Commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
Is the MACC also suggesting that we increase the salaries of everyone in the country to reduce graft?.....
Read more: Corruption: The case for salary increases for elected representatives (and the MACC?)
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Read more: Unemployed graduates: Who prospers?
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Commentary by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee
Director , Center for Policy Initiatives
It is not only the weather but also our political climate that has gotten unbearably hazy. Youngsters who excel in their studies but have been deprived of opportunity might, rather worryingly, be misconstrued as questioning the sovereignty of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay rulers.
Some 17-year-olds with outstanding exam results have asked why they failed to get a Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) scholarship. Some 19-year-olds have asked why they were not admitted into the course of their choice in local public universities despite doing well. Little do they know that by asking these perplexing questions, they are viewed by some quarters as somehow challenging the entrenched interests of the Malays or engaged in potentially anti-national activities.
Read more: Scholarships: The Sultan of Perak disappoints again
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Continuing The Great Scholarship Debate
Repeated calls for transparency in JPA scholarship disbursement, and the inevitable national outcry yearly against its unfairness indicate that the ethnic disparity issue was not remedied until 2008 – or nearly twenty years after the NEP was supposed to have ended.
Read more: Scholarships and Perak, a microcosm of NEP success and failure
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Sep 29, 08 4:41pm
"In historical terms, a legacy is something that is handed down from one period of time to another period of time. A historical legacy can be a positive thing or a negative thing." -Wikipedia
In the next few days or weeks, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be wrestling with his conscience as he prepares to pass on the reins of leadership. He will especially be pondering on what he can leave as his legacy to the country and to the younger generation of Malaysians needing a bright torch to light the way through the difficult journey of nationhood ahead.
What will history, historians and future generations – in Malaysia and outside - remember the prime minister for – apart from being an intrinsically decent man but a vacillating leader whose efforts to lead the nation to greater accomplishments have been thwarted by an extraordinary combination of events and factors, some within his control but many beyond.
There is time yet for one decision that the Prime Minister can take so as to leave an indelible and positive mark in Malaysian history. One momentous action that can help to define his political and moral decency and courage - as well as the lasting legacy - that he may want to be remembered for: that is, of standing up for political justice and social tolerance in the most important moment when it counts.
This defining action? Freeing Raja Petra Kamarudin and all the other political detainees being held under the ISA.
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Editor's note:
As at 9.00PM September 29, 2008, the number of signatures to the Petition has topped 35,000. We thank all those who have responded positively and urge all others who have not signed up to do so immediately. I am sure the families of Raja Petra Kamarudin and all other ISA detainees will appreciate your support. Thank you. -- YL Chong
