by A

Subject: Re: BERNAMA – Forget The Origin Country, We Are Malaysians – Mahathir

On my way to London yesterday, I finished 3/4 of the book on the Maverick, my conclusion long before reading this book was; all of us , Malaysians ( my ancestors came from China to Malaysia more than 150 yrs ago) have been divided ( or screwed) by all these greedy and heartless politicians, whether they are from UMNO, MCA, Gerakan or MIC, and they are all the same. The wealth in the country should be shared by all of us, but UMNO started NEP, AP, MARA, etc etc to split us in the name of wealth distribution. But after 40 years since May 13 1969, what have we achieved? The govt still think that all the targets set under NEP have not been achieved? How could these be possible if 30pc of PLC shares must be allocated to bumiputras, Non-bumis not allowed to get APs, open new petrol stations, scholarships, all govt contracts must have Bumis equity, certain sectors of the businesses were not opened to non- bumis until the recent years but still tightly controlled, and Bumi controlled companies so as GLCs don’t have to hire non-bumis. So how could the nation be united, progress or the lastest favour of the day, 1Malaysia be successful if meritrocracy is not relevant in practice? And each day we become more suspicious of each other’s co-existance.

When I decided to move my family abroad and take up the CEO job managing a small MNC with revenue of USD2b and 20k employees in 4 countries, my UMNO and MCA friends said to me; how could you abandon your country and work in Spore? I told them to find me a GLC position and I don’t mind a loss making one for me to turnaround. A couple of them told me, they would look into it. More than 5 yrs had since passed, I received no reply, except every time when I met them, they would say, when are you coming back?

Pete and Jalil know me very well. For the rest to know, I am now managing China’s second largest fridge and freezer maker with more 3m units sales a year, China’s largest diesel engine producer with close to 500K diesel engines sold this year, plus the largest building materials supplier in Spore. Under me, one co is listed in NY, one in KLSE and three in Spore. Am I not qualified to manage a GLC?

Don’t get me wrong that I need a job, but to move abroad after 46 years, was quite a painful experience!

I would love to return to my home land, share my experiences and contribute my knowledge to the development of the country. But with all these greedy politicians (P) fighting for positions (P), leading them to power (P) and finally the big P – PROFIT; why should they place the rakyat’s interests above theirs? Look at the mess in MCA, and the 6 Indian parties fighting to exist, and investment for a seat in the UMNO supreme council. It is all about the big P, not the Malaysians.

How many of the current ministers are qualified or fit to manage a ministry? Managing a ministry is very similar to managing a business which involves in managing various resources, especially the huge financial resources allocated to the ministry for the benefits ( security and safety, environment, less toll, education) of the people who paid taxes ( in business is ROSF or dividend paid to the investors), for the poor to improve their livings, for national development on infrastructure to create future values hence sustainbility. But hardly any of them has any clue on what Human Resources or Financial Management are all about. They are too occupied with cutting ribbons, party meetings, overseas trips, identify contracts for pockets (the big P).

All these started with the Maverick’s 22 years in power. 1n 1986 I started with a salary of RM2400 working in a bank, bought a Nissan Sunny for 13k, and 4 years later bought a double storey terrace house in PJ for 120k. I sold the house in 1997 for 350k ( now probably worth 450k), and a 1300cc car easily costs 30K or more now, but today new graduates still get their starting pay of RM2000. What went wrong in our country?

As a Chinese origin, let me share with our fellow Malaysians, we are no threat to this country, economically or politically. We are the minorities, we don’t aspire to govern the country, even the opposition wins the next election, Prime Minister will still be a Malay. MCA is not relevant to us anymore. What have they done to protect us? So don’t listen to all the Politicians, that the Chinese are trying to grab power, Is this possible? We want a fair govt to treat us as Malaysians, and play no racial politics to divide all of US.

Look at the Airports and certain government buidlings, we have signages in Arabic and Japanese, but not in Chinese or Tamil. If you look at Renminbi (Chinese currency), there are 6 different languages printed on the notes to represent the 6 major races in China , although the Hans ( most the Malaysians Chinese are Han origins) easily constitue 90pc of Chinese population. Minorities are not respected in our homeland. In China , the one child policy is mandatory for the Hans, not the other minorities.

After 52 long years, it is time we give another political party a chance to govern. If we don’t change, there is Malaysia , but there will be no Malaysians! For our Children, our future, think about it.

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all of you. Thank you for your time.

The following is the Bernama report which inspired the above musings by another member of the Malaysian diaspora:

Forget The Origin Country, We Are Malaysians – Mahathir

PENANG, Dec 23 (Bernama) — Everyone in Malaysia have to set a side their origin country and start calling themselves Malaysians for the success of the 1Malaysia concept, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

The former prime minister said they had to put aside their origin country such as India or China and start calling themselves Malaysians.

“They must put aside their origin country and call themselves Malaysians for 1Malaysia to be successful,” he said during an appreciation dinner with the Association of Muslim Kadayanallur here Wednesday.

Tun Mahathir called on the people to help realise the government’s aspiration of strengthening racial unity and harmony in line with the 1Malaysia concept.

He said people in Thailand and Indonesia called themselves Thais and Indonesians respectively but this did not happen here.

To a claim that the Indian Muslims in the country had been neglected, he said they should choose to either become a Muslim or an Indian.

“The country is very liberal and I think they (Indian Muslims) will be accepted by all if they can pick either to become a Muslim or Indian.”.

Tun Mahathir said there was no difference between the various races as everyone were Malaysians.

“The federal constitution also defined a Muslim very clearly. If they want to become a Muslim then just follow the constitution.”

He said if Indian Muslims in the country still called themselves as such, others might think that they still had links to the origin country.

“The problem of Indian Muslims will be resolved if they can decide and choose to become either a Muslim or an Indian,” he added.

— BERNAMA