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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Abdullah – Right Man, Right Time

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Indeed, Abdullah seems to believe that the state of malaise may also to some extent, be at the root of the problem of corruption especially among low income groups, who because of the lack of marketable skills, often see no way to improve themselves and therefore will be more vulnerable to accepting bribes.

Dr Collin Abraham

Any analysis of the unprecedented and unexpected landslide election victory of the Barisan Nasional (BN), even at this early stage, must surely recognize that its leader Abdullah Ahmad Badawi appears to have 'got it right'.

In other words, the 'thinking' behind the political strategy of 'going to the rakyat' for an early fresh mandate was correctly understood and accordingly decisively implemented. As such, there was no room for political compromise.

Abdullah’s message during the election campaign called for support from all Malaysians. It was a straightforward message of hope for the future. He promised a new social order based on the fundamental premise that since the nation belongs to all its citizens, it is up to Malaysians to commit themselves to further consolidate what has been achieved and to forge ahead. The role of government was merely to set the stage for this to happen.

The electorate, particularly first time and younger voters, reached out and grabbed this offer for a brave new world because they saw no other way to improve the quality of their lives. They also recognized that this may be the last time they had the option of voting to make it happen. To them it was an opportunity that implicitly offered promise, not unlike the bringing down of the Berlin Wall.

The wall of Islamic fundamentalism and dogma was made out to be something that was out of touch with the social reality of the need to move on in a modern, progressive, and dynamic knowledge-based global society. This theme was particularly portrayed on national and international TV screens. Indeed, this was not the time to stand behind this ‘wall’ of fundamentalism and dogma and wail, but rather to bring down the wall itself.

The singular defining dimension of the BN campaign therefore was brilliantly encapsulated within the greater election debate on the place and role of political Islam in the context of development. Put simply, referring to the PAS claim that only those subscribing to Islamic fundamentalism would go to heaven, Abdullah, an Islamic scholar himself, responded that he wanted Muslims both to enjoy life on earth as well as prepare for the afterlife.

Moderate Islam

Essentially Abdullah’s message was clear. He espoused a moderate brand of Islam in backing a reform agenda for the benefit of all Malaysians irrespective of religious identity. Indeed, he had always argued that moderate Islam was compatible with development and predicted that another US$7 billion would flow into local equity markets if he scored a big victory.

At the international level, fund managers had further endorsed similar sentiments. Accordingly, it was reported by a capital fund analyst that: "This victory of moderate and progressive Islam is also positive for regional stability with the improvement in relations between Singapore and Malaysia expected to continue".

As the newly-elected prime minister therefore, Abdullah will now have the unique opportunity to prove to the international community that Malaysia can accommodate radical and rapid social changes to sustain the political and social climate for good governance, political stability, economic prosperity, and above all religious harmony in a multiracial and multi-religious country by projecting the modern, progressive and compassionate face of Islam.

But to achieve this objective, he will first have to identify and dismantle many constitutional provisions and structural constraints that have become entrenched in the political system since political independence

Government policies

While it can be anticipated that there may not be much in the way of basic changes in government policies in the short term, Abdullah will want to fine-tune many existing policies within the framework of ensuring their more effective implementation. In the formulation and implementation of new policies, he will have to take into account the demands of a more educated and better informed populace, and his government will therefore need to ensure that these policies are relevant to adequately meet the rising expectations and aspirations of this new generation as well.

In this connection, one of the first steps would be to seriously consider the appointment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry for a complete review of the seriously declining quality of public university education in the country over the past few decades. Indeed, in realistic terms, such a review may also have to extend to the primary and secondary education systems.

This move is absolutely essential if the government’s determined effort to stimulate and to develop a knowledge-based society through unfettered access to information is to open and expand minds to embrace new ideas, philosophies and ideologies. Abdullah has to recognise that while the government must guard and insulate society from modes of thinking that might undermine nation-building efforts, at the same time it must be receptive to constitutional and institutional social reforms to enable the generation of new ideas to strengthen the institutions of governance and sustain political stability.

This is particularly important because Abdullah believes that the country should be internally strong in the first place, to successfully withstand the wrath of the leading developed countries when their ideology of ‘free men and free markets’ as the ultimate goal of human development is challenged by developing countries.

Abdullah is on record as rejecting this ideology in its absolute sense because Malaysia cannot conform to such a liberal dogma that is tantamount to chaining the government and the people to “one path of development, one model of democracy and one form of culture. Malaysia will not even be allowed to question its (the model's) applicability to our situation”. Therefore Abdullah will ensure that Malaysia must first unshackle itself from dogma particularly because we are a multiracial and multicultural society and need to forge ahead on our own steam.

However, he has already made it clear that the driving force behind his new policies would be within the framework of Vision 2020. This is because its nine strategic challenges clearly stipulate the goals of a holistic, progressive and modern society, rooted in all that is uniquely and eminently Malaysian.

Abdullah will want to formulate and implement the Vision as one that, while pushing the country towards development and prosperity, at the same time sees this advancement being harmonised and tempered within the Islamic principles of social justice and human values of compassion in all government policies across the board.

Abdullah has pointed out that he will persistently work towards making Malaysia a fully developed country by 2020. But he says that not all the pre-conditions for this to happen are in place yet. For instance, the county is greatly dependent on the global economy and therefore exposed to the extreme volatility and unpredictability of international market forces.

Bangsa Malaysia

At the national level and more significantly, directly within Vision 2020 itself, the aim to create a Bangsa Malaysia has to face the reality that the children of different races are growing up apart from each other, within a society that is increasingly becoming racially and more recently, religiously, polarized.

Abdullah wants to create a robust and mature liberal democracy but there are increasing signs of political inclusion and exclusion between and among groups and indeed intolerance in the manifestation of religious extremism.

Also the high incidence of social ills particularly among the Malay community in both urban and rural communities demands very serious and early attention. It would be impossible to generate, let alone sustain continuing national economic growth, in a situation where Malays are severely socially disadvantaged and unable to compete on a level playing field especially under the pressure of political and economic globalization.

Therefore as prime minister, Abdullah will certainly want to give priority to consolidating the role of the government in engaging and involving the people, particularly the working classes, more directly in proactive deliberations as stakeholders in policy formulation and more importantly, implementation. This strategy will be different from the existing practice of entrenched exclusive institutional political elitist domination in the decision-making process.

In particular, Abdullah has indicated that he will give priority to the 'grievances that are be-devilling the people'. He has given the assurance that the ‘voices of discontent, whenever they are raised will be heard’. Accordingly, it would seem that he would direct the government machinery towards problem-solving and where appropriate, spearhead reforms. But equally, and perhaps more importantly, he would also make it a point to explain and share with the people the problems that the government itself faces in trying to implement programmes. In this way he would hope to get the support of the people in building a relationship of trust and in developing a more meaningful social contract particularly through grassroots institutions.

Abdullah is also on record as intending to deal with the overall negative social climate of an inertia that is seriously jeopardising the implementation and its success of both the public and private sector programmes, which has manifested itself in a state of malaise. To overcome this problem, he will want to see a change of mindset whereby employers, employees and workers, are seen as equal stakeholders. This will ensure a new regimen of thinking among these groups that in turn, will reduce the power distance between senior management, middle management and shop floor levels and more importantly, work towards the creation of a level playing field.

Abdullah has also expressed confidence that such a structural role change would generate a new kind of motivation for individuals to want to gain access to the knowledge base and to acquire ICT skills, because this in itself will provide the pathway towards rewards based on excellence and merit.

Indeed, Abdullah seems to believe that the state of malaise may also to some extent, be at the root of the problem of corruption especially among low income groups, who because of the lack of marketable skills, often see no way to improve themselves and therefore will be more vulnerable to accepting bribes. Therefore he believes that at least one way to overcome the problem of malaise and corruption is for the government itself to realistically provide facilities for individuals and groups to empower themselves with knowledge, skills, and the self-confidence with the objective of being in a better position to take control of their destinies and improve their lot in life. In this connection, he believes that an appropriate motto would be the proclamation of Vision 2020 as a response to providing for “diverse voices, new skills, new opportunities, and challenging futures”.

Paradigm shift

More importantly, as prime minister, Abdullah can be expected to orchestrate an overall paradigm shift across the board from 'top-bottom' to 'bottom-top' strategies. In particular, he has stressed the need to revitalise the agricultural sector which will encompass not only the rural sector per se, but also the corporate sector and the smaller-scale business sectors in both rural and urban areas as well. For this, one absolutely critical pre-requisite must be a comprehensive nationwide land reform programme.

Indeed this is all the more important and necessary because this has never been done before, at least not along the lines being suggested.

Abdullah will want to implement this 'bottom-top' paradigm shift because a comprehensive change in generating new thinking in mindsets at the local level based on 'hands-on experience' is an essential pre-requisite to meeting the challenges of political, economic and social globalisation. This can best be achieved through greater public participation, involvement and sharing in the decision-making and implementation process across the board.

Therefore Abdullah can be expected to emphasize that what the country is up against in the context of globalization, is essentially global capitalism, and its attendant aggressive competitiveness, and the most effective way to combat this force is to subject the globalization process itself to greater national social control. Indeed, the more recent literature on this question calls for developing countries to meet the globalization challenge through what has been termed ‘localization' in the first place.

At the same time, Abdullah has indicated the need to review measures to reduce the high dependency of the economy on international market forces by a paradigm shift to give priority in the development of the domestic economic fundamentals. There is far too much reliance on the production requirements for the high tech export-oriented industries, precipitating the need to introduce structural and fiscal policies to re-direct foreign direct investments to the domestic economy. This is absolutely crucial because countries like China and India are already absorbing an alarmingly high proportion of foreign direct investments, literally at the expense of other countries in the region, and if the current investment trends are not reversed it is only a matter of time before the economies of smaller countries, including Malaysia, become unsustainable.

Abdullah has made reference to the vast natural resources of Malaysia and has called specifically for heavy investments in the development of new industries such as biotechnology and other agro-based industries. Also previously as foreign minister, he had repeatedly called on ASEAN counties to invest within the region on a ‘win-win’ basis. But here again, there has been the tendency to limit investments to the high tech industries for short-term high profits, without investing in longer-term more sustainable indigenous industries. For instance, Singapore as Malaysia's largest investor has not been encouraged to invest in industries where there is great potential such as in biotechnology.

Abdullah has also directed the re-structuring of the economy to attract foreign investments in both downstream and upstream activities in the rubber and oil palm industries. This hardly needs emphasis considering that both historically, and in contemporary terms, these industries have remained as 'stunted' industries at home while in the industrialised countries that import these raw materials to manufacture the finished products, these industries became growth industries and the said countries made phenomenal profits in the process.

Finally, it would be a fitting conclusion to recognise that one of the major reasons for Malaysia's success as a nation since independence is that it has been blessed with the right leader at the right time. From what has been said, Abdullah as the fifth Prime Minister is not only the right man at the right time, but also the leader to take Malaysia to even greater heights.

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