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Tunku is Malaysia’s most visionary PM

STAR Business.
Thursday September 6, 2007

i Capital has always advised that besides knowing accounting and economics, an investor also needs to know history and philosophy well

THIS week, we take a walk down memory lane. i Capital will share with its readers some interesting but forgotten facts about the Malaysian Prime Minister who is or was the most visionary of all.

Most Malaysians, especially the younger ones, would give the wrong answer. As a socially responsible investment adviser, i Capital is duty bound to help set the record straight.

Malaysia’s most visionary Prime Minister is none other than the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who led the country from 1957 to 1970, when he was politically forced to step down.

Articles and history books will tell that he is known as the father of independence. There is no dispute about this. Based on this factor alone, Tunku should already be named as the most visionary Prime Minister. But there are more than this to justify giving him the title of the most visionary Malaysian Prime Minister.

Tunku was apparently forced out for giving too much to the non-Malays and neglecting the socio-economic interests of the Malays. Yet at the same time, the non-Malays were dissatisfied with the Government policies and attitude towards them under Tunku.

A giant poster showing the faces of the country’s five Prime Ministers being displayed at the Felda headquarters in Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of independence. Felda, probably one of the most successful agricultural development schemes the world has seen, was created in 1956 under Tunku Abdul Rahman’s visionary economic policy – Bernama

This is usually what happens when a leader is a visionary and the voters cannot see that far or beyond their own narrow self-interest. Tunku was blamed for having economic policies that were too free market-oriented or too laissez faire. Again, the facts pointed the other way. Let us look at some of them:

·The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), probably one of the most successful agricultural development schemes the world has seen, was created in 1956. In 1960, Felda opened up 10,500 acres of land.

By 1970, this grew to 308,400 acres and 20,700 families were settled on 90 schemes. One community has benefited a great deal from this scheme.

The Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) was set up in 1965 to improve the marketing system and ensure that farmers obtain fair prices for their products.

Bank Pertanian Malaysia was formed in 1969 to provide credit facilities to farmers on reasonable terms.

The Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) was established in 1968 to facilitate research into the potential of various agricultural crops.

Bank Bumiputra was set up as a commercial bank in 1965 with a focus on providing credit and banking facilities to the Malays and other indigenous people in commerce, industry and other economic activities.

Majlis Amanah Ra’ayat (Mara) was established in 1966.

Universiti Teknologi Mara started in 1956 as a rural training centre. It was renamed Mara College in 1965 with the mission of providing professional training for bumiputras. In 1967, it was renamed Mara Institute of Technology.

All the above institutions are still around and were set up during Tunku’s time. Although the list is not exhaustive, it is obvious that Tunku was dead serious about improving the socio-economic conditions of the Malays and had the vision to launch the relevant institutions to achieve them.

Four decades later, others are taking the credit for promoting the interest of the Malays.

But the greatness of Tunku’s vision was not confined only to this as the Malaysian economy was already on the path of diversification and the economic base was broadening.

The country’s dependence on rubber and tin was reduced quickly. Within six years, their share of total exports dropped to 53.8% in 1970 from 62.2% in 1965.

Unknown to many Malaysians, the palm oil industry was already expanding rapidly in the 1960s. The area under palm oil surged to 665,000 acres in 1970 from 132,000 acres in 1960.

Growth in timber production and exports during the 1960s exceeded all expectations. Production of plywood and crude petroleum also surged.

In 1965, plywood production of plywood stood at 20.4 million sq ft. Two years later, it reached 93 million sq ft and by 1970, it ballooned to 304 million sq ft.

Likewise, crude petroleum production surged to 845,000 tonnes in 1970 from 48,000 tonnes in 1960.

Industrialisation was also beginning. Manufacturing output from 1961-65 grew 9.9% per annum and from 1966-70, it expanded 10.4% per annum. The share of manufacturing in gross domestic product (GDP) jumped to 13% by 1970 from 8.5% in 1960.

At the same time, Malaysia’s trade balance was consistently in surplus. Inflation was hardly existent. Savings were able to finance investment. Even the Malaysian economy was ahead.

To illustrate this, Malaysia's per capita income in 1968 was US$370 compared with US$190 in Thailand, US$60 in Indonesia, US$170 in South Korea and US$230 in the Philippines. Only Singapore achieved a higher per capita income of US$740.

In a fortnight, i Capital will continue with this topic by sharing Tunku’s great foresight.

Mahathir "Unplagued" - IDR (SJER/ NSER)

The following was my interpretation of the "words of wisdom" spouted by none other than TDM - a very wise guy of Malay(sian) politics ....
It was put up in the comments section in Malaysia Today

This was the first:-

cruzeiro wrote:

Umm .... Yes, TDM!
BTW, I thot it was you who wanted that ... way to go, Tun!

More of Ketuanan Melayu rhetoric .....

Yeah Right .... "we" built KLCC, PutraJaya, Proton and Cyberjaya .... and they are doing just great.

Never mind that JB Waterfront City and Danga bay are flops, and people live in squalor - what matters is, Cinakuis don't control the indusries (which means, you and cronies, need quotas for control FOC).

Of course lah the money must be invested by the Cinakui, and they must manage it to success - then the cronies can come in and replace all of them with local grads - the menial labour force will of course be open to all races, including bangla, indon and vietnam.

TDM, 22yrs - and this all you can talk about?

Anyway, get well soon - we still need someone to voice something - even if it is crappy.


Then the next ..........

cruzeiro wrote:

At the end of the day, what TDM is try to say is (forgive me for being crude),

"We are stupid - and the NEP has paralysed us - so you who are able, must learn to feed us. Also, you should provide facilities for physiotherapy to rehabilitate us, so that we can kill you with our able arms with another 5.13.

Is that too much to ask? The cinakuis of Malaysia don't think so - so why you S'poreans so kiasu?

We know how to use money, but we don't know anything on how to make it.

Is it our fault that we are pirates? We can only live as parasites, sucking dry any industry with quotas reserved for us, while we give peanuts to the kampungs. It's genetic ... a race thing - all the Malaysians believe it! Why can't you industrious scum across the causeway believe it (that includes the Malays of S'pore)?

The land is all we have, don't take that away - even if it turns into a desert or a wasteland with flopped projects or drug haunts, and we are left hungry.

It is unlikely that we would go hungry as things are with the NEP - our cronies and cinakuis are nice enough to feed us and wash our butt (we are paralysed, remember). If they don't comply, we can always launch a compassionate campaign of you know what.

Anyway, if we don't have these cinakuis, at least we Bolehlanders can wallow silently in shit, with pride and God to fill our bellies!
That's why, in my good ol' days, I used to say Malaysia Boleh!"

05/09 16:14:29

Human Nature, Racism, And Dignity

Human Nature, Racism, And Dignity

Ravi Zacharias

There has been an ongoing attempt in our culture to look at human nature apart from any transcendent accountability. Once that feeling of alienation from God is etched upon our consciences, we are alienated not only from God, but even from our fellow human beings and, ultimately, from ourselves.

I don't know how many of you heard the great tennis player Arthur Ashe interviewed when it first became public knowledge that he had contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. He was one of my favorites. Tragically, Ashe had felt the sting of racism throughout his life. This mild-mannered gentleman looked into the eyes of the reporters and said, “As painful as it is to know that I have this dreaded disease, nothing could be as painful as the rejection I have endured all my life because of racial prejudice.”

Think of the agony encased in those words. Think about it. That a man so respected, so talented, so gentlemanly could express such pain endured over a lifetime of personal rejection because of someone else's capacity to hate. That is very sobering. As we look across the globe today, there are few things as deeply volatile as this issue—the tragedy and the hell of bigotry and racism. The pain of rejection by reason of birth alone is one of the deepest pains a person can ever experience.

In our day we have tried to do away with prejudice apart from God, seeking solutions by rewriting laws, by reeducating ourselves. Yet, who among us can say that we have succeeded in eliminating the victimization of people? If anything, our society constantly stands at the brink of conflict as violence erupts suddenly if there is even a hint of discriminatory judgment.

I am convinced that all our attempts to change laws and to reeducate people are merely band-aid solutions for a fatal hemorrhage. The system will never change because our starting point is flawed. The secular view of man can neither give the grandeur that God can give, nor can it see the evil within the human heart that God alone can reveal and cure. Naturalism implicitly denudes each individual of the grand image that God has imprinted upon his creation.

You see, if we can acknowledge that God is the author of life, then we lose any claim we may have made to superiority. If we can acknowledge that there is evil in our hearts, then God can transform us through His Son. If we want to right our social situation, we must start vertically with God.

© 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. All Rights Reserved.

Guilt Concealed By Fear

Guilt Concealed By Fear
Ravi Zacharias

What do we do when we have committed a wrong that we are ashamed of? What can we do with those wrongful deeds that we can’t seem to erase from our consciences?

One way that many people deal with guilt is to cover it up. This can seem almost instinctive at times, as if something inside us says, “Hide it. Forget about it. No one can know.” But this puts us in a very precarious position, for not only are we dealing with guilt, but now we are dealing with the fear of being “found out.” When we add fear to our feelings of guilt we are adding apprehension to the remorse we are struggling to conceal. Just as a blackmailer is never satisfied, so the one who lives in fear with guilt ends up blackmailing his or her own heart to pay the mind. But the heart is never consoled, for the mind is never sufficiently paid.

Guilt that is concealed seldom stops with the one who harbors that hurt. Sooner or later that pain of fear and guilt is spread to others, particularly to those closest to us. “Victimless” crimes are an illusion, for deceit is a monster that needs constant feeding. It would be foolish for us to think that we can deal with guilt by somehow covering it up. The moment that we cover our guilt we escalate the tension in our lives by adding the dimension of fear. We may then become people who seem okay on the outside, but inside we are struggling to maintain the facade.

Many used this same ploy with Jesus in his day. They would throw one question after another in order to hide the real struggle beneath them all. He says to those who have tried to cover over their guilt, “Woe to you...for you clean the outside of your cup, but inside the cup is full of turmoil...First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside may become clean as well.” Here Jesus refers to the heart as a cup. What you pour forth will show the condition of your heart, even if the “outside” looks clean.

Carried to a different level, this same tendency underlies all our national preoccupation with one social or economic crisis after another. No one seems willing to admit that at the heart of our malady is a mangled spirituality.

Let us go to God with our “cup full of turmoil,” so that we may not live in fear, but in hope.

© 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. All Rights Reserved.

The Dying Art of Thinking

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries - Just Thinking

The Dying Art of Thinking
Ravi Zacharias
1992 - Spring/Summer

The 17th-century French philosopher Rene Descartes (pronounced Day-Kart) is best known for his dictum, "I think, therefore, I am." A cynic may well quip that Descartes actually put des cart before des horse, because all he could have legitimately deduced was, "I think, therefore, thinking exists." I do not intend to defend or counter Cartesian philosophy; I only wish to underscore that thinking has much to do with life and certainty.

One of the tragic casualties of our age has been that of the contemplative life—a life that thinks, thinks things through, and more particularly, thinks God's thoughts after Him.

A person sitting at his desk and staring out of the window would never be assumed to be working. No! Thinking is not equated with work. Yet, had Newton under his tree, or Archimedes in his bathtub bought into that prejudice, some natural laws would still be up in the air, or buried under an immovable rock. Pascal's Pensees, a work that has inspired millions, would have never been penned.

The Bible places supreme value in the thought life. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," Solomon wrote. Jesus asserted that sin's gravity lay in the idea itself, not just the act. Paul admonished the church at Philippi to have the mind of Christ, and to the same people he wrote, "Whatever is true . . . pure . . . if there be any virtue . . . think on these things."

The follower of Christ must demonstrate to the world what it is not just to think, but to think justly. But how does one manage this in a culture where progress is determined by pace and defined by quantity?

What is even more destructive is that the greatest demand comes from neither speed nor quantity, but rather from the assumption that silence is inimical to life.

The radio in the car, Muzak in the elevator, and the symphony entertaining the "on hold" callers add up as impediments to personal reflection. In effect, the mind is denied the privilege of living with itself even briefly, and is crowded with outside impulses to cope with aloneness.

Aldous Huxley's indictment, "Most of one's life . . . is one prolonged effort to prevent thinking", seems frightfully true. The price paid for this scenario has been devastating. T. S. Eliot observed:

"Where is the life we have lost in the living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information ?

The cycles of heaven in twenty centuries

bring us farther from God and nearer to dust."

Is there a remedy? May I make some suggestions for personal and corporate benefit?

Study God's Word

Nothing ranks higher for mental discipline than a planned and systematic study of God's Word, from whence life's parameters and values are planted in the mind. Paul, who loved his books and parchments, affirmed the priority of Scripture: "Do not go beyond what is written." Psalm 119 promises that God's statutes keep us from being double-minded.

Read Great Books

The English-speaking world is endowed with a wealth of books. But much contemporary literature comes perilously close to a promiscuous religion with an appeal for the "feel better" syndrome, rather than the impetus to "go deeper."

Read authors who stretch you and introduce you to other writings as well. Great writers stimulate your capacity to think beyond their ideas, spawning fresh insights and extensions of your own. Good reading is indispensable to impartation of truth. An expenditure of words without the income of ideas leads to conceptual bankruptcy.

Challenge the Mind

The church as a whole, and thepulpit in particular, must challenge the mind of this generation, else we betray our trust. The average young person today actually surrenders the intellect to the world, presuming Christianity to be bereft of it. Many a pulpit has succumbed to the lie that anything intellectual cannot be spiritual or exciting.

Thankfully there are exceptions. When living in England, our family attended a church pastored by Roy Clements, one of the finest preachers in the western world. Every Sunday at two morning services he preached a one-hour sermon to a packed auditorium.

Cambridge, being rife with skepticism, demanded a meticulous defense of each sermon text from the assaults of liberalism. An introduction of a technical nature would take up to 15 minutes of his time before he entered into the heart of his message.

I mention this to say one thing. When we were leaving Cambridge, Nathan, who was nine years old, declared the preaching of Roy Clements to be one of his fondest memories. Even as a little boy he had learned that when the mind is rightly approached, it filters down to the heart. The matter I share here has far-reaching implications. We do a disservice to our youth by not crediting them with the capacity to think. We cannot leave this uncorrected.

This is our first issue of Just Thinking. It is our hope that this newsletter will challenge your mind and stir your heart. After all, it is not that I think, therefore, I am, but rather, the Great I Am has asked us to think, and therefore, we must. And we must serve Him with all our minds.

© 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. All Rights Reserved.

Ethnic Envy and The NEP - a reply

cruzeiro wrote:

cucutokteja wrote:
Are they the Malays - no and if not the Malays who are suppossed to have most of the extras and yet they are not, who then are the owners of most of the houses, condos, apartments, shops in the super complexes etc?
=================

Dear friend,
I do not presume to have the statistics to prove my observation - but yours is definitely quite perverse.

Your observation is myopic at best.

Nobody said that the Malays own all the prime real estate - but they definitely could have, had the economy been better planned.

You seem to have asked the wrong question, my friend .... you should've asked why is your observation as such, when for almost 40yrs, the Malays have apparently been given the benefits with total disregard for merit!

What the NEP has produced and is still churning out, is nothing more than certified mediocrity and failures, with more excuses to perpetuate elitism under the guise of affirmative policy.
What NEP has produced is nothing more than a generation of "bumiputeras” who are paralysed in their will to live with freedom and independence.

They are so psychologically paralysed, that they depend on politicians (ie govt aid and civil service) for their rice bowl – and so have willingly given up their rights to the politicians.

As far as I know there has been no man that has become rich via "makan gaji", unless he is corrupt.

So, I now wish to ask you, cucutokteja -
Who are the real beneficiaries of NEP? I'll tell you - It is none other that the pirates of the constitution, who rob the million/ billion dollar enterprises by law.

The heartless exploitation of the people for political capital is evident from education, job and business opportunities which aren't based on merit, but color, creed and "affiliations/ influence". Aid isn't given to the deserving (unless for posterity), but to the influential.

What the man on the street has to face is "indirect taxes" via increased costs of production in all industries, as a result of these wasteful "affirmative action" policies that translates into higher production costs.

As a result of all these actions, what it produced is nothing more than envy among all - all feel "deprived" in one way or other.

But it doesn't seem to matter much to the Malays (in fact, many are foolishly happy, even when they too stand to lose indirectly), as long as it is the Chinese or Indian that gets screwed by a Malay – and it serves to inflate the “ketuanan Melayu” ego, nothing more (except it does create another rich and corrupt bureaucrat who'll own businesses via proxies).

Dear friend, have you heard of the predicament of businessmen in a certain industry who were given a deadline to "obtain" a "bumiputra" shareholder with 30% equity in the company?
This guy was lamenting his fate, while having a drink with me ...................

These are guys who built the businesses with their bare hands over 20 years, and are today forced to give away their holding at par value to a "big shot", or their licences may be "reconsidered"!

Now could you tell me, how in heaven's name, does the Malay/ bumiputra as a people, benefit from such an action?

Yes, they do own bungalows, and send their children overseas for education, and there is no way that you can stop the industrious from being successful in life. They who have the hunger to succeed, will do backbreaking labour if it has to be so, unlike the slothful who complain of the handicaps they have endeared themselves to.

If that is what you or other Malays envy, cucutokteja, what's stopping the Malays from working just as hard?

I know of quite a number who have made it on their own, and I for one, am happy for them. I wouldn't envy them - not for a minute, even though I'm not as fortunate - for envy is a sin from which many other evils are born.

By all means, support the deserving Malays to come up in life – I have no problems with that (In fact, I feel it is very much warranted). But do it right, by not encouraging mediocrity and corruption and don't deprive another of his bread and butter – that is the sentiment that you see expressed in the web, which you don't seem to appreciate.

Do it right – by preventing the abuse of funds via a life of luxury, until they have earned their keep. One could fill volumes with names of “businessmen” who live a life of luxury on loans/ contracts given in the name of NEP. I do know of such people personally – golf club memberships, jet-set lifestyles, mercedes/ bmw etc. - next thing you know, they are declared bankrupt, and are selling ayam panggang in the pasar malam!

These actions are wasteful and everybody pays a price for it, even if you don't realize it.