Hantu Laut
The answer is definitely NO!
There are serious flaws in this writer's exposition and I have to accept with bemused resignation that she was no student of history and did absolutely no research before putting her opinion to the pen.A good writer but succumbed to unfounded and excoriating oppositions propaganda and disinformation.One should write with the head not the heart.
Apart from no allowing street demonstrations, for all intents and purposes, Malaysia is still a very democratic country and adopts a capitalist approach to its economy.It has never failed to call a general elections when it's due.The ISA may be a necessary evil due to the delicate nature of our ethnic composition.
Just for the heck of it, let's compare those Arab countries with Malaysia,
Let us start with Tunisia, how it became a sovereign nation and how the leaders came to power.
Tunisia gained independence from France in 1957 as a republic led by its first President Habib Bourguiba.In March 1975 the Tunisian National Assembly voted Bourguiba president for live.In November 1987 he was toppled by Ben Ali in a coup d'etat.Ben Ali started off good but eventually became a dictator and had 24 years of uninterrupted rule. The country have known only two leaders over a period of 54 years and both ruled the country with an iron fish.
Though, all came from the same ruling party, Malaysia have had 6 prime ministers over the same period.
By comparison Tunisia is considered a poor country with GDP of US9500.00 against Malaysia's US14700.00.About 8-10 percent of Tunisians live below the poverty line but are better off than their Egyptian counterparts because of its smaller population.
Egypt gained independence in 1953.Egyptians have known only 3 presidents up till today.They were Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak.The first president Mohammad Naguib was only in office for 16 months when the country got rid of the monarch and declared itself a republic.
Some 30 percent of Egyptians live below the poverty line earning less than US$60.00 a month and live in abject poverty, with limited food supply, poor and overcrowded housing and inadequate access to clean water, good quality health care and education.If you live on that kind of wage you have two options, you either become a beggar or a thief.
Very few Malaysians earned less than US$200.00 a month.
With a population of 80 million against 28 million for Malaysia it is not belittling to say the Egyptian economy is in a shambles because of improbity, Egypt's GDP is below that of Malaysia.Egypt's per capita for 2010 stood at US$6200.00 against Malaysia's US$14780.00
Libya is not even worth to put a comparison to. Its mainstay is oil and the small population gave it a false per capita GDP reading as most of the oil revenue go to corruptions, mainly the pockets of Gaddafi, his family and his cronies.
After disposing King Idris in a coup d'etat in 1969 Muammar Gaddafi, a captian in the army with his junior officer co-conspirators abolished the constitution and made Libya a republic.
Gaddafi has ruled the nation with blatant disregard for human rights ever since.
Libya has a per capita of US$13800.00 and if anyone believed it is fairly distributed to the population than they should decry the revolution and go out and save Gaddafi.
What does it tells you?
It tells you many crucial things about Malaysia, that it is still a democratic country and to a great extent practising free market economy.That's why you have many billionaires, millionaires and significant middle class in the country.Unlike, the Arabs, no leaders or prime ministers had or ever attempt to abolish or abrogate the constitution to deprive the basic human rights of its citizens.It also shows that Malaysia has, over the years, executed sound economic policies that have given it moderate economic growth.It may not be the best in the region but it is better than many other countries.We are ranked 30th in the world's GDP ranking.Not too bad for a small nation of 28 million.With the new economic reforms we should do better.We have one of the lowest below the poverty line.Only about 5 percent of Malaysians live below the poverty line according to the CIA Factbook.
Corruptions, should be our main concern, this is where we should spare greater effort to combat the sickness .Though, I agree with her on the worrying degree of corruptions in the country I don't believe that there would be less corruptions with Pakatan taking over the helm.Many politicians in Pakatan bound for the higher office are cut from the same cloth.
She wrote "Najib is in denial for there are many similarities between the two countries. The Egyptians were fed up with the repressive rule of Hosni Mubarak. The reasons for their dissatisfaction were mainly financial. They were angry with life in the autocratic police state, of poor living conditions, economic stagnation, unemployment, corruption and abuses by the police"
I have done business with that region for almost 20 years.
No! Malaysia do not have the same similarities as those godforsaken places.
This one is even more idiosyncratic, political backwashing from a flat in London.
Everyone wants Taib out but would he flutters and falls?
Not likely, he would lose some seats to the oppositions but he and the BN should prevail to rule Sarawak again.
3 comments:
Like you Bro, I believe no matter how many tries to relate the events in the middle east to Malaysia, it will never happen here and as your short research show, poverty and the huge poor-rich divide which was the key ingredient to the middle east uprising has been actively handled by our Govenment and the percentage difference is set to shrink further with time.
Furthermore Malaysians will more likely die of overeating than due to lack of food in this blessed country.So there will be no unemployed, hungry and angry man out on the streets to protest in such big numbers to cause the downfall of a democratically elected Malaysian Government.
The jury is still out on the success of the middle east uprising. A further look at Egypt showed that a Legitimate Government were toppled by the people only for that power to be handed over to the Military. Is that what the people of Egypt really wanted or planned. Would a military led government be better than Mubaraks's government?
I agree with Eddy that a violent change in govt is unlikely in Malaysia.
However, there have been steps taken to displace unpopular leaders in the past decade and these have taken place relatively peacefully.
History will show that we have had a PM who ruled for 22 yrs and when he decided to step down, his successor achieved the highest General Election victory results. Some may contend that this was the backlash of his predecessor finally leaving the stage and thus, giving the rakyat a new hope after years of activities similar to the Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan situation.
However, the rakyat was disillusioned by what appeared to be more of the same (or worse) of what his predecessor practised. Hence, the rakyat insituted significant change in the political landscape by delivering a large "nay" vote to the incumbent govt, to the extent that 5 states fell to Opposition parties. (One state has reverted back to the govt party but that was not due to the electoral will).
As a result of this change, internal politicking within the PM's own party ensued that he was replaced and the current leadership is seemingly no different than the past leaders of the last 30 years.
Change will continue in Malaysia but likely to be using the democratic process rather than street protests. But as in the case of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, will the country's resources still be available to the rakyat ?
Bro HL,
Malaysia is not the same as those countries & Malaysians are definately not the same. That in itself says it all.
If Najib can eliminate or at least reduce Corruption, there won't be any issues with Malaysians!
Looking at what's been happening, I am very positive that he can do it!
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