1Malaysia: A review of concept, process & outcome
By: K.K.Tan (Fri, 10 Jul 2009)
ONE of the first things Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak did when he took over as prime minister was to announce his concept of 1Malaysia. He took great pains to publicise it and even created a special website for it. His aim was to reach out to as many people as possible, sending out a personalised e-mail to a long list of names.
The broad concept of 1Malaysia, based on the principle of “People First, Performance Now”, is to bring the country’s multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-religious people together as “one” to create a united, harmonious, strong and successful nation. It may be seen as his response to the dynamics and changes taking place in the country and the world today.
At the outset, the concept was loosely put forward and there was some confusion over what it really meant. Perhaps the prime minister wanted to get feedback from the rakyat of all ethnic background to help him craft and define the concept better.
The initial looseness in the concept had also allowed his critics to brush it aside as “wishy-washy”, “nothing new” or that it was in fact very similar to past concepts on national unity such as “Bangsa Malaysia” (by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) or “Rakyat Malaysia” (by MCA) or even the “Malaysian Malaysia” (by DAP).
But what these detractors missed perhaps is, for a start, the concept’s emphasis on the vision of “oneness” as a people and nation. The power of “oneness” and its simplicity seem to have a special appeal to many people. In view of both the ethnic diversity of the country and current racial discord, it is certainly an innovative and catchy way to drive home this point about the need for “oneness”.
Before we look at the process needed to achieve 1Malaysia, let’s examine the perceived intended outcome. The intermediate outcome is to have a united and harmonious society where all races treat each other as equals in the spirit of brotherhood. But without fairness, equality and mutual respect, it would be hard to achieve national unity or harmony, which is not an end by itself but an essential ingredient for our people to work efficiently together in order to increase the economic pie for all. Thus, the end game is to have a successful, wealthy and developed society with a great improvement in the standard of living and quality of life for all Malaysians.
The prime minister has recently said “there is no point in having a larger share of a shrinking pie”. He has made a strong case on the need for national unity in order to improve our (declining) competitiveness and increase our economic wealth.
The biggest challenge to 1Malaysia is how the prime minister allocates the resources and opportunities available and balances the needs and aspirations of the various communities and social classes. It would become a zero-sum game if the our wealth and resources are fixed and declining and we do nothing about it. But if we the people can unite and collectively recreate and re-engineer our society to greater prosperity and heights, it would be a win-win situation for all.
It may be too early to expect much outcome of 1Malaysia in Najib’s first 100 days. We can only see the direction he is heading based on the concrete decisions he has made so far. One positive result of the promotion of 1Malaysia is a greater openness to talk about racial issues in an honest and respectful manner and more readiness to give feedback to the authorities concerned.
As for the “process” needed to achieve 1Malaysia, there have been positive signs lately to show the prime minister is serious about it. The recent cabinet’s decision on child conversion case (although some issues still remain), liberalisation of the services sector, new scholarship scheme based solely on meritocracy and the latest decisions on the FIC and IPO rules are sending the right kind of signals to our people and investors that meritocracy is the way forward to drive our competitiveness and economic performance.
A glaring case is that foreign investments in the manufacturing sector for the first five months of this year amounted to RM4.2 billion while for the whole of last year it was RM46.1 billion. Surely this cannot only be due to the global economic downturn but some defects in our economic structure which need fixing.
The prime minister now has to ensure proper implementation of the new measures and policies। He has to ensure the civil service and his party give him the support and cooperation needed. The NEP was meant to address social inequality regardless of race but its implementation was flawed in many ways. The fact that only RM2 billion remain in Malay hands out of a total of RM54 billion worth of shares sold to Malays from 1985 to 2004 says a lot about its past implementation.
There are, however and ironically, three current factors working in the prime minister’s favour to get the support he needs. The severe economic recession (a shrinking pie), racial polarisation (undermining performance and quality of life) and the loss of public support for his ruling coalition since the last general election (and a stronger opposition alliance which also controls four states), should somehow compel his party and the civil service (which values stability) to support his recent decisions on restructuring the economy and society.
Internal opposition, resistance to change and even sabotage are serious obstacles that the prime minister has to deal with firmly and resolutely. He must personally monitor the implementation at the ground level and respond appropriately to public feedback. He must demonstrate clearly that he is taking ownership of these policy changes and he will brook no nonsense from anyone who tries to undermine them.
The prime minister has also shown how we can learn from Sarawak and Sabah which have diverse ethnicities and yet their harmony appears to be much better than that in Peninsular
If the prime minister wishes to hasten 1Malaysia into a reality, he should also look at:
» ensuring that any new affirmative policy must be strictly based on income and social class
(which would help a large majority of bumiputras anyway) and not race or ethnicity, and
» instituting broad anti-discrimination legislation to promote a more inclusive and united society consistent with 1Malaysia, so that no group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability or special needs would be wittingly or unwittingly, neglected or discriminated against.
The 1Malaysia initiative by the prime minister looks promising so far, the real acid test lies ahead in maintaining the momentum and implementation.
The writer, CEO of a think-tank and strategic consultancy firm based in
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