Monday, July 1, 2013
A Dangerous Silence
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Reinvigorating Rural Malaysia
New Paradigms Needed
There has been a remarkable change in the composition of Malaysia’s rural-urban mix. In the 1980s approximately 70 percent was considered rural, where today 72 percent are urbanized and with the change taking place at about 2.4 percent annually.
It is a change that is taking place all over Asia, from China to India to Indonesia and more. Very few countries outside China have even attempted to cope, with the result that the rural-urban divide has grown and with very little being done to directly alleviate problems of poverty and rustication.
In Malaysia, rural sector development has been debated little, even though the primary sector still represents almost 12 percent of GDP and employs more than 11 percent of the population. Many rural issues affect the future in much greater magnitude than the rural contribution to GDP and employment. The sustainability of Malaysia as an eco(n)-system, the country's cultural basis, and even political destiny are tied up with rural evolution, with the vote in the kampung remaining a potent fiction if nothing else
In the meantime, deterioration continues in what was once one of the world’s most lush environmental green lungs. Forest cover is decreasing on a daily basis. Conservation has lost out to greed and development. Palm oil, rubber plantations and urban expansion are eating into the forests, with very poor land enforcement on the ground. Well-connected businesses get concessions that are extremely financially lucrative, at great environmental cost. Roads and new townships have divided rural habitats, playing havoc with biodiversity.
The precise needs of rural societies are best obtained from inside those communities. A "bottom up" problem identification process would ensure development objectives and implementation scenarios would remain relevant. Community shura (consultation) committees could be set up at the village level to identify and discuss needs, problems, and desired solutions, and advise village heads.
Such a democratic approach to community would provide policymakers with the guidance they need in setting objectives and programs, and assist in minimizing funding leakages during implementation. This measure alone would signal a very strong redistribution of policy decision-making to the communities themselves, empowering communities to have more say in deciding their own future destinies. The shura system should develop new leaders and champions who are willing to lead and help shape a new community sense of wisdom. Policies will never succeed without people to drive them.
Self-sufficiency and a vibrant local trade economy are the keys to future rural communities. However, rural SMEs should be facilitated to enter national and international markets. There are now many compliance procedures such as Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), necessary for agricultural produce to enter international supply chains. These practices need to be introduced within rural communities so products produced are accepted in international markets.
These compliance processes can be locally enhanced to include halal (Islamic compliance) certification, thus widening the compliance process to one inclusive certification, which would greatly enhance the desirability of Malaysian produce, especially within the exponentially growing halal markets worldwide.
Whole sectors like rice paddy production need to be reconfigured from the bottom up so they can become competitive. The paddy production process requires the hands of a number of contractors during field preparation, planting, cultivation, harvesting, and processing stages. Paddy production is an uncompetitive sector.
New methods like System of Rice Intensification (SRI) could be adopted, and more popular aromatic varieties of rice cultivated to increase industry viability. The rice monopoly held by the government regulator Bernas could be ended to allow new approaches to rice products and marketing by entrepreneurial individuals. Such an approach could drastically decrease production costs and add value to rice products, redistributing this added value back to farmers.
University and institutional research should change focus towards communities rather than using scare research funds to chase medals at exhibitions that have no research or commercial significance in places like Geneva and Seoul. The technology developed by Malaysian institutions should be simple, applicable to community enterprise, and appropriate to the size of the enterprises operating in rural areas.
This appropriate technology, if effective and viable is itself a source of competitive advantage that would enable rural enterprises to compete in the marketplace. Read more here.
It is a change that is taking place all over Asia, from China to India to Indonesia and more. Very few countries outside China have even attempted to cope, with the result that the rural-urban divide has grown and with very little being done to directly alleviate problems of poverty and rustication.
In Malaysia, rural sector development has been debated little, even though the primary sector still represents almost 12 percent of GDP and employs more than 11 percent of the population. Many rural issues affect the future in much greater magnitude than the rural contribution to GDP and employment. The sustainability of Malaysia as an eco(n)-system, the country's cultural basis, and even political destiny are tied up with rural evolution, with the vote in the kampung remaining a potent fiction if nothing else
In the meantime, deterioration continues in what was once one of the world’s most lush environmental green lungs. Forest cover is decreasing on a daily basis. Conservation has lost out to greed and development. Palm oil, rubber plantations and urban expansion are eating into the forests, with very poor land enforcement on the ground. Well-connected businesses get concessions that are extremely financially lucrative, at great environmental cost. Roads and new townships have divided rural habitats, playing havoc with biodiversity.
The precise needs of rural societies are best obtained from inside those communities. A "bottom up" problem identification process would ensure development objectives and implementation scenarios would remain relevant. Community shura (consultation) committees could be set up at the village level to identify and discuss needs, problems, and desired solutions, and advise village heads.
Such a democratic approach to community would provide policymakers with the guidance they need in setting objectives and programs, and assist in minimizing funding leakages during implementation. This measure alone would signal a very strong redistribution of policy decision-making to the communities themselves, empowering communities to have more say in deciding their own future destinies. The shura system should develop new leaders and champions who are willing to lead and help shape a new community sense of wisdom. Policies will never succeed without people to drive them.
Self-sufficiency and a vibrant local trade economy are the keys to future rural communities. However, rural SMEs should be facilitated to enter national and international markets. There are now many compliance procedures such as Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), necessary for agricultural produce to enter international supply chains. These practices need to be introduced within rural communities so products produced are accepted in international markets.
These compliance processes can be locally enhanced to include halal (Islamic compliance) certification, thus widening the compliance process to one inclusive certification, which would greatly enhance the desirability of Malaysian produce, especially within the exponentially growing halal markets worldwide.
Whole sectors like rice paddy production need to be reconfigured from the bottom up so they can become competitive. The paddy production process requires the hands of a number of contractors during field preparation, planting, cultivation, harvesting, and processing stages. Paddy production is an uncompetitive sector.
New methods like System of Rice Intensification (SRI) could be adopted, and more popular aromatic varieties of rice cultivated to increase industry viability. The rice monopoly held by the government regulator Bernas could be ended to allow new approaches to rice products and marketing by entrepreneurial individuals. Such an approach could drastically decrease production costs and add value to rice products, redistributing this added value back to farmers.
University and institutional research should change focus towards communities rather than using scare research funds to chase medals at exhibitions that have no research or commercial significance in places like Geneva and Seoul. The technology developed by Malaysian institutions should be simple, applicable to community enterprise, and appropriate to the size of the enterprises operating in rural areas.
This appropriate technology, if effective and viable is itself a source of competitive advantage that would enable rural enterprises to compete in the marketplace. Read more here.
Mutalib MD - The Unsung Hero
Hantu Laut
Though I don't know him personally and have never met the man I share the loss of this unsung hero, who for many years have been ridiculed by those in power for exposing the issuance of I/Cs to illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia.
He was the first to expose the "I/C Palsu" and letting illegal immigrants to votes using forged I/C. He also started the first widely read Sabah political blog "Sabahkini"
A true Sabahan who for years pursue the illegal I/C and illegal immigrants problems but to no avail as the power that be denied any involvement.
As the adage "truth will out" what he wrote and has been saying all these years came true at the RCI (Royal Commission of Enquiry) that had many recipients of illegal I/Cs coming forward to testify.
A true and fearless Sabahan, who tried to right the wrongs, but did not live long enough to see through what he has been fighting for all these years.
A champion for Sabahans, an unsung hero, we will be missing him.
My deepest condolence to his family and may Allah bless his soul.
Alfateha.
Though I don't know him personally and have never met the man I share the loss of this unsung hero, who for many years have been ridiculed by those in power for exposing the issuance of I/Cs to illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia.
He was the first to expose the "I/C Palsu" and letting illegal immigrants to votes using forged I/C. He also started the first widely read Sabah political blog "Sabahkini"
A true Sabahan who for years pursue the illegal I/C and illegal immigrants problems but to no avail as the power that be denied any involvement.
As the adage "truth will out" what he wrote and has been saying all these years came true at the RCI (Royal Commission of Enquiry) that had many recipients of illegal I/Cs coming forward to testify.
A true and fearless Sabahan, who tried to right the wrongs, but did not live long enough to see through what he has been fighting for all these years.
A champion for Sabahans, an unsung hero, we will be missing him.
My deepest condolence to his family and may Allah bless his soul.
Alfateha.
Rebuking Jusuf Kalla: Birds Of A Feather Flock Together
Hantu Laut
Karpal, a bloody disgrace, rebuking the wrong man.
The man who should be reprimanded is not Jusuf Kalla, but the sociopathic Anwar Ibrahim, who thought his friend will never spill the beans on him and his lies.
If you lied to your friends, you lied to your party members and you lied to the people, do you expect decent people to keep supporting you?
When you have no honour do you expect honourable people to stick by you?
I hope Karpal gets his bearing right and can differentiate between right and wrong.
Karpal is asking Jusuf to apologise to Anwar on what ground?
Who broke the bond?
Who broke the promise to respect the result of the elections whichever way it goes?
Whatever happened to freedom of speech that Pakatan Rakyat leaders claimed to be lacking in this country and promised "no hold barred" if they come to power?
The Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng is another dictator in the works, who banned media he doesn't like from attending his press conference.
Aren't they all laying?
As in the old adage " birds of a feather flock together"
Read on.......
Anwar Turn On Old Friend Jusuf Kalla Through Karpal
Karpal, a bloody disgrace, rebuking the wrong man.
The man who should be reprimanded is not Jusuf Kalla, but the sociopathic Anwar Ibrahim, who thought his friend will never spill the beans on him and his lies.
If you lied to your friends, you lied to your party members and you lied to the people, do you expect decent people to keep supporting you?
When you have no honour do you expect honourable people to stick by you?
I hope Karpal gets his bearing right and can differentiate between right and wrong.
Karpal is asking Jusuf to apologise to Anwar on what ground?
Who broke the bond?
Who broke the promise to respect the result of the elections whichever way it goes?
Whatever happened to freedom of speech that Pakatan Rakyat leaders claimed to be lacking in this country and promised "no hold barred" if they come to power?
The Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng is another dictator in the works, who banned media he doesn't like from attending his press conference.
Aren't they all laying?
As in the old adage " birds of a feather flock together"
Read on.......
Anwar Turn On Old Friend Jusuf Kalla Through Karpal
The life of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must be terribly convoluted at times. The continuing saga of Anwar's breach of his own, proposed peace agreement with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, mediated by former Indonesian vice president Jusuf Kalla, is no different.
Not long ago, Jusuf was Anwar's friend. Today, he is a target for Anwar's proxy in Pakatan Rakyat, Karpal Singh, determined to cover for Anwar's lack of honour and refusal to peacefully stand down after he lost GE13.
"Jusuf Kalla should express regret for his statement and apologise to Anwar," said Karpal, the DAP National Chairman at a press conference Saturday, claiming that Jusuf was apparently always untrustworthy. He added that Jusuf had disgraced himself by disclosing the peace agreement and Anwar's failure to abide by the agreement, and by destroying public confidence in Pakatan Rakyat.
Pakatan, after all, does not need help in destroying the rakyat's confidence.
This marks yet another turn in Anwar's post-GE13 saga, which has seen Anwar claim victory before a single result was announced, the 'Black 505' rally delirium, a flirtation with boycotting his swearing-in to the Dewan Rakyat, and now a willingness to burn a high-profile friendship of over a decade.
Jusuf had been a friend of both Anwar's and Najib's for years, making him the perfect mediator for any agreement between the two. So when Anwar, certain that Pakatan Rakyat would take Putrajaya at GE13, reached out to Jusuf to mediate an agreement by which the loser of GE13 agreed to accept the results of the elections peacefully, Jusuf happily agreed. Anwar signed the final agreement, and Najib gave an oral commitment – which Anwar accepted.
When Anwar launched his wave of 'Black 505' rallies and categorically refused to accept the election results, Jusuf finally revealed the agreement, its origins and his anger at Anwar's betrayal. Anwar rotated through several excuses for his failure to honour the very agreement for which he asked, each of which Jusuf rubbished in turn.
Enter Karpal Singh.
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