructions. After all, a Minister had said "...the paid services provided by Astro were not basic communications service but rather a choice made by subscribers". That should be changed to "..the education provided the private schools the choices made by parents...".

Mariam Mokhtar - a true Malaysian Malay

Mariam's article is actually titled A day in the life of an ordinary Malaysian — Mariam Mokhtar and is a nice complement to the post Indians helped made Malaysian great both of which I believe are response to those Malays screaming for Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy) and calling non-Malay Malaysians second class citizens by Malays themself. I just wished there are more Malays like that as it will make us feel more at home here in Malaysia.

You should pop over to A day in the life of an ordinary Malaysian — Mariam Mokhtar to see how non-Malays have contributed to the life in Malaysia. Mariam described how many of services provided to her family were by non-Malays and gives a feel of how Muhibah should be.

Indians helped made Malaysia great - a comment by a Malay gentleman

There is now a great debate regarding the so-called Ketuanan Melayu or Malay Supremacy in Malaysia with some UMNO gangsters even calling outright non-Malays as second class citizens and ignoring the contributions made by non-Malays.

Video: Jangan biar Mei 13 berulang lagi (Don't let May 13 repeat)

The racialists Malays are always using the racial riots of May 13, 1969 and the killing of many Malaysian Chinese to threaten non-Malays whenever the question of inequalities are brought up. Video courtesy of Malaysiakini:



Here is a comment by a real Malay gentleman which is very pertinent to the issue:

Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Idris Hassan
Dec 11, 09

I refer to the Malaysiakini report Of noisy Indians and 'keling' blood: Utusan strikes again.

The attacking of fellow Malaysians by the mainstream media Utusan Malaysia because of their race is unwarranted and most uncalled for. I remember in the late forties when I was a little boy living in my hometown of Raub, Pahang.

I used to pass road gangs of Tamil labourers toiling in the midday's scorching sun from dawn till dusk. Armed with only picks and shovels, they would be hacking at solid rocks to carve out roads along the mountain side.

They had no proper attire, just a withered white towel tied in turban form on their heads. They would wrap rags around their spindly legs to prevent the hot molten tar from scalding them as they went about their chores.

Yet they had time to smile and wave at passing cars. They used to be referred to as 'coolies' and their slave-like living quarters as coolie lines. My late father used to tell us that most of the roads in Malaya at the turn of the century were built solely by Indian labour.

They toiled in the malaria-infested rubber estates, living with their families in filthy inhuman conditions. The white 'tuan' treated them like slaves and allowed them to indulge in drinking toddy to forget their woes .

Yet again it was the same coolies called 'toties' who serviced our bucket system latrines until the early sixties as there were no takers for this job from the other races. I have seen for myself these 'toties' cleaning the rubber tubs at a stream not far from my house with their bare hands.

In short, when there was any dirty, menial job to be done, it was this Tamil coolie, then often called by the derogatory term 'keling', that did it for us.

Now times have changed and their offsprings have made much progress in all fields and want to take their rightful place in our society .Let's not pour scorn on them and laugh away their pride.

As a soldier I know that many of my Indian/Tamil friends who fought and died for this country . They all are a part of those who stood by us during the good and bad times, they have helped make this country great.

A country which rightfully belongs to all Malaysians.

Source: Malaysiakini letters

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Nazri Abdul Aziz now a good man?

I used to consider Nazri Abdul Aziz, a dim wit who have a habit of making ridiculous statements and who as a lawyer and politician don't know the meaning of separation of power (he as defacto Minister of Law in the said that he is then Chief Justice, Tan Sri Ahmad Fairuz's Minister (separation of power demands the Judiciary should be independent of the Executive means Nazri cannot be boss (Minister) of Ahmad Fairuz).

However, Nazri now seem to be talking sense when he said "Malay supremacy, which is feudalistic in nature and not in line with uniting all the races as Malaysians" (Nazri lashes out at Malay supremacy advocates and lashed out at Malays and groups that scream Malay Supremacy, saying for political mileage and self interest.

Come on Nazri, more of the same (talking sense) please.

Barisan Nasional caused Malaysia to become an "oil cursed" nation

Below is the speech in English at the Young Corporate Malaysians Summit by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, former finance minister and UMNO vice-president. How I wished someone will help translate the speech into Bahasa Malaysia so that those in the rural area can read it in the language they are most familiar with. Anybody wants to volunteer?


In a speech I made in April this year, I spoke of where we stand in our developmental path and what I felt we must do to move forward.

I need to revisit that argument in order to develop it further.

We are stagnating. The signs of a low-growth economy are all around us. Wages are stagnant and the cost of living is rising.

We have not made much progress in becoming a knowledge and services based economy.

According to the World Bank, Malaysia's share of GDP contributed by services was 46.2 percent in 1987. Ten years later, that share had grown by a mere 0.2 percent.

Between 1994 and 2007, real wages grew by 2.6 percent in the domestic sector and by 2.8 percent in the export sector, which is to say, they were flat over that 13-year period.

Meanwhile, our talent scenario is an example of perverse selection at its most ruinous. We are failing to retain our own young talent, people like yourselves, let alone attract international talent to relocate here, while we have had a massive influx of unskilled foreign labour. They now make up 30 to 40 percent of our workforce.
Alone in East Asia, the number of expatriate professionals here has decreased. Alone in East Asia, private sector wage increases follow government sector increases, instead of the other way around. We are losing doctors and scientists and have become Southeast Asia's haven for low-cost labour.

I said that we are in a middle-income trap, stuck in the pattern of easy growth from low-value-added manufacturing and component assembly and unable to make the leap to a knowledge-intensive economy.

Regional competitors with larger, cheaper - and dare I say - hungrier labour forces have emerged. China and India have risen as both lower cost and higher technology producers, and with giant domestic markets.

The manufacturing sector which propelled the growth we enjoyed in the 90s is being hollowed out. There is no going back, there is no staying where we are, and we do not have a map for the way forward.

I am glad that the characterisation of Malaysia as being in a 'middle-income-trap' has been taken up by the government, and that the need for an economic story, or strategy, for Malaysia is now recognised.

We stand in particular need of such a model because we are a smallish economy. We cannot be good at everything, and we don't have to be.

We need only make some reasonable bets in identifying and developing a focused set of growth drivers. It is not difficult to see what the elements of such a growth strategy might be. Whatever we come up with should build on our natural strengths, and our strengths include the following:

We are located at the crossroads of Asia, geographically and culturally, sitting alongside the most important oil route in the world.
We have large Muslim, Chinese and Indian populations that connect us to the three fastest growing places in the world today.
We have some of the largest and oldest rainforests in the world, a treasure house of bio-diversity when the greatest threat facing mankind as a whole now is ecological destruction, and the greatest technological advances are likely to come from bioscience.
We have the English language, a common law system, parliamentary democracy,good schools,an independent civil service and good infrastructure.
These advantages, however, are declining. Our cultural diversity is in danger of coming apart in bigotry, our rainforests are being logged out and planted over, our social and political institutions are decaying.

I have spoken at length on different occasions about the causes and consequences of institutional decline.The decline in our society and indeed in our natural environment, originates in a decline in our basic institutions.

The link between these is corruption.The destruction of our ecosystem for example, is made possible by corrupt officials and business people.The uncontrolled influx of unskilled labour is a direct result of corruption.

These are problems we need to be aware of before we speak glibly about coming up with new strategies and new economic models. We need to understand where we are, and how we have gone wrong, before we can set things right.

You are young, well-educated Malaysians. Many among you have left for other shores. Record numbers of Malaysians, of all races, work abroad or have emigrated. Among these are some of our best people.They sense the stagnation I described.

There is a certain lack of energy, ingenuity and “hunger” in the climate of this country that young people are most sensitive to. In the globalised job market, young people instinctively leave the less simulating and creative environments for those that have a spark to them.

How did we lose our spark as a nation?

We have a political economy marked by dependence on easy options and easy wealth. Like personal dependencies,these bad habits provide temporary comfort but discourage the growth of creativity and resilience.

I mentioned our dependence on low-cost foreign labour.

The other dependence is something I played a part in making possible.This is a story I want to leave you with to ponder in your deliberations today.

Once a blessing, now a curse

Our nation is blessed with a modest quantity of oil reserves. As a young nation coming to terms with this natural bounty in the early 70s, our primary thought was to conserve that oil.

That is why, when Petronas was formed, we instituted the Petroleum Development Council. Its function was to advise the prime minister on how to conserve that oil and use it judiciously for national development. We knew our reserves would not last long.

We saw our oil reserves as an unearned bounty that would provide the money for modernisation and technology. We saw our oil within a developmental perspective. Our struggle then, was to make the leap from an economy based on commodities and low-cost assembly and manufacturing to a more diverse, economy based on high income jobs.

Aware that we had an insufficient tax base to make the capital investments needed to make the leap, we planned to apply oil royalties to what you would call today strategic investments in human capital.

Whatever money left after making cash payments, allocations for development funds, etc, was to be placed in a Heritage Fund for the future.The Heritage Fund was for education and social enrichment.

In working out the distribution of oil between the states, who had sovereign rights over it, and the federal government, we were guided by concerns for equity between all Malaysians, a concern to develop the poorer states (who also happened to be the oil rich states) and a concern for inter-generational equity.That oil was for special development purposes and it was not just meant for our generation.

Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya to form Malaysia because of the promise of development funds. Yet today, despite being their massive resources, they are some of our poorest states.

Instead of being our ace up the sleeve, however, our oil wealth became in effect a swag of money used to fund the government's operational expenditure, to bail out failing companies, buy arms, build grandiose cities amidst cleared palm oil estates.

Instead of helping eradicate poverty in the poorest states, our oil wealth came to be channeled into the overseas bank accounts of our political and politically-linked class.

Instead of being the patrimony of all Malaysians, and for our children, it is used as a giant slush fund that has propped up authoritarian rule, eroded constitutional democracy and corrupted our entire political and business elite.

Our oil receipts, instead of being applied in the manner we planned upon the formation of Petronas, that is, according to its original developmental purpose, became a fund for the whims and fancy of whoever ran the country, without any accountability.

The oil that was meant to spur our transition to a more humane, educated society has instead become a narcotic that provides economic quick fixes and hollow symbols such as the Petronas towers.

Our oil wealth was meant to help us foster Malaysians capable of building the Twin Towers than hire foreigners to build them, a practice in which we preceded Dubai. I would rather have good government than grand government buildings filled with a demoralised civil service.

It is no wonder that we are no longer productive, no longer using our ingenuity to devise ways to improve ourselves and leap forward.

Malaysia is now an “oil cursed” country. We managed to arrive at this despite not having a lot of oil.

When I started Petronas in 1974, I did not realise I would see the day when I would wish we had not uncovered this bounty.

Public assets 'looted'

The story I have told is a reminder of the scale of the challenge of development. My generation of young people faced this challenge in the 60s and 70s. You face it now.The story tells us that development is about far more than picking strategies out of a box.

You have kindly invited me to address a seminar on strategies for reinventing and liberalising Malaysia's economy. But the story of our squandered oil wealth reminds us that it was not for want of resources or strategies that we floundered.
There's an easy way to plan for retirement. Find out how.


Our failure has been political and moral. We have allowed greed and resentment to drive our politics and looked the other way or even gone along while public assets have been stolen in broad daylight.

I encourage you to take up the cause of national development with the ingenuity that earlier generations of Malaysians brought to this task, but the beginning of our journey must be a return to the basics of public life: the rule of law, honesty, truth-telling and the keeping of promises.

The Malaysia we need to recover is one that was founded on laws and led with integrity. With the hindsight of history we know such things are fragile and can be overturned in one generation, forgotten the next.

Without a living foundation in the basics you might sense an air of unreality around our talk of reinventing ourselves, coming up with “a new economic model” and liberalising our economy.

So before we can reinvent ourselves, we need to reclaim our nation. That larger community, bound by laws, democratic and constitutional, is the context of economic progress, it is the context in which young people find hope, think generous thoughts and create tomorrow.

Source: Malaysiakini: Our oil wealth squandered