To paraphrase the former president of Indonesia, B.J. Habibie, Singapore is just a little red dot in South East Asia, obviously a disparaging remark to the miniscule size of its neighbour. Small it may be but there’s no denying Singapore’s rise from a Third World country to a First World country, all within a span of 1 generation is nothing short of spectacular and only serves as an invaluable lesson in governance to the rest of the world.
When Singapore was unceremoniously dumped from the Federation of Malaysia on 9th August 1965, its future looked bleak but instead of wallowing in self-pity, the country sought to modernise and prove her naysayer wrong. That their eventual attaining of such a status is no coincidence despite the lack of natural resources found within her shores.
What Singapore has are its people, which they harness to full potential. When the British left Singapore, it was bequeathed with top-notch civil service, a legal system that is modelled after the English system and the knowledge of the English language amongst its masses. These prove to be very useful in building the country to greater heights via foreign investments.
Malaysia too, had these in place when we achieved Independence from the British in 1957 but the differences we witness today in both countries couldn’t have been starker. We too, used to have top class civil service comparable to that of Singapore’s but we have failed to capitalise on it. Undeniably, Malaysians face overarching obstacles when dealing with various government agencies either due to bureaucratic red tape, foot dragging and overall ineffectiveness of the system. If her denizens face this problem on a day-to-day basis, it stands to rationalise that foreign investors too are equally frustrated by the lethargic work culture that has been entrenched.
On the Malaysian legal fraternity, we were held in high regards by the international community but we had to wreck it with the sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas in 1988. Since the sacking, our courts have failed to recover and what we have now is a shadow of its former self. The consequence of this is that the Malaysian Judiciary is now subservient to the Executive. Needless to say, foreign investors’ confidence in the Malaysian rule of law takes a beating as well.
As for the English language; our command of it was impeccable in the region; which, perhaps only the Philippines and Singapore could match but due to misplaced nationalistic fervour, the powers-that-be saw it fit to relegate it to the periphery in favour of Bahasa Malaysia. The missionary schools which had churned out the brightest minds using English as the medium of instruction were converted to national type giving birth to the current generation of graduates whose mastery of English is pathetic, to say the least. And we dare to wonder why our graduates are unemployable. Only now are we trying to check the rot but the devastating damage has been done and other countries in the region like Thailand, Vietnam, China and Indonesia have overtaken us in placing the English language at the forefront of their development. This is a classic case of too little, too late. To rub salt to injury, people who are the ambassadors of Malaysia like politicians, civil servants and professionals embarrass us no end when representing the country on the international stage with their broken English.
While Singapore embraces meritocracy, our country treats it like a plague to be avoided at all costs. How else do you explain the showing of our universities which keep on sliding in the ranking of worldwide universities? I dare say that so long we base our university intake on the colour of skin; our higher institutions of learning will never recover. It is precisely this racialist system of governance that we have so many deadwood in the government agencies and government linked companies, safe in the knowledge that their interests will always be protected, come what may. What benefits only a privileged few drives the country downhill in the longer run when truly capable Malaysians who feel they are discriminated against, leave in droves for pastures green in other countries. The main beneficiary of this exodus is Singapore who readily welcomes these Malaysian “outcasts” into their fold. Before Singapore was estranged from Malaysia, we had the same university in University of Malaya but after separation, we branched out and maintain the same name with our very own institution but our southern neighbour, changed its name to National University of Singapore. Though these 2 universities share the same history but their university is now famous for its high standards and we are nowhere near theirs, as evident by the annual universities ranking and people’s perception.
Our brain drain is their gain. Singapore is where she is today, thanks largely to the contribution of former Malaysians. Amongst some higher profile former Malaysians who helped build Singapore are Toh Chin Chye (former Deputy Prime Minister), Goh Keng Swee (another former Deputy Prime Minister), the late Hon Sui Sen, Yong Pung How (former Chief Justice of Singapore), the late Devan Nair (former President of Singapore), the late Sinnathamby Rajaratnam (born in Sri Lanka but raised in the then Malaya) and many others.
Singaporeans know it all too well that Malaysians play very important roles in shaping Singapore’s exponential growth and this stems from the fact that Malaysia suffers from acute case of brain drain. As of now, Singapore still receives professional migrants who contribute immensely to their economy. Malaysia, on the other hand, defies logic by readily admitting Indonesians of lower or virtually no skills and makes it difficult for foreign professional spouses married to Malaysians to be granted citizenship. Here are 2 countries with very contrasting viewpoints when it comes to neutralising foreign nationals’ citizenship.
On the corruption front, year in and year out Singapore occupies within the top 10 tier in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). What about Malaysia? Prior to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s “retirement”, the anti corruption agency, known previously as Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) was given a new lease of life with a change of name to The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) and touted to model after Hong Kong’s highly prestigious ICAC. To date, Malaysians are not convinced of the change for it is not independent since it comes under the purview of the Home Ministry and not answerable to the Parliament. Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang remarked rather sarcastically that it’s akin to just an old wine being poured into a new bottle. Barely a year into the change, the body is now grappling with image-related issues pertaining to its impartiality starting from the discovery of a dead body within its premises, perception of selective persecution and more recently, damaging allegations of adopting torture methods. Lee Kuan Yew was interviewed once on CNN what advice he would dispense to countries with high incidents of corrupted practices and his answer left a long lasting impression on me. To him, in order to put this scourge under control, it is of no use to go after the fringe players, what’s more effective is to start going after the big fish because as it will then put fear into the rest that corruption doesn’t pay. Whether we agree or not with his view, Singapore has proven itself. The implications of a country which tolerates corruption in high places are very damaging. It makes little sense that a former Menteri Besar could afford to live in a palatial bungalow.
As for crime, I am convinced most Malaysians live under the fear of possible crimes committed against them and I wager that all of us would have fallen victims to crimes at one stage of our lives or at least know of friends and relatives who have been “criminally outraged”. Do we feel safe moving about in Malaysia, night and day? The answer is obvious. Whenever I visit Singapore, I tend to throw caution to the wind and walk confidently knowing well chances of being robbed or assaulted are low. If Malaysians do not feel safe in their own country, how inspired do you think foreigners feel when they are here? Remember, words-of-mouth can either break or make a reputation. Negative feedback from those who have been victims of crimes will form an unflattering view of our country.
When it comes to cohesiveness among citizens of different races, I look at the Singaporean model with envy. I may be wrong on this but my viewpoint of them as an outsider is positive whereby Singaporeans see themselves as Singaporeans first and their races come secondary. Malaysians, on the other hand, see themselves as Malay, Chinese or Indian first. I don’t fault fellow Malaysians really, since our politicians always differentiate us by race through their policies and incendiary remarks while in Singapore, no one is made to feel alienated. Singapore government has zero tolerance towards those who utter racist remarks and will not hesitate to come down hard on those who try to create ill-will among Singaporeans.
Let us now shift our attention to the public transportation systems in both countries. No prize for guessing which of these 2 systems is more efficiently managed. Theirs works like flawless clockwork and getting around is such a breeze while barrage of complaints by disgruntled Malaysian commuters to the print media are something we have come to expect. Either we always face the constant break-down of trains or they don’t come on time causing great inconveniences. Even the simple act of changing trains is cumbersome as commuters are subjected to the harsh unpredictability of Malaysian weather; our Sentral in Brickfields automatically comes to mind. It makes no sense for commuters to walk for quite a distance to board another train. Our planners just failed to think thoroughly before embarking on this project. Period.
I could go on and rattle off how we pale in comparison to our Southern neighbour in many other areas but crux of the matter is, I do love this country of ours called Malaysia and yearn to see us bettering them. Let me set the record straight once and for all, we are not inferior to them because Malaysians are of the same stock as Singaporeans. In fact, our potential is vaster than theirs. We have more people and more importantly, we are blessed with natural resources. The only thing I can think of in which they have an edge over us is the strategic location the country finds itself in.
I make no apologies for always comparing ourselves to Singapore because it once used to be part of Malaysia and that we share so many similarities. The fundamental difference lies in the way both countries are governed.
When Singapore was unceremoniously dumped from the Federation of Malaysia on 9th August 1965, its future looked bleak but instead of wallowing in self-pity, the country sought to modernise and prove her naysayer wrong. That their eventual attaining of such a status is no coincidence despite the lack of natural resources found within her shores.
What Singapore has are its people, which they harness to full potential. When the British left Singapore, it was bequeathed with top-notch civil service, a legal system that is modelled after the English system and the knowledge of the English language amongst its masses. These prove to be very useful in building the country to greater heights via foreign investments.
Malaysia too, had these in place when we achieved Independence from the British in 1957 but the differences we witness today in both countries couldn’t have been starker. We too, used to have top class civil service comparable to that of Singapore’s but we have failed to capitalise on it. Undeniably, Malaysians face overarching obstacles when dealing with various government agencies either due to bureaucratic red tape, foot dragging and overall ineffectiveness of the system. If her denizens face this problem on a day-to-day basis, it stands to rationalise that foreign investors too are equally frustrated by the lethargic work culture that has been entrenched.
On the Malaysian legal fraternity, we were held in high regards by the international community but we had to wreck it with the sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas in 1988. Since the sacking, our courts have failed to recover and what we have now is a shadow of its former self. The consequence of this is that the Malaysian Judiciary is now subservient to the Executive. Needless to say, foreign investors’ confidence in the Malaysian rule of law takes a beating as well.
As for the English language; our command of it was impeccable in the region; which, perhaps only the Philippines and Singapore could match but due to misplaced nationalistic fervour, the powers-that-be saw it fit to relegate it to the periphery in favour of Bahasa Malaysia. The missionary schools which had churned out the brightest minds using English as the medium of instruction were converted to national type giving birth to the current generation of graduates whose mastery of English is pathetic, to say the least. And we dare to wonder why our graduates are unemployable. Only now are we trying to check the rot but the devastating damage has been done and other countries in the region like Thailand, Vietnam, China and Indonesia have overtaken us in placing the English language at the forefront of their development. This is a classic case of too little, too late. To rub salt to injury, people who are the ambassadors of Malaysia like politicians, civil servants and professionals embarrass us no end when representing the country on the international stage with their broken English.
While Singapore embraces meritocracy, our country treats it like a plague to be avoided at all costs. How else do you explain the showing of our universities which keep on sliding in the ranking of worldwide universities? I dare say that so long we base our university intake on the colour of skin; our higher institutions of learning will never recover. It is precisely this racialist system of governance that we have so many deadwood in the government agencies and government linked companies, safe in the knowledge that their interests will always be protected, come what may. What benefits only a privileged few drives the country downhill in the longer run when truly capable Malaysians who feel they are discriminated against, leave in droves for pastures green in other countries. The main beneficiary of this exodus is Singapore who readily welcomes these Malaysian “outcasts” into their fold. Before Singapore was estranged from Malaysia, we had the same university in University of Malaya but after separation, we branched out and maintain the same name with our very own institution but our southern neighbour, changed its name to National University of Singapore. Though these 2 universities share the same history but their university is now famous for its high standards and we are nowhere near theirs, as evident by the annual universities ranking and people’s perception.
Our brain drain is their gain. Singapore is where she is today, thanks largely to the contribution of former Malaysians. Amongst some higher profile former Malaysians who helped build Singapore are Toh Chin Chye (former Deputy Prime Minister), Goh Keng Swee (another former Deputy Prime Minister), the late Hon Sui Sen, Yong Pung How (former Chief Justice of Singapore), the late Devan Nair (former President of Singapore), the late Sinnathamby Rajaratnam (born in Sri Lanka but raised in the then Malaya) and many others.
Singaporeans know it all too well that Malaysians play very important roles in shaping Singapore’s exponential growth and this stems from the fact that Malaysia suffers from acute case of brain drain. As of now, Singapore still receives professional migrants who contribute immensely to their economy. Malaysia, on the other hand, defies logic by readily admitting Indonesians of lower or virtually no skills and makes it difficult for foreign professional spouses married to Malaysians to be granted citizenship. Here are 2 countries with very contrasting viewpoints when it comes to neutralising foreign nationals’ citizenship.
On the corruption front, year in and year out Singapore occupies within the top 10 tier in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). What about Malaysia? Prior to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s “retirement”, the anti corruption agency, known previously as Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) was given a new lease of life with a change of name to The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) and touted to model after Hong Kong’s highly prestigious ICAC. To date, Malaysians are not convinced of the change for it is not independent since it comes under the purview of the Home Ministry and not answerable to the Parliament. Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang remarked rather sarcastically that it’s akin to just an old wine being poured into a new bottle. Barely a year into the change, the body is now grappling with image-related issues pertaining to its impartiality starting from the discovery of a dead body within its premises, perception of selective persecution and more recently, damaging allegations of adopting torture methods. Lee Kuan Yew was interviewed once on CNN what advice he would dispense to countries with high incidents of corrupted practices and his answer left a long lasting impression on me. To him, in order to put this scourge under control, it is of no use to go after the fringe players, what’s more effective is to start going after the big fish because as it will then put fear into the rest that corruption doesn’t pay. Whether we agree or not with his view, Singapore has proven itself. The implications of a country which tolerates corruption in high places are very damaging. It makes little sense that a former Menteri Besar could afford to live in a palatial bungalow.
As for crime, I am convinced most Malaysians live under the fear of possible crimes committed against them and I wager that all of us would have fallen victims to crimes at one stage of our lives or at least know of friends and relatives who have been “criminally outraged”. Do we feel safe moving about in Malaysia, night and day? The answer is obvious. Whenever I visit Singapore, I tend to throw caution to the wind and walk confidently knowing well chances of being robbed or assaulted are low. If Malaysians do not feel safe in their own country, how inspired do you think foreigners feel when they are here? Remember, words-of-mouth can either break or make a reputation. Negative feedback from those who have been victims of crimes will form an unflattering view of our country.
When it comes to cohesiveness among citizens of different races, I look at the Singaporean model with envy. I may be wrong on this but my viewpoint of them as an outsider is positive whereby Singaporeans see themselves as Singaporeans first and their races come secondary. Malaysians, on the other hand, see themselves as Malay, Chinese or Indian first. I don’t fault fellow Malaysians really, since our politicians always differentiate us by race through their policies and incendiary remarks while in Singapore, no one is made to feel alienated. Singapore government has zero tolerance towards those who utter racist remarks and will not hesitate to come down hard on those who try to create ill-will among Singaporeans.
Let us now shift our attention to the public transportation systems in both countries. No prize for guessing which of these 2 systems is more efficiently managed. Theirs works like flawless clockwork and getting around is such a breeze while barrage of complaints by disgruntled Malaysian commuters to the print media are something we have come to expect. Either we always face the constant break-down of trains or they don’t come on time causing great inconveniences. Even the simple act of changing trains is cumbersome as commuters are subjected to the harsh unpredictability of Malaysian weather; our Sentral in Brickfields automatically comes to mind. It makes no sense for commuters to walk for quite a distance to board another train. Our planners just failed to think thoroughly before embarking on this project. Period.
I could go on and rattle off how we pale in comparison to our Southern neighbour in many other areas but crux of the matter is, I do love this country of ours called Malaysia and yearn to see us bettering them. Let me set the record straight once and for all, we are not inferior to them because Malaysians are of the same stock as Singaporeans. In fact, our potential is vaster than theirs. We have more people and more importantly, we are blessed with natural resources. The only thing I can think of in which they have an edge over us is the strategic location the country finds itself in.
I make no apologies for always comparing ourselves to Singapore because it once used to be part of Malaysia and that we share so many similarities. The fundamental difference lies in the way both countries are governed.
