Malay Dilemma and Mamakutty

Malay Dilemma and Mamakutty

Khoo Kay Peng

Dr Mahathir Mohamad suggested today that future government leaders could open the immigration floodgates to dilute the number of Malays in the country. The fixation about being a majority race is a necessity for Malaysia's racial politics.

Mahathir should take note of brain drain too which has helped to maintain the proportion. It is a fact that Malaysia needs both: retaining brains and attracting talents from abroad. Nations and societies are opening up to good quality people.

Malaysia's inability to move up the economic value chain is directly contributed by our inability to train good people (weak education system) and losing brains. How can the government help to raise income per capita if most of our workers cannot command higher salary due to a lack of skills and expertise?

Dr Mahathir expressed concern that the majority of Malays were not prepared to compete and would end up as labourers and chauffeurs. He should partly shoulder the blame for not being able to help the Malays to build capacity and enhance their knowledge.

Mahathir was too preoccupied with creating a crony class of super rich Malays. These artificial businessmen were not taught how to compete and to hold on to their instant wealth and share equity. Most of them used their newly found riches on luxuries including celebrity wives and expensive cars.

It is an irony for Mahathir to continue thumping his chest now and claim that the Malays are not ready to compete. With the likes of Perkasa and Mahathir, the Malays will not learn how to compete and will continue to rely falsely on perpetual 'protection' from the government.

The question is how long can the government continue to protect the Malays?

Can the Malays depend on the government which has failed them for more than 40 years?