gary L.;
I agree with your assessment comparing Malaysia to Thailand and Indonesia to a certain extent. I also happen to think that Malaysia could recover quickly given the right scenarios. In today's paper Anwar has stipulated that the relaxation on non Bumi ownership will be a "permanent" policy now and I applaud their decision to do so.
With re: to the following:
<<The Malaysian system really works -- transportation, telecommunications, legal & civil order, business, political stability, good housing, electricity, civic responsibility, education, medical services, etc. The standards of all these systems are among the best in the world! This is no third world! Life is good there. >>
I wouldn't be ready to declare the systems you mention as being among the best in the world. I could bore you with details but you need to realize that much of Asia and most of the Western world have systems of water, electrical, telecommunications, education, health & safety, and government services that are substantially higher caliber then in Malaysia. In addition civil order and political stability here comes at a price that some might consider too dear. There is still a very active Internal Security Act and special police force here. Among other things the government threatened to use these draconian laws during the bad haze problems last year when they sensed that tourism was being so adversely affected. Their targets were newspeople and college professors that had been consulted on the problem and subsequently voiced their opinions in the press. These professors were ordered to shut up. CNN was also villified (but maybe rightfully so, who knows)in public statements and possibly threatened with local sanctions (such was reported but never verified).
As to the systems themselves, we are currently under 12 hour on / 36 off water rationing in spite of early warnings. Again, I could recite to you instance after instance of difficulties with telephone, electrical, and government bureaucracy problems that exceed any I experienced anywhere else. So there is room for much improvement. It is sad that the economic problems will likely set back the pace of improvements here and that the leadership seems to act more with personal agendas in mind. (Not that we do not see that in the west <G>) The improvements here have been remarkable. We can only hope for more to come. I think it will happen. There is a broad distribution of determination, hard work mindedness, and ability to sacrifice here that far surpasses anything I have seen in the west. It is much like, I imagine, the U.S. was in the pre WWII days of American history.
best,
Stitch |
