TR EMERITUS

By Lee Wei Lian from The Malaysian Insider Events since New Year’s Day have given the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) the impression that the situation in Malaysia is becoming increasingly unstable. In a blistering report on Malaysia released at the end of January, PERC also asserted that a group of elite minorities were dominating the national agenda to the extent that it was hurting Malaysia’s attractiveness to investors. The consultancy, which also publishes reports on the risk ratings of other Asian countries, said it is “probable” that no other Asian country is suffering from as much bad press as Malaysia. Among the developments that caught its attention were the theft of military jet engines, detention of terror suspects from a number of African and Middle East countries following warnings that Islamic militants were planning attacks on foreigners at resorts in Sabah, renewed ethnic and religious “violence” that included arson at some churches and desecration of mosques, and controversy over the integrity of key institutions like the judicial system in the sodomy trial of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. “Events of the past month give the impression that pressures are building and the entire situation is becoming much more unstable,” said PERC. The report noted that the government is blaming the international media for exaggerated reporting and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had argued that the focus should not be on the fringe groups that are causing problems but on the majority of Malaysians who are coming together to condemn the recent acts of violence following the ‘Allah’ controversy. But PERC maintained that the root of the problem was a vocal minority that is dominating the national agenda. “Mr. Razak’s attempt to put the best spin on a bad situation is understandable. He is fighting for his political life and is trying to stop the erosion in confidence in Malaysia’s prospects,” said PERC. “However, he is wrong in saying that Malaysia is being defined by the way the majority of the population are coming together. It is being defined by the ability of a minority to dominate the political agenda, shaping policy and compromising the reputation of key institutions in ways that hurt Malaysia’s reputation as a stable, attractive place for foreign investors.” The report also said that while Islamic activists which are “threatening Malaysia’s secular credentials” are getting the widest coverage, it was the Umno elites, described as “a fringe group of insiders who have been able to profit disproportionately from the policies of the ruling coalition” that deserved the most attention. “They are threatened with a loss of political power that could also impinge directly on their substantial business interests. Malaysia’s future will be determined largely by the tactics this group of insider elites resort to in order to stay in power and the success of those tactics. Their commitment to democracy is a major question mark. If they blatantly manipulate the system in order to remain in power, the public backlash could be worse than anything Malaysia has seen in its modern history.” PERC added Najib’s strategy is looking “increasingly unworkable” as a way to defuse pressures in the country. “He is trying to be all things to all people, but in the end he might satisfy no one,” it noted. Malaysia’s risk index as calculated by PERC rose slightly from 5.24 out of a possible maximum score of 10 in December to 5.4 in January. It however, remained well below the risk index in January last year which stood at 6.42. Countries that score higher on the index are deemed to have a higher level of risk. The PERC report comes as the Najib administration is grappling with a budget deficit and is trying to formulate a new economic model in which private investment plays a bigger role in driving the economy towards developed status. The consultancy pointed out however that even if the opposition were to be in charge come the next election, foreign investors and others would wait and see if the opposition could govern the country effectively. “So far the only thing uniting these (opposition) parties is their opposition to the ruling coalition, not matters like dealing with Malay entitlements, the extent that there should or should not be a broader Islamisation of Malaysia, or an economic programme for promoting the country’s development,” said PERC. PERC maintained in its report that foreign investments into Malaysia have not been forthcoming, either in direct form or in the equity markets. “Foreign companies and investors are remaining cautious until they see how Malaysia gets its own house in order,” it added. - The Malaysian Insider  Read More →

OPINION The recent public outcry over Lighthouse Evangelism Pastor Rony Tan's disparaging remarks about Buddhism and Taoism and his subsequent questioning by ISD has divided Singaporeans on whether the punishment meted out is sufficient. While some have called on the matter to be closed since Pastor Tan has already apologized, others argued that the application of the law must be fair in view of the arrests of three Chinese teenagers accused of posting racist remarks on Facebook a week earlier. Then Commander of Bedok Police Division and Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Teo Chun Ching said: "Police take a very stern view of acts that could threaten the social harmony in Singapore. The Internet may be a convenient medium to express one’s views but members of the public should bear in mind that they are no less accountable for their actions online." [Source: Straits Times, 4 February 2010] Police reports have been lodged against Pastor Tan, but its inaction is baffling given the fact that Pastor Tan is in a position of authority to influence many people and therefore his remarks carry far greater weight and impact compared to the three teenagers. When asked asked why the teenagers ended up arrested by the police, whereas the pastor was not, DPM Wong Kan Seng gave an equally vague reply: "It is a very serious matter if anyone were to be hauled up and investigated by ISD. It is not less serious than getting investigated by the police. I assure you that it is not." One does not need to be a law professor to realize that being called up by the ISD for a "lim kopi" session is "nothing" compared to being arrested, charged and jailed as what happened to past offenders. In June 2009, a Christian couple was sentenced to 8 weeks' imprisonment for "distributing seditious or objectionable publications". During the 11-day trial, it emerged that the SingTel technical officer and his wife, sent out about 20,000 publications in seven years. Produced by an American firm called Chick Publications, the fundamentalist Protestant materials were "not only offensive for religious content but also have a tendency to promote feelings of ill-will or hostility between Muslims and Christians in Singapore", said Judge Neighbour. By distributing tracts with "callous, denigratory, offensive and insensitive statements on religion with aspersions on race", the pair had committed "serious" offences that "have the capacity to undermine and erode the delicate fabric of racial and religious harmony in Singapore". [Source: Channel News Asia, 10 June 2009] 4 years earlier in 2005, two Singaporeans were jailed for posting inflammatory remarks about Malay Muslims on their blogs. Benjamin Koh, 28, was given two concurrent one-month jail terms while Nicholas Lim, 25, was jailed for one day and fined S$5000 (US$2960) after they pleaded guilty to making strong anti-Muslim remarks. "The doing of an act which has a seditious tendency to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between races or classes of the population in Singapore is serious," judge Richard Magnus said in handing down his ruling on the two. [Source: AFP, 26 October 2005] Under the Sedition Act, anyone found guilty of promoting feelings of ill will and hostility between different races or classes of the Singapore population shall be liable, on conviction for a first offence, to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or both. The extent to which feelings of ill-will and hostility is stoked by one's remarks depends on three factors: 1. The person making them. 2. The number of persons hearing the remarks. 3. The circumstances under which the remarks were made. In all the three cases above, the offenders have very little influence in society and the reach of their remarks was severely limited. It is highly unlikely that they will cause conflicts to arise in Singapore. In contrast, Pastor Tan is a leader of the Christian faith and his church has a congregation of more than 10,000 followers and the interview with a former Buddhist mons and nun was well planned and orchestrated beforehand. Though it was pretty obvious that the tension generated by his remarks were far greater, the "punishment" he received doesn't seem to commensurate with the severity of his wrong-doing. DPM Wong disputed the notion that the pastor was let off lightly: "The bottom line in such cases is that we must ensure that the OB (out-of-bounds) markers are clear and that transgressions are dealt with in a balanced and professional manner. Our agencies must be allowed to exercise their professional judgment on how best to achieve this outcome." Whether rightly or wrongly, there is a pervasive public perception that the authorities only go after "small flies" and not the "big fishes" in the application of the Sedition Act. For a beginning, the authorities should consider making the three youths apologize to the Indian community publicly and letting them off with a slap on their wrists just like how they have dealt with Rony Tan. EDITORS' NOTE: If you are unable to post comments on this page, please try again by clicking on the "submit" button and holding it for a longer period of time before release.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Beijing-born Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) political economist Professor Huang Yasheng had criticized Singapore's state-linked enterprise model dominated by its two giant sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek Holdings as a "sure-fire way to stifle the economy in the long run." In a recent speech made at the Civil Service College, Prof Huang urged Singapore to "rethink" the "Temasek model" and warns that Singapore's state management model has "milked this system for all it is worth." "The private sector is the best way to grow the economy. It has the most productive, most innovative and entrepreneurial culture. The state-owned enterprise system doesn't give you that....You are already hitting the wall. Retaining this strategy could mean sacrificing future growth that is possible only through a bigger, more dynamic private sector," he said. Prof Huang felt that governments should not get involved in venture financing as they are using taxpayers' monies and questions how the government can defend its decisions to invest in "failing individuals and projects": "Nine out of 10 investment projects fail. Does the government have such a high tolerance for risk? It's taxpayers' money, right? I don't think, politically, it's legitimate for the government to keep investing in failing individuals and failing projects. How do you defend these decisions?," he asked. Temasek Holdings is led by the wife of Singapore's prime minister Ho Ching. It had lost billions of dollars in failed overseas investments such as Thailand's Shin Corp, Australia's ABC learning, and U.S's Merrill Lynch. Ho Ching is an engineer by training. GIC has been headed by Lee Kuan Yew since its inception in 1981, a lawyer by profession who has never worked in the financial industry before. Prof Huang opined that Singapore should expand its private sector in order to compete with China and India: "Maybe a better way is for the government to fund more basic research and then allow universities, private equity firms, venture capital firms and rich individuals to take care of the rest. That is because even when the state sector is well managed, it is not as innovative as the private sector, he says. From a technological development point of view, you need a bigger private sector to compete, to come up with new products, processes and technologies, to better compete with India and China." Under Singapore's state-model enterprise, civil servants are often placed in leadership positions in its major state-linked companies and research agencies. For example, the current head of A*STAR is Lim Chuan Poh, a former Chief of Army with no prior experience in the private sector. Prof Huang felt that creative thinking is often in short supply with civil servants leading the charge due to the culture they are immersed in: "Civil service culture is about discipline. It's about execution. It's about efficiency. Entrepreneurial culture is about challenging the authorities, questioning the existing ways of doing businesses, moving away from the routines and norms. It's about the unconventional, rebellious and diverse. These values are almost polar opposites." He also criticized Singapore's education system for "not producing diversity in ideas and unconventional ways of solving problems" and warns that Singapore risks going down in history as an "economic has-been" if it fails to exploit the potential of its private sector. Prof Huang had hit the nail on the right spot about the macroeconomic problems plaguing Singapore - its one-dimensional political economy. However, he is not aware of the political implications of the "Temasek model" which serves two purposes: one, to ensure the continued political hegemony of the ruling party, or rather a select group of people and two, to keep the citizenry weak so that no alternative centers of power can emerge to challenge the status quo. As entrepreneurs are fiercely independent, unconventional and rebellious by nature, they cannot be brought easily under control or co-opted into the system. Having a few rich self-make millionaires running around will pose a threat to the political elite, as Thailand's Thaksin Shinawatra and South Korea's Lee Myuang Bak had shown. Unfortunately, for a repressive, insecure and paranoid regime which is bent on complete control and dominance at all costs, it is unlikely to see the profound wisdom in Prof Huang's words and Singapore will have to pay the price for its ignorance one day when we are overshadowed completely by China and India.   EDITORS' NOTE: Readers may encounter problems posting comments today. We are currently working on the problem and we appeal for your kind understanding and patience.  Read More →