The 50th Merdeka anniversary should be a celebration of the success of Malaysian nation-building after 50 years. Unfortunately, Malaysians are being given proof of of many things that have gone wrong with the nation — whether national unity, civil service efficiency, independence of the judiciary, the police, crime, anti-corruption, education, economic development and quality of education.
I will just give one instance of Malaysian nation-building which has gone wrong highlighted on the occasion of the 50th Merdeka anniversary.
In the 2008 Budget presentation, the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that as part of the effort to inculcate corporate social responsibility (CSR), all public-listed companies will be required from the financial year 2008 to disclose their employment composition by race and gender.
But has the government set a good example of responsibility with regard to ensuring a civil service which reflects the multi-racial composition of the country?
One of the objectives of the New Economic Policy when it was launched in 1970 as a 20-year programme was to ensure that there will be no identification of race with vocation and the government had specifically promised that it would set a good example with regard to the racial composition in the public service.
In 1970, the public service comprised some 60 per cent Malays and 40 per cent non-Malays. Today, the identification of race with the public sector has become more rather than less pronounced, with Malaysian Chinese and Indians falling from some 40 per cent over 35 years ago to less than 20 per cent at present.
For the first time in half a century, there is not a single Malaysian Chinese judge in the highest court of the land, the Federal Court — another sign that Malaysian nation-building has gone wrong.
Malaysians are entitled to know what is being done by the relevant authorities, including the Chief Justice, Tan Sri Ahmad Fairuz Shaikh Abdul Halim to rectify such a serious anomaly.
(Speech at the DAP Balakong Solidarity Dinner organized by DAP Taman Indah Branch, Cheras on Saturday, 29th September 2007 at 9 pm)