Asia’s three major ethnic groups are well-represented here: The native Malays, and long ago immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and China. That Malaysia is able to productively harness their disparate cultures to create South East Asia’s richest economy is an impressive achievement.
Malaysian nationalism is at the forefront of everyone’s consciousness. Citizens are Malaysian first; Malay, Chinese, or Indian second.
There is a strong determination to succeed in the manner of their former European colonial masters, yet remain distinctly Asian. Muslim faith and values permeate, but a mix of hard nosed common sense, and the best of other nationalities work together to create a country that is as progressive as it is traditional.
Unlike other South East Asian countries, there are no major insurgencies in Malaysia.
There are occasional voices of protest, but these are mostly on specific issues and constructive criticism always has the end goal of finding a solution rather than creating obstructions.
We could look to Hong Kong and Singapore for guidance and inspiration, but these small territories have unique sets of challenges. It is far easier to limit corruption, for example.
With economies built on trade, it’s far easier to promote free trade vis-a-vis protectionism.
Malaysia is more like us: A resource rich nation, with a Malay majority, and distinct regional communities. Like us, they have had to deal with issues of economic strategy, local vested interests, oligarchies, and other issues similar to ours.
"We will deliver on promises," says Prime Minister Abdullah Bin Ahmad Badawi, on pledges to streamline the bureaucracy. Not just motherhood statements, but detailed announcements on the standards and procedures they will follow to deliver.
Pay suppliers within 14 days, for example. To achieve this target, the prime minister’s office didn’t just mandate 14 days, it actively worked to streamline procedures: If three people were needed for approvals before, ways were found to reduce this number to one or two, while following sound financial practices.
Implementation of critical projects in Education, Health, and National Defense costing less than five million Ringgit (P70Mln) may be implemented directly by the agency instead of passing through the Public Works Department, avoiding red tape for small, but essential, infrastructure items.
Improvements to the Internal Revenue Board’s filing system for better performance. The Philippines does have an advantage: Our payment system is already handled by banks, a convenience Malaysia is just starting to implement.
Pursuing e-governance has several advantages: Being able to reach a larger number of citizens, even overseas, and allowing government offices to be transferred to less congested locations as people have less need to visit government offices.
Malaysia’s government center is in PutraJaya, which means "Steward of Success" in Malay, located around 80 Kms south of Kuala Lumpur where land is cheaper, and the presence of a large community drives development in the area.
Government department heads are required to review their mandates and determine on a regular basis if they have been successful or somehow, "lost their way."
The heads are required to visit frontline staff and observe the quality of public service, and challenge themselves to upgrade service quality. For call-in requests, government telephones must be answered by the third ring.
Improving education to be more responsive to the needs of the economy. Not just formal education, but continuing education from high school, to financial responsibility, to workplace safety and ethics.
"Education should help students be more independent after graduation," says the Higher Education Ministry.
A 20-hour basic business course created in cooperation with the private sector will be required in High School. The Ministry says it has already prepared training modules for the teachers’ use.
Schools are also to be given greater freedoms to pick and advertise for teachers and staff, as well as source external services such as coaches and trainers.
They are allowed to choose an area of focus e.g. Sciences, arts, sports, etc. Some schools will be allowed to develop clearly defined specializations.
Parents are encouraged to actively participate in Parent-Teachers Associations, while schools will be encouraged to compete for excellence with other schools, both public and private.
On financial education, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak encourages banks and financial institutions to teach personal financial management to young people, many of whom have filed for bankruptcy due to excessive credit card debt.
Educating young adults on prudent financial management makes more sense than simply being more selective about issuing credit cards, and complaining about the levels of personal bankruptcies.
On workplace safety, the Deputy PM says that all the most modern and sophisticated tools will not help workplace safety if human behavior is not changed for the better.
Education in the workplace include teaching workers that negligence will not be tolerated and safety cannot be compromised.
Malaysia is one of the least corrupt countries in Asia, ranking above China, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and this year’s bottom dweller which is the Philippines.
A police officer and lance corporal were charged with seven counts of corruption for seeking twenty-two thousand Ringgit (P28,000) and a Nokia 7610 cellphone in bribes. Wow, being charged just for receiving a cellphone!
Also, the accountant of a former deputy minister was charged with cooking the books. No one is above the law in Malaysia.
Police Inspector General Tan Sri Musa Hassan plans to add another 60,000 men not by simply saying so, as we tend to do but by making investments in Malaysia’s five police training colleges, and devising a better scheme to attract recruits.
Supt Zulkifli Mohamed of the Kuala Langat area focuses on foot patrols and building close ties with local residents. Although he notes that the increased presence will result in higher reported crime incidence, he promises not to suppress the figures and work towards genuine crime reductions.
Think about that the next time a local police station discourages you from reporting a crime, reducing crime figures doesn’t mean reducing the reporting of crime.
The environment is a priority. Kuala Lumpur is carved out of a rainforest. Despite its development, the rainforest thrives. City highways course through virgin rainforests, and development is tightly controlled.
Much of Malaysia’s non-manufacturing wealth comes from the rainforest and preservation is a national objective.
Pahang State notes that it is more profitable to preserve its rainforests than harvest timber. Adjacent Selangor State (where Kuala Lumpur is located) may pay up to RM70Mln a year for water from Pahang’s forest watershed versus the RM7Mln it earns per year from logging.
Selangor also notes that water consumption can be reduced by 500 million cubic meters a day if broken and old pipes were repaired, and alternative water sources identified.
In line with this, the National Water Resources Council says that certain types of structures (buildings, factories, schools, and bungalows) should install a rain water harvesting system for use in watering plants, washing cars, and flushing toilets. Use of treated water can then be limited to drinking and personal hygiene.
It’s interesting to note that flood water drainage and crop irrigation are handled by one department, which is developing a long term plan to address flooding issues.
Structural plans include building dams, catchment ponds, and reconstructing rivers by widening, deepening, and where needed, re-curving them. They also plan to construct storage warehouses near floodprone areas to store emergency equipment for relief operations.
Sarawak in Eastern Malaysia (that’s just below our province of TawiTawi) has strict rules on the issuance of open burning permits for agricultural and plantation wastes to reduce the amount of haze in the air.
According to the new rules, permits can only be used once, and the agency will set the time and the date for each permit holder in turn.
Air quality is Malaysian cities is very good. In Kuala Lumpur, there is some traffic but it is a much smaller city than Manila, with a mere three million residents. The entire population of Malaysia is an easily managed 27 million people.
When a country has that much fewer people, it’s far easier to handle, but more importantly, it’s essential that the population be enabled and productive by sound policy making and sound physical infrastructure.
There are few bottlenecks in this country where GDP is a nearly first-world ,000 per annum (ours is a measly ,700 per annum).
In Kuala Lumpur and other major cities, there are efficient public transport systems, with multiple interconnected mass transit railways. Outside the cities, wide European style highways allow easy movement of people, agricultural produce, and industrial goods.
By most measures, Malaysia has already surpassed its neighbors, but the drive to improve competitiveness is still there, only this time, it is measuring itself against China, India, and most of Europe.
Being competitive is not just beating an opponent, it is continually striving--there will always be other competitors up the ladder, and in other parts of the world. The Prime Minister’s latest message is crystal clear: "Let us all compete and raise our standards higher and better."
European envoy Thierry Rommel says: "Malaysia is an ideal place to invest, despite the emergence of Vietnam and China. There is room for improvement in terms of reducing red tape, improving logistics, and investments in human capital, but Malaysia is among the most competitive countries in Asia."
