2008年3月19日 星期三

这不是大马能,这是大马笨!

我国被他人批评 "这不是大马能,这是大马笨!"

"这不是马来西亚能,这是马来西亚笨!" (That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh")

就在巫统全国代表大会进入第二天时,一名著名国际评论人向巫统大会的种族主义火焰大泼冷水,批评马来西亚政府挥霍浪费、人民目光短浅,为了国内种族之间的财富分配闹得不可开交,却不知道国际上的竞争已经把马来西亚越抛越远。

专门研究亚洲政治经济的国际畅销作家与评论人迈克贝曼 ( Michael Backman),于本月 15日在澳洲《时代报》专栏撰写一篇题为《当马来西亚在瞎搞的时候,机会已经逐渐枯竭》 (While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry),对大马提出尖锐的批评。


以面值计算股权不合理
《当》文一开始就批评大马再次陷入长达 40 年的马来人与华人财富分配争议,"虽然种族与财富之间的关系对国民团结是重要的,但目前应该是马来西亚长大的时候了 "。

日前由亚洲策略与领导研究院 ( ASLI) 旗下的公共政策中心( CPPS)所进行的一项研究显示,大马土著企业股权占有率已达致 45 巴仙。此研究报告立即引起各方的讨论,政府坚称土著企业股权占有率只有 18.9 %。

迈克批评,政府以股权面值 ( par value )而不是市值 ( market value)来计算股权占有率的方式是不合理的。

《当》文在结论时表示, "是时候前进了,为没有石油后的经济未雨绸缪,但是,大马政府却象一心想送太空人进入太空,虽然这笔经费可以用来建设学校、使用毫无透明度的数据来争辩财富分配更有兴趣 " 。

"这不是马来西亚能,这是马来西亚笨!"


世上最浪费资源的国家
该文列举国油双峰塔、大马首位太空人、滥用国油资金拯救银行、建立一级方程式赛车跑道和布城等例子指出,大马是世上其中一个最浪费资源的国家。

"大马人对国油双峰塔感到无比骄傲,只有天知道为什么。双峰塔和他们毫无关系,建造双峰塔的资金来自人民,但是工程合约却交给韩国公司,就连底层的购物中心也不是大马人经营的,那是由澳洲 Westfield 集团所经营。"

"科学与工艺部长表示, 2020 年登上月球是下一个目标...... 为什么马大要使用其他国家的太空计划,就好象搭德士一样?完全没有明显的技术益处,当然大马人会再次受告知,他们 "能" (boleh ) ,但问题是,他们不 "能 ",因为那不是他们自己的计划。"

迈克表示,大马根本无法负担这么多的开销, 因为大马的石油储藏量将会在约 19 年内耗尽,而且大马将在 2011年成为石油净入口国 。


大马人夜郎自大,虚张声势
他也批评大马人的夜郎自满心态, "多数大马人以为世界的眼光都聚集在他们的国家,以及他们的国家领导人是世界知名人士,这都拜大马听话的媒体和前首相马哈迪的虚张声势 "。

"事实是,伦敦或纽约街头上,只有极少数人可以指出马来西亚的地图上的位置,说出首相或首都名字的人更少。"

迈克曾撰写数本讨论亚洲经济政治的书籍,并获得国际社会的高度评价。其畅销书《亚洲日蚀:揭开亚洲商业的黑暗面》更获得泰国前首相他信形容为 "每个泰国人都应该阅读的书籍 " 。


政治领袖犯错,沉默人民要负责
《当》文刊出的两天后,迈克在其个人网页上发表了一项给大马读者的短讯,指《当》文获得热烈的回应,他接获数百封来自马来西亚内外的电邮,其中 95%都支持文章内容。

他强调,自己提出的是 "建设性批评", "我是直接与具有批判性的,我不要隐藏我的批评,因为我不要浪费你或读者的时间来尝试猜测我真正的意思 "。

"对于所有具活力的现代国家,公开辩论是非常关键的,自由流动的看法和资讯让国家丰饶。无论在英国、澳洲或大马,政治领袖都不能自己完成所有的事情,他们需要帮助,不然他们将会犯错。当他们犯错时,是谁的错?那些选择沉默的人士? "


上太空示范儿童游戏太幼稚
迈克表示,他并没有否定大马的成就,例如大马的政治成熟度与媒体自由都比新加坡来得高,以及大马人较具有企业家精神。他也指出,新经济政策对大马的国家建设来说是重要的,虽然种族之间没有很多的交往,但是彼此之间却能互相尊重, "这是很大的成就"。

"不过,我的专栏所表达的,是浪费,以及明显地错误使用数据。大马有严重的透明度问题,没有说明人民的金钱花费在什么地方。对于一个开发国家来说,大马的警察也太过贪腐。 " " 大马数代的儿童,也缺乏可以教导他们创意与批判思考的教育制度,这才是一个真正现代、"能"的国家所需要的。"

他也非议政府决定让太空人在太空示范大马传统儿童游戏的作法,指这个举动只有让大马在世人眼中显得幼稚,忽略大马其他的成就。

"每一天世界都在改变,变得越来越精明、具有竞争力与动力,但是太多的大马人似乎无法了解这点。"

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry

Michael Backman
November 15, 2006
The Age, Australia

MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns. It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's time Malaysia grew up.

It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get on with the job of creating it.

The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but at par value.

Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.

" Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia 's national catch cry. It translates to " Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.
This all happens in the context of Malaysia 's grossly inflated sense of its place in the world.

Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to Malaysia 's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or capital city.
As if to make this point, a recent episode of The Simpsons features a newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place called Kuala Lumpur . He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.

Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in neighbouring Indonesia . But in some respects, this is Malaysia 's problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to underwrite all manner of excess.

The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes the Twin Towers , the tallest buildings in the world when they were built, which was their point.

It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur — there wasn't.

Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies.
They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's handled by Australia 's Westfield .
Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3 million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers.

The Science and Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh".

The trouble is, they're not. It's not their space program.
Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490 million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather".
But the summer Olympics are held in the summer.
So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a clue.
Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford.
Why? Because Malaysia 's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years away.

So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad.

It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).

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