Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 4, 2018 - June 10, 2018

On the eve of Merdeka day in 1970, Tunku Abdul Rahman delivered his last speech as prime minister of Malaysia. The speech, which was nationally broadcast, came slightly over a year after the bloody riots of May 13, 1969, that saw hundreds of Malaysians killed.

It was a speech that was memorably poignant — an appeal to his fellow citizens that Malaysia was a blessed and diverse land, and where unity should never be taken for granted. “We are all Malaysians,” he proclaimed, “and this is the bond that unites us. Let us never allow disunity to disrupt us, for if we do, we will fall.”

Almost half a century since that speech, Malaysians of all ages, races, creed and colours came together and resoundingly chose unity over strife to commence one of the world’s most peaceful transitions of power, heralding a new dawn for our country.

The events of May 9 and subsequent days will go down in history as some of the most remarkable moments to shape the narrative of a new Malaysia. So much has already been written and said about the fascinating resolve of Malaysians, who sought for change peacefully through the ballot box. And while the voters are ultimately the heroes of this story, many other unsung players should also be rightfully celebrated, not least, the many patriots who have long fought against an institutionally-biased system, including the relentless journalists of this newspaper.

The Mahathir government has worked quickly and decisively to introduce much-needed reforms in key institutions, while attempting to instill calm and orderliness in the financial markets. Rightfully, the immediate priorities for core ministries are to deliver on the populist promises from the elections, including ordering rapid investigations into 1MDB and other mega corruption scandals, developing a robust and economically-sound plan to replace the Goods and Services Tax, and accelerating other interventions aimed at reducing the cost of living for the poorest among us.

Of course, change being the new normal in Malaysia, many pundits and overnight doyens have crafted their own open letters and contrived Facebook posts meant to draw attention to their well-meaning causes. Indeed, this is a strong signal that the new administration is at least perceived to be more approachable, and that expectations are high for big, fast results! While much has been said about the more discernable and urgent actions for this new government, the following are less popular, but no less important, social development challenges that I hope this new administration, founded on hope, will address:

 

Advancing the rights of the poorest Malaysian residents

At a dinner conversation with a politician who recently sought election for a rural seat, I heard first-hand about the dire situation in some of our poorest households in northern Malaysia. Through my work with non-profits, I have travelled to some of the poorer regions in the country, but I was taken aback by the detailed account of this politician’s harrowing experience. Households located barely a couple of hours away from major cities were dilapidated, with villagers having no immediate access to quality healthcare. Through his canvassing efforts, he encountered villagers with infected wounds, who cried and begged for an additional hundred ringgit to meet monthly financial obligations. In one instance, a victim of domestic abuse had enclosed herself in a makeshift cage to seek protection from her abusive husband.

While officially, Malaysia has nearly eradicated absolute poverty, the government should seek to view the nuances in formal numbers, and design effective public policy interventions, founded on the concept of human dignity, to serve our poorest across ethnicities, from the Tamils and Malays to the Orang Asli and low-income foreign communities. In our mad rush to be a developed country, we should remind ourselves that poverty does not discriminate. As has often been said, the greatness of any nation is often judged by how it treats its most marginalised communities.

 

Advancing the rights of the undocumented

From Tamil residents, child refugees, asylum seekers and illegal foreign workers to stateless children adopted by Malaysian parents, the undocumented community lives in the shadows of society, forgotten by the system that ought to assist and protect them. By some estimates, there are close to two million undocumented individuals in Malaysia, interwoven rather seamlessly in almost every aspect of life. For years, decisions affecting this community have been effectively ignored due to an absence of political representation or dividend, safe for the unyielding demands of human rights activists.

It is time our new government assists and protects all people who pass through our lands. We need to treat the undocumented with the dignity and rights that they deserve, from providing fair wages and access to our education and healthcare services to recognising, for some of them, their legal and moral right to exist as fellow citizens in our diverse Malaysia.

 

Protecting what remains of our rich biodiversity

While the agriculture and plantation sectors have been an engine for our economic growth over the past few decades, indiscriminate clearing of our centuries-old rainforests has gone unmonitored for many years. Illegal logging and blast fishing have wreaked untold damage on our unique, equatorial biodiversity, and the population of endangered species has significantly declined during our generation’s watch. It would do us good to remember that we are mere custodians of this blessed country’s flora and fauna.

A New Yorker cartoon, perhaps, best describes our future predicament should our attitudes toward the environment remain unchanged: sitting around a fire in a scorched wasteland, a man tells his three children, “Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time, we created a lot of value for shareholders.”

In that same speech by Tunku almost half a century ago, he declared, “A few of the well-to-do can simply pack up their belongings to escape if they wish to do so and find new lives in new lands. For the rest of us, here we live and here we must die.

So, while there is life, there is always hope for a bright and happy future for this country. It is for us to work for it. After all it is your Malaysia, and it belongs to all of you.”

I am certain that many Malaysians, especially from my generation, both domestically and abroad, are keen to see this new government succeed. In time, I hope the new government will devise platforms to engage and tap into this wealth of energy and experience that sits around the world.

The work to rebuild this almost new nation, “inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty”, will require all the help it can get. To that end, I wish Mahathir government 2.0 all the best. Godspeed Malaysia!


Keeran Sivarajah leads the Malaysia presence for Dalberg Advisors, a global strategy consulting firm that is working to build a more inclusive and sustainable world where all people, everywhere, can reach their fullest potential. He is also the co-founder and former CEO of Teach For Malaysia.

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