Koon Yew Yin 26 July 2020
During the last general election, I campaigned and donated money to each of the component party of Pakatan Harapan to win the election. The BN Government was in control since 1957 when Malaya got independence from the British. I was so happy to see the corrupted BN government was finally kicked out especially Dr Mahathir became the Prime Minister again, Lim Guan Eng was appointed Finance Minister and my neighbour Kulasekaran appointed Human Resource Minister. Dr Mahathir was once my business partner in MBMR before he became a politician.
Malaysia’s first transfer of power in six decades was hailed as a milestone for transparency, free speech and racial tolerance in the multi-ethnic Southeast Asian state. Two years later the young coalition collapsed amid an all-too-familiar mix of political intrigue and horse trading that stems in part from an entrenched system of affirmative-action policies that critics say fosters cronyism and identity-based politics. The political upheaval has brought back elements of the old regime into a shaky new government, which is confronted with public discontent over a weakening economy hobbled further by the coronavirus pandemic.
Two veteran politicians, Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, pulled off a shocking election victory in 2018 that ousted then-Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was enmeshed in a massive money-laundering scandal linked to the state investment firm 1MDB. Mahathir, now 94, became prime minister again (he held the post from 1981 to 2003), with the understanding that he would hand over to Anwar at some point.
Delays in setting a date — as well as policy disputes within the unwieldy coalition — led to tension that boiled over in late February. Mahathir abruptly stepped down and became interim prime minister. He then sought to strengthen his hand by forming a unity government outside party politics. But the king pre-empted his efforts on March 1 by naming Mahathir’s erstwhile right-hand man, Muhyiddin Yassin, as Malaysia’s eighth prime minister since independence from the U.K. in 1957. Mahathir now wants to introduce a no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin in parliament, although it’s unclear when or if Mahathir would have enough support to win. Malaysian Parliament Session ended without No-Confidence Vote on Prime Minister.
The following photos are worth a thousand words.
Front door or back door PM does not make any difference make any difference to our economy because all of them wants to promote Malay rights. In 1970 when the new economic or Bumiputra policy was introduced our GDP per capita was the same as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. Currently, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea is 4 times, 3 times and 2.5 times ours respectively. They all became developed nations and we are still not classified as developed nation. All these countries do not even have timber to build their houses. At one time Malaysia was the biggest Tin, Rubber and Palm Oil producer in the world. Moreover, we have petroleum. Why???
Although I have a lot more to say, I should not because the last time I posted my article to criticise our bloated civil service I was nearly arrested. I was grilled by the police in Jelapang police station for 2.5 hours. I said record shows Malaysia has the most civil servant per capita in the world. We have 1.6 million civil servants. 1 civil servant for 19 citizens.