Posted by
wetbenang
at
Monday, June 12, 2006
STILL A NATIONAL AGENDA
Before anyone starts screaming murder, let me qualify that what follows is not a criticism against my own kaum. Instead, it is just an observation from an average Malaysian not quite familiar or learned about how certain agendas are supposed to work in his beloved country.
A few days ago, UMNO launched a one-stop agency set up to lend a helping hand to budding Malay entrepreneurs. It was named Gagasan Badan Ekonomi Melayu, or Gabem, for short.
The Prime Minister, who officiated the launch, was quoted by a local paper to have said: "Malays should help Malays and start a migration of the mind for a better life and to be more advanced. The struggle to strengthen the economy of the Malays is an economic mission that has to become a national mission and only after the (Malay) economy has been strengthened would the pride and honour of the Malays be more meaningful." He also said Malays must change their mindset and attitude to raise themselves to a higher level. "This can only be done when Malays adopt the approach of helping other Malays such as the rich helping the poor."
Right.
I looked up the word gagasan (which sounds like a big word to me) in a dictionary, which lists it to mean idea, plan, scheme, thought, reflection. So I did some reflecting of my own, wondering whether Gabem would really become a meaningful, implementable scheme or whether it would forever remain just an idea.
I don't know about you, but observation of past and current events tell me to place my bet on the latter. I live in a country where many ideas, policies, schemes etc have been put forward and implemented in the name of helping the less economically endowed ethnic majority. And Gabem is the latest.
The way I see it, such a gagasan would only serve a few people, and not the Malay masses and the riff raffs it is implied to assist. It would certainly make popular those young, impatient, power-hungry political leader-wannabes trying to endear and ingratiate themselves among the Malay masses. And if it does help, such a scheme would assist those few budding entrepreneurs to be more and more successful (ie make more money) only to lupa daratan and forget to be generous and share their wisdom, let alone their wealth, for the purpose of inspiring aspiring fellow entrepreneurs.
Let's face it. There has been, there is, a lot of those greedy kacang lupakan kulit types among our midst who are looking out only for themselves. Remember pre-1997/98 glory days? A handful of Malays were handpicked to run well-connected companies, in the name of helping the Malays. They made obscene amount of money. They shamelessly paraded their wealth, their lavish lifestyle, their (foreign) trophy wives. It seemed that this was all they did. The rich Malays helping the poor Malays? Na ah, no way. And their companies? Oh yeah, they ran them -- to the ground. And then they disappeared. In the end, there was no payback to no one.
As long as there are Malays with very narrow, self-serving agenda, no gagasan would ever work. So the dream of making the pride and honour of the Malays more meaningful (whatever that means) would just remain a dream.
I am a Malay. I come from very, very poor background. Our whole family -- particularly my mother -- worked hard, and honest, to get ourselves out of the poverty rut. We are not filthy rich now nor will we ever be. But the pride and honour we earned along the way mean more to us than any material wealth on earth.
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What's wrong kalau orang Melayu nak tolong orang Melayu? Isn't that what UMNO is all about, memperjuangkan bangsa Melayu?
Anonymous said...
5:02 PM
Yes. Betul. The question is, how many Malay people out there are they really helping?
wetbenang said...
5:03 PM
I read somewhere that the advisor of Gabem's working committee is Mohamad Khir Toyo (the S'gor MB), and chairperson is ex-Melaka CM Rahim Tamby Chik. Is this true?
Anonymous said...
3:50 PM
I believe so. I read about it in the papers as well. So, God help those poor Malays...
wetbenang said...
4:21 PM