Rabu, 14 November 2012

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Malays should wisen up

Posted: 13 Nov 2012 03:01 PM PST

After being ruled by Barisan Nasional for 55 years, the Malays must now realise that they do have a choice not to continue to live in poverty, says PKR veep Chua Jui Meng. 

Malaysians, including Malays, are at a critical political crossroad. We must start asking ourselves intelligently and come up with honest answers and decisions.

By Chua Jui Meng, FMT

Malaysians, especially the Malays, cannot and must not continue to live in poverty.

After 55 years, you must surely say that is enough. You have a choice and you can show that through your ballots in the next general election. Use your ballots to make change so that another government can try to make life better for everyone.

Umno's battle cries for 55 years have been – Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy), Menyelamatkan Melayu (Save Malays), Bela Melayu (Defend Malays), Jangan Hilang Kuasa Melayu (Don't lose Malay Powers).

What Malay Supremacy? More like Umno Supremacy. Save Malays? From what? Defend Malays, from whom? Don't lose Malay power? More like don't lose Umno powers.

Malaysians, including Malays, are at a critical political crossroad. We must start asking ourselves intelligently and come up with honest answers and decisions.

It is clear for all to see that the corrupt BN government has only been plundering and enriching their cronies, family members and themselves.

It all started with the 22-year Dr Mahathir Mohamad's rule, followed by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and now Najib Tun Razak.

Their plundering has saddled us with a more than RM502.4 billion federal debts, as revealed by Budget 2013, which we and our children and generations will have to bear.

Before the Mahathir regime, the Land Acquisition Act 1960 was used to acquire land for infrastructure and public development projects, like roads, schools, hospitals etc.

In 1991, Mahathir amended the Act to enable state governments to acquire such land, and then to alienate such land to their cronies and crony Umno companies for development.

The agriculture village land, mostly Malay customary-owned, are acquired cheaply by the state government and then converted to property development to enrich their cronies and themselves.

Such land grabs have been carried out by Mahathir, then Abdullah, Najib and in Johor, we are seeing Mentri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman at work in Pengerang.

Did you not see this happened in Gelang Patah, Pasir Gudang, Denga Bay, etc? We are seeing thousands of Malays driven out of their kampungs (villages) when such land grabs are initiated by Umno leaders. Are these stories made up by us?

Umno manipulation

Let me share with you what we know. You may not like what you hear, but it's how Umno manipulates and make a fool out of Malays.

The BN-Umno brainwashing Biro Tata Negara (BTN) has for years, and is still doing so, telling their civil servants to go into the interiors and Malay villages and promise the villagers everything they want. After the general election, no need to deliver the promises.

READ MORE HERE

 

10 reasons for Indians to drop BN

Posted: 11 Nov 2012 04:23 PM PST

Here are 10 reasons why the Indian community should not vote for Barisan Nasional in the next general election, according to Kota Alam Shah state rep M Manoharan. 

By M Manoharan, FMT

Umno's 'Malay Supremacy' agenda

I would be echoing the sentiments of the great majority of Indians in Malaysia when I say they are effectively second class citizens under Umno's rule. Umno and BN can be used interchangeably because Umno is not only the dominant party but the de facto ruling party as well.

The much entrenched 'Ketuanan Melayu ' or Malay Supremacy is the unwritten code of Umno's rule. The ruling party has perfected this philosophy to the extent of rivalling the notorious racist agenda of apartheid South Africa. Basically, Ketuanan Melayu aims to contain the progress and prosperity of the non-Malays.

The Indians have traditionally looked to the civil service for employment but in the last few decades they have seen their share of public sector jobs severely curtailed. Too many Indians have to eke out a harsh living outside the comfort of the government service and the GLCs. Many resort to low paying jobs which in turn locks them in a vicious cycle of poverty. Also, the high crime rate among Indians is a direct result of the lack of access to good, high- income jobs for Indians.

NEP's lopsided implementation

The NEP introduced in 1970 and which has set the direction of the nation ever since was designed to:

a) restructure society so that race is no longer identified with occupation, and

b) eradicate poverty irrespective of race/ ethnicity.

However, none of these noble intentions ever reached the Indian community. The implementation of the NEP has bypassed the Indians. In the past, Indians were identified with the civil service, professions and the plantations. Today, they are increasingly associated with low pay jobs and hard, physical labour.

Many flagship projects of the NEP offered little to the Indian community. Felda which transformed the landless and the poor among the Malays to proud land owners had little impact on the Indians. It was the same story with Felcra, Risda and the numerous other schemes designed to uplift the rural poor.

Somehow, the Indian poor, a large proportion of whom were in the plantations were invisible to the formulators and the implementers of the NEP. There were no quotas assigned to the Indian community for jobs in the GLCs or the private sector. If the BN government could do it for the poor Malays, why did it overlook the poor Indians?

Was not the NEP designed for all Malaysians? Why the lop-sided implementation? Today, we have an Indian community that has high endemic poverty, the highest violent crime rate and a decreasing proportion in the top professions.

The pathetic state of the Tamil schools

Any responsible government would look into the education needs of its entire people. But then, BN has never been a responsible government. The BN government has systematically marginalised vernacular education. Fortunately, the economic and philanthropic strength of the Chinese community has mitigated the many challenges facing Chinese schools. There are 523 Tamil schools in the country, but up to 79% or some 379 of these schools are still occupying dilapidated, termite infested, semi-permanent buildings built on private land before Merdeka. The bigger majority of these schools are in a pathetic state – undersized classrooms, leaking roofs and some even without water or electricity.

Almost all face teacher shortage of some kind, some more acute than others. Promises are made from time to time by the government to improve trainee teacher intake, training temporary teachers and offering them permanent positions but the reality is the opposite. Some 40% of all Tamil school teachers are contract or temporary teachers.

This potent combination of poor infrastructure and teacher shortage is a definite recipe for the high failure rate of Tamil school students. Tamil schools are a neglected lot and the BN must be held responsible by all Indian voters.

Limited opportunities in the civil service and GLCs

Prior to the implementation of the NEP in 1970, Indians were well represented in the civil service. The lop-sided implementation of the NEP has decimated the Indian numbers in the civil service.

Indians and other non-Bumiputeras are severely discriminated both in the intake as well as in subsequent promotions.

For instance, there is not a single Indian judge in the Federal Court. The BN government must look into an Equal Opportunity Commission & an Equal Opportunity Act to redress the gross imbalance among the races in the Government service.

Citizens denied citizenship

Almost 300,000 Indians who are eligible for citizenship do not have MyKads. They are children born to citizen parents whose births were not registered for one reason or another. In a nutshell, they have been denied citizenship due to a government bureaucracy that is callous to their plight. Many dreams have been shattered, jobs and careers foregone and households mired in poverty due to citizenship denied.

Almost all are deserving cases because most were born in Malaysia or have lived here all their lives. Of late, the MIC has organised citizenship for about 4,000 cases but this hardly scratches the surface of the problem. It is more of a publicity stunt for the BN to dupe the Indian electorate as many of the cases publicised in the media are senior citizens in their twilight years and well past their prime.

Sadly, it is a case of political gimmicking taking precedence over resolution of people's grievances.

Highest unemployment rate

Indians have the highest unemployment rate among the major races in the country. The neglect of the Tamil schools means it ill-prepares the students for secondary school and beyond. Many Indian students lack the linguistic and numerical skills needed for today's job market.

Moreover, Indians do not have access to skills training institutes like GiatMara, polytechnics, Mara Training Institutes, vocational schools and numerous other training institutes' set-up with public money at the state and national levels. Certainly, there is a lack of concerted action by the BN government to train and equip Indian youths with the necessary job skills.

The typical response by BN leaders is that Indians do not apply for these opportunities. How can Indians apply for these places when it is not made known to them?

As a result, the majority resort to the private sector. With low levels of education and absence of marketable skills, they are forced to work as lorry drivers, road sweepers, dishwashers, free-lance house maids, cleaners, despatch clerks, personal drivers, etc. These jobs are shunned by the other races because of the low pay, long working hours and physical risks involved.

The situation has got so bad that Indians are forced to compete with foreigners for these very jobs.

READ MORE HERE

 

Keep faith out of politics

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 04:23 PM PST

Religion and politics — that's a potent mix guaranteed to be explosive.

Nurul Izzah's slip has been seized on by Umno because the fight in the polls is essentially over the majority Malay votes, especially in the rural constituencies which are heavily in favour of the ruling party. Of the 222 parliamentary seats, only about 45 are Chinese-majority in urban areas and there is not a single seat with an Indian majority.

Wong Chun Wai, The Star

IN the run-up to the general election, holding forums on political issues, even in churches, has become fairly common.

While most churches would be careful about bringing politicians into a house of worship to talk politics, there are some that are prepared to organise or at least play host to such events.

Last Saturday, the Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI) conducted a talk on "Islamic State: Which Version? Whose Responsibility?" with the keynote address by Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, director of the Islamic Renaissance Front. The forum was held at a church in Subang.

But the person who captured the headlines was PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar who was one of the moderators. In response to a question from the floor, she found herself caught in a controversy over whether Malays have a right to choose their religion.

She was speaking to a largely urban non-Malay audience and, as seen in a video recording of the event that has now gone viral, she was greeted with loud applause.

The feisty politician has since denied making any statement suggesting that there should be no compulsion on Malays to be Muslims.

But she earned a royal rebuke from the Sultan of Selangor and she has quickly blamed Utusan Malaysia for allegedly distorting and twisting her reply to a member of the audience.

To make things more complicated, the person who posed the question to Nurul Izzah has now expressed her disappointment over the latter's about turn on the issue.

Lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim was quoted as saying by news portal Free Malaysia Today that "I believe Nurul Izzah was just trying to impress the people. She didn't think of the consequences."

For many non-Muslims, especially those living in urban areas, the issue was probably dismissed as a non-starter and seen as another political move to discredit Nurul Izzah.

But for conservative Muslims in the rural areas, it would be unthinkable and unacceptable.

Luckily for Nurul Izzah, the language used at the forum was English and the video that's currently going around does not have Bahasa Malaysia subtitles, thus making the damage less severe – for now.

But for Nurul Izzah to deny it vehemently now would suggest that she has woken up to the grave political consequences of what she has done. If there was no impact, she would have just shrugged it off. She now wants to get out of this tricky spot.

The easy part is to blame Utusan Malaysia, which is well known for its nationalist slant, but the pro-Pakatan Rakyat news portal Malaysiakini also carried the same story using the same angle on Nov 3.

Nurul Izzah has also put PAS in a corner. On Friday, PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said that if Nurul Izzah had indeed made her controversial statement on religious freedom, "then something is not right" while PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang wanted to hear from her.

Their only purported concerns, or a way out, seem to be that they have doubts over the accuracy of reporting by the media.

DAP strongman Ngeh Koo Ham tweeted last week in support of Nurul Izzah, quoting Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which states that every person has the right to profess and to practise his or her religion. But Ngeh, a lawyer, did not say it has to be read with other applicable laws.

There are laws restricting the propagation of other religions to Muslims. Article 160 of the Federal Constitution, for example, is clear that all ethnic Malays are Muslims. A Malay is defined as someone who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language and adheres to Malay customs.

The fact remains that the majority of Malays want this to remain as law and as practice and convention.

Nurul Izzah's slip has been seized on by Umno because the fight in the polls is essentially over the majority Malay votes, especially in the rural constituencies which are heavily in favour of the ruling party. Of the 222 parliamentary seats, only about 45 are Chinese-majority in urban areas and there is not a single seat with an Indian majority.

Nurul Izzah's case will also have a deep impact in PAS where the divide between those regarded as sympathetic to Anwar and the more orthodox ulamas is concerned. Former deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa, for example, is solidly in the Islamist party despite his overtures to Umno. He has regularly spoken up against the DAP, a PAS ally, but remains untouched because he is said to be protected by the anti-Anwar forces in the party.

The church in Subang has found itself in the spotlight for hosting the forum. Recently, another church which hosted a forum on the elections found its speakers and the media squabbling over the accuracy of some negative remarks made on Pakatan Rakyat.

There's a lesson here – keep religion out of politics. But as long as there are politicians masquerading as theologians of their respective faiths, no one will take this advice kindly.

 

Bigots, cronies, tyrants and thugs

Posted: 10 Nov 2012 02:17 PM PST

Religious bigots and feudalists, Umno and its business cronies, Malay supremacist and their secret spies and Trojan horses are all coming together.

Religious bigots and feudalists, Umno and its business cronies, Malay supremacist and their secret spies and Trojan horses are all coming together.

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz, FMT 

Umno is marshalling all the reactionary forces in this country to put down the majority.

Religious bigots represented by the likes of Hasan Alis, Zulkifli Nordins and the racial bigots represented by the Ibrahim Alis.

Their running dogs are now resorting to (i) attacks on the person, and (ii) patronising comments.

A specter is indeed haunting our country — the specter of Malaysians reclaiming lost rights.

All the powers of the corrupt government have entered into an unholy alliance to exorcise this specter.

Religious bigots and feudalists, Umno and its business cronies, Malay supremacist and their secret spies and Trojan horses are all coming together.

The specter that is coming back is the specter of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his ilk. It's bulldozing over us.

Post-independence, this country was tugging along on the road of democracy and was doing fine.

It was a slow process as Malaysians underwent a period of growing pains.

Frankly, we have just begun to learn the dynamics of democracy. Suffrage means people acquire rights to self-determination.

Participatory democracy meant, they can define their being and determine their future instead of having their lives run by dictates and central command of a society structured on feudalism – a paramount master and his cabal at the top, enslaving the rest.

Malays are beginning to free themselves from being defined and determined by their feudal masters.

Power corrupts

This is no longer the age of command society where your wish becomes a command to me. Everything must be decided to a set of rules.

We are moving away from a central command society to a modern one embracing democracy.

We could have matured into a better society faster save for the route being suddenly and rudely interrupted by the emergence of Mahathir.

READ MORE HERE

 

Religion is something personal

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 01:43 PM PST

It has taken a rookie politician to put across get the message that no one has the right to play God.

Jeswan Kaur, FMT

Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters. – Issac Bashevis Singer, author and Nobel Prize laureate

The antipathy being shown to Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar for her candid and forthright view that everyone is deserving of religious freedom, including the Malays, reveals the feared truth that religion is a personal choice and coercion simply does not work.

The truth is Nurul Izzah has done the Malays especially a favour through her remark that religious freedom should be accorded to everyone.

It is a different matter that her comments made in a forum entitled "Islamic state? Which vision? Whose responsibility" on Nov 3 came down with a 'Richter Scale'-like backlash.

The statements coming from the Prime Minister's Department were typical. Minister Jamil Khir Baharom said Nurul Izzah's remark was "misleading" and "dangerous". His deputy, Mashitah Ibrahim, went further, calling for the young politician's prosecution on the charge of insulting Islam.

How could any thinking person conclude that she was insulting Islam when the gist of her remark was her quotation of the Quranic verse that prohibits believers from compelling people to accept Islam?

Mashitah even hinted that Nurul Izzah was encouraging apostasy, a claim which the PKR vice-president begged to differ.

A pertinent question

It appears that there are many in this country that are unwilling to tolerate such ingenuous view of a 'green' politician and that too one who is the daughter of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Granted that it was anomalous for Nurul Izzah to so bravely touch on a topic so sensitive in this country, Islam; sadly, unlike her, the minds of her fellow colleagues, especially in the Barisan Nasional camp, have yet to 'attain' maturity.

Thinking out of the box or daring to make a paradigm shift has never been BN's interest nor strength, hence its 'condemn and ridicule' approach in dealing with anything its nemesis, the Pakatan Rakyat pact does or says.

Nurul Izzah has posed a very pertinent question, one that forces everyone to ruminate and ask questions in order to penetrate to the essence of any religion. Most people who have even a rough understanding of Islam will agree that asking questions is not a sin in that religion.

The outstanding problem in this country, however, is that one is given the impression that anything bearing upon the country's official religion and Malay rights and privileges is not to be questioned.

Still, in light of all this, Nurul Izzah dared to state what she believed to be true. She certainly was not trying to ingratiate herself with anyone by speaking her mind.

As it stands, the country's constitution says if you are a Malay then you are automatically a Muslim. It is given that the Malays will not go against the constitution, not when it comes to religion.

But then what happens if a Malay individual wanst to denounce his religion? These are serious questions that need genuine answers, not rebuke and punishment.

Why is there the fear of addressing of even acknowledging the fact that there are some Malays who are unhappy with their religion?

READ MORE HERE

 

Remembering the 2007 Bersih rally

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 01:37 PM PST

Five years after the historic first Bersih rally on Nov 10, 2007, EC's shenanigans and electoral fraud still continue to haunt us. 

Selena Tay, FMT

Five years ago, exactly on a Saturday on Nov 10, scenes of the first Bersih rally took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur. The most famous scene was the one featuring the FRU (Federal Reserve Unit) truck firing the water cannon beneath the STAR-LRT line to Sri Petaling.

The crowd then was estimated to be around 30,000 to 40,000. Who at that time would have thought that there would be two more Bersih rallies to follow?

Be that as it may, that historic day on Nov 10 woke up some Malaysian voters just in time for the general election held on March 8, 2008 where for the first time in history BN lost their two-thirds majority and five states in the Peninsular although one of the states gained by the opposition, Perak, was subsequently recaptured by BN.

Still, from Nov 10 five years ago till to-date, things have hardly changed but instead have become worst as the electoral roll is now much dirtier despite the Parliamentary Select Committee being set up.

The BN government has also requested for an allocation of RM400 million to run the 13th general election whereas in the previous general election the allocation was RM203 million.

Opposition Leader and Permatang Pauh MP, Anwar Ibrahim has questioned the high allocation and also highlighted the issue of phantom voters in the ongoing Parliament sitting.

According to Anwar, those voters without application date (to be a voter) came up to 4,700 detected cases while 367 voters were granted approval to be inserted into the electoral roll even before they were born!

Anwar gave the example of a phantom voter with an identity card number of 7908 from Parit Buntar, Perak who was born on Aug 23, 1979 but applied to be a voter on Jan 15, 1950.

"This is a great record of a real phantom voter," said Anwar in Parliament.

He also said there were 282 voters who were given voting rights on their date of birth for example one Nur Khalida of Serdang who was born on Oct 26, 1982 and the application to be a voter was made on the same day itself.

There is also the case of one Mohd Najib of Temerloh, Pahang who was born on Aug 18, 1979 and given his voting right on May 16, 1991, just three months short of his 12th birthday.

Approvals for voting rights given to secondary school students came up to 1,049 detected cases while approvals for those between age 17 to 20 totalled 12,000 detected cases and those between age 20 but less than 21 years of age came up to 186,000 detected cases.

Anwar also gave the example of a teenage voter named Rusiati of Kinabatangan in Sabah who was born on Feb 19, 1978 and became a voter on Nov 27, 1992 at the age of 14.

EC's shenanigans

PAS MP, Dr. Mohd Hayati Othman for Pendang, Kedah complained that the Election Commission (EC) was slow to act when it comes to rectifying errors and only took action after being threatened with police reports.

He brought up the case of Zakaria Daud, a male voter transformed into a female named Rafzah Muhammad Nasib although the identity card number ended with 5589 (odd number for males). The address on this voter's MyKad is in Pendang, Kedah but he/she has been transferred to Kelana Jaya in Selangor.

The PAS MP voiced his anger that not only has the voter been transformed but also transfered without his/her knowledge.

READ MORE HERE

 

The Peninsula is the real battleground

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 11:03 AM PST

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zWSD5jPUPzk/SgBbOYwhB7I/AAAAAAAACCU/pYq-fmDzQQ4/s400/Wong+Chin+Huat.jpg 

Umno/BN's legitimacy to command the support of East Malaysian, including Sabah Umno, hinges on BN winning the majority of Peninsula parliamentarians.

Dr Wong Chin Huat

The real battleground for the ruling and opposition coalitions in this coming general election may not be Sabah and Sarawak, but Peninsular Malaysia.

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentarians concede the possibility of losing six and seven parliamentary seats respectively. That would mean only losing 13 out of a total of 57 seats in the entire East Malaysia.

And if the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) counts on these 13 seats to constitute a simple majority of 112 seats in the Federal Parliament, the opposition coalition would need to win 99 out of 165 seats or about 60% in the Peninsula.

That would be an uphill task for the four-year-old opposition coalition, which won only 80 seats in the Peninsula and has kept only 73 seats after a series of defections.

Going by this line of calculation, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim — who heads Pakatan — can bid farewell to his Putrajaya dream, unless he can orchestrate an exodus of BN key leaders like how he recently enticed a Muslim and a Christian parliamentarian to join his camp.

Alternatively, the current leaders of Sabah PR need to win more than six parliamentary seats in the coming election.

This may not be easy given the likelihood that PR would have to face multi-corners, with local Sabah opposition parties led by popular leaders like Jeffery Kitinggan and Yong Teck Li playing the third force.

As a matter of fact, the failure of the opposition to work out a straight fight against BN may offset the benefit it may reap from infighting within Sabah BN.

In other words, the growing under-currents against the scandal-tainted Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman may be a missed opportunity for Anwar's dream.


Key point

The analysis so far has however missed out a key point: Umno/BN's legitimacy to command the support of East Malaysian, including Sabah Umno, hinges on BN winning the majority of Peninsula parliamentarians.

In the 2008 elections, BN in fact lost the simple majority in popular votes by a small margin. It led PR with a 85:80 margin only because of the first-past-the-post electoral system.

The moment PR wins 83 seats — the simple majority in the Peninsula — the entire game would change.

The price for Umno to command the support of East Malaysian MPs would immediately soar. Loyalty will then require much better offers than what the politicians get now.

And Umno may simply cannot afford to beat the PR offer.

To begin with, the non-Muslims in East Malaysia have a general distrust for Umno. Non-Muslim BN parties contest as many as 29 seats there.

To make the matter worse, not only Umno Sabah and PBB of Sarawak have a number of non-Muslim parliamentarians, even some Muslim politicians are not happy with the Peninsular-dominance embodied in Umno.

Main battleground

This means the real battleground to keep Sabah and Sarawak is in the Peninsula or West Malaysia.

Contrary to a common view, the battleground will not be in the Malay voters even though they make up the majority in 114 federal constituencies in West Malaysia, based on the electoral roll gazetted in June 2011.

The balance will instead be decided by the Chinese voters, who have shown the most uniformly voting pattern of all ethnic groups so far.

Government intelligence now puts the base line of Chinese support for the BN at 20%, whereas in the past the floor was 30%.

Now, if the Chinese support for PR across the board is indeed 80%, then for PR to win the 83 constituencies with the highest proportion of Chinese voters — with Jempol (26.72%) being the 83rd — it needs only 39.06% of support from the non-Chinese: Malay, Indian and others.

In reality, the minimum of non-Chinese support that PR needs in constituencies with a substantial Chinese minority is much lower.

In 2008, PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) from PR won 15 seats with less than 26.27% Chinese voters in the more than 55% of popular votes.

This means PR should be able to retain these Malay-majority constituencies based on Malay votes, even when there is a general swing of 5% towards the BN.

And it needs only 68 more seats to pass the magical threshold of 83.

By the same calculation, PR will need to win the 68 constituencies with the highest percentage of Chinese voters, which ends with Sembrong (33.30%). And the minimum non-Chinese support it needs will be as low as only 35%.

This explains why MCA is working so hard now to highlight on the fear of Islamisation and ethnic riot. A few percent more Chinese voters staying at home or going away would be enough to save the BN.

In 1999, MCA women campaigners contributed greatly to the BN's victory amidst the Reformasi wave by reminding other home makers to stock up food supply because elections were around the corner.

Now, a group of Chinese homemakers calling themselves Mama Bersih is going to every yellow and green rally to advocate for political awakening. Their motivation? They want their children to grow up in a safe and free country.

It is a different kind of fear that defines the future of Malaysia.

This is how much this country has changed in 13 years, whether or not the politicians have.

Dr Wong Chin Huat is a political scientist and former lecturer of Monash University (Malaysia campus).

 

Entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia

Posted: 09 Nov 2012 10:53 AM PST

Careful with the green shoots.

Starting your own business may not end you up a datuk 

The reality is that most new businesses employ existing technologies and create no new technologies at all. Although so much entrepreneurship literature focuses on high-tech start-ups, these types of firms are only a very small percentage of new firm start-ups. 

Are Asian policymakers fooled by the hype that entrepreneur development creates economic growth? 

Murray Hunter, Asia Sentinel 

Throughout Southeast Asia, attempts by governments to promote the creation of entrepreneurs have almost unquestionably been regarded as a policy instrument for promoting economic growth. But reality doesn't support the image. Creating new entrepreneurs may actually be dampening economic growth, a far sight from the creative economies many governments aspire to develop.

The data in most developing Southeast Asian countries just doesn't seem to support this. The truth of the matter may be very different. While lightning strikes people figuratively about as often as it strikes literally, entrepreneurship can be more aptly described as a narrative about survival and subsistence than growth and glory. Are Asian policymakers fooled by the hype that entrepreneur development creates economic growth? 

Entrepreneurship: Open a Kedai Kopi 
On the ground across Southeast Asia, very little innovation can actually be seen. The majority of new SMEs do not create any new innovation and as a consequence do not contribute to economic growth. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), a body founded by Babson College and the London Business School, has found that the majority of new enterprise start-ups occur within the service and retail industries. 

It appears that very few people actually formally scan the environment for opportunities. If people did, they would not start up in industries with high competition and low profit margins, as the majority do. In fact most people have a natural inclination to imitate others, employing no innovation whatsoever – witness for instance entire streets made up of shops selling exactly the same things side by side, an odd phenomenon in Asian cities. Witness any beach in Asia where an entrepreneur opens a string of tourist huts, only to see a half-dozen just like it sprout up, driving down the price for beachgoers and cluttering the landscape.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Thailand Executive Report indicates that most such ventures are small and focus on the consumer service sector in retailing, restaurants, and personal services, such as health and beauty services. As with the rest of the region, these businesses are the prime source of income of most entrepreneurs and operated for the purpose of earning a living. Local entrepreneurs select an activity that is very locally oriented, suggesting that they are opportunistic in the limited sense of the word. There is little, if any value created. 

Few Rocket Scientists
The reality is that most new businesses employ existing technologies and create no new technologies at all. Although so much entrepreneurship literature focuses on high-tech start-ups, these types of firms are only a very small percentage of new firm start-ups. 

Entrepreneurship creates less employment than many people think. From data provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2011 Global Report it can be seen that less than 2 percent of firms in most countries expect to provide more than 20 jobs, about the same percentage 5–19 jobs, with the overwhelming majority of firms expecting to employ between 0–4 people. This is strongly supported by SME data in Malaysia where almost 80 percent of firms in the country are self employed micro-enterprises, employing no one outside the family. An additional 19 percent of existing enterprises employ less than 4 persons per enterprise, indicating the SMEs actually contribute little to the growth in employment. 

According to another piece of research most entrepreneur incomes are lower than what they would earn working for someone else, with less benefits, and longer hours of work. This is logical given that most entrepreneurial ventures enter into highly fragmented, localized markets, with no source of competitive advantage. 

Not only is the average entrepreneur earning less than his or her salaried counterparts, income is spasmodic, varying from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year. There is a good chance that a person and his or her family will drop down into a lower socioeconomic group during their tenure as an entrepreneur. In the region many owner operator firms are seen as part of the marginal or informal economy. 

There is also little chance that an entrepreneur will be able to sell his or her business and make any substantial capital gain. Therefore many Southeast Asian countries over the next few years will face the problem of how to support elderly populations with little means to survive. On the whole, starting a business will make a person and their family relatively worse off than if they were working for someone else. 

Read more at: http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4962&Itemid=224

 

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

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