I blame the NEP.

Melayu malas? I think that is a fallacy. Laziness is the flip side of lack of motivation; it is not genetic. I worked with one Malay friend, Rahman was his name. He spoke fluent Hokkien as well as English, and was very good and successful at his job in engineering sales. He was adopted by a Chinese family, so was brought up with Chinese work ethics. But I also have lots of Malay friends who are just as clever and hard working as the next person, so I don’t accept that Malays are by nature lazy or in any way inferior. I blame the NEP. The NEP could have helped the rural Malays by encouraging and assisting them with education, but it took the concept of “special privileges” too far, and it morphed into the concept of “Ketuanan” as a consequence. So we end up now with many poorly educated Malays who are on the one hand reliant on government and political hand outs and at the same time (rather perversely) consider themselves superior because he is Malay. The NEP is responsible for shaping the mindsets of many Malays and the culture of dependency. Combined with the warped racial politics of Malaysia, the NEP has also encouraged and facilitated corruption that has led to one scandal after another of a scale that has made Malaysia internationally infamous. The NEP should have focussed on motivating the poor, regardless of race and religion and rewards and career advancements should be on merits, not race or politics. Transparency and accountability in politics and the public sector should be the norm, not the exception. We might then have a very different and much more successful and harmonious Malaysia today. How can we save Malaysia? I have 3 modest suggestions: 1. End special privileges and criminalise any discriminatory practices based on race or religion. 2. Ban all political parties that are based on racial or religious lines - no more UMNO, MCA, MIC or PAS. 3. Empower and preserve the independence of the judiciary. With time, meritocracy, transparency and accountability will hopefully return to make us a proud nation again. BP