Harith Iskander

Competitiveness Why is Malaysia in decline? World Bank Economist Apurva attributes the leading cause to a lack of competitiveness. He is spot on. We have become a nation suffering from systemic mediocrity. Over the years, our leaders would not utter a single word where they would proclaim “merit “ and ability” high on their list of priorities. The first place competitiveness must reside is at public institutions. Look at our universities. Our public universities offer the same salaries to their lecturers and professors. Yet these universities provide a different route, with different standards, on how to be promoted. So, we may have thousands of PhD holders with varying qualities of scholarship but earning the same salary! How do our students excel and be competitive? When our top public servants, such as the Director General and the KSUs, are appointed, the govt does not tell us their qualifications and record of service. The civil service serves the public, and therefore, we should know about their appointment and removal. When the Director General of Tourism was removed recently, did the govt tell us why? No. They should because the removal may have been wrongly decided. It may not be in the public interest Top civil servants are crucial to the progress of the country. When they are competent, they can implement policies well. Yet, civil service operates behind a wall of secrecy, like in the days of the Shang dynasty. This has to change. When there is a wall of secrecy, good civil servants may be sidestepped or even removed. How do we protect civil service if it operates under such condition If the govt is serious about reforms, the civil service is one place where there should be competitiveness, and the policy of recruiting the best must be in place. The wall of secrecy about the runnings of the civil service must be broken down. Already, we are limited in recruiting the best politicians in the Cabinet because only the party people get the job, and they must be loyalists first. For that reason, it is so essential that the civil service be filled with those who can do the job. Otherwise, in thirty years, we will still be lamenting our lack of competitiveness in the country

The Renaissance Man - Anwar Ibrahim? Adzhar Ibrahim is a good writer. He writes regularly for FMT. You have to be that good to write for FMT Adzhar asks if there is a middle ground for Islam in Malaysia. The answer is a qualified no-no. Islam, the religion, has morphed into politics for the Malays. Politics is about power, and political Islam has been cultivated since 1980 with gusto. You could say that the climax of political Islam's ascension to power was when Anwar Ibrahim took office It took Christianity 500 years of internecine warfare between the Papal power(Catholics ) and the rest of the Christian faith for them to make peace with one another. Then, they decided to have a new beginning with the birth of the Renaissance. They decided to keep faith in the individuals to determine their beliefs and limit the power of the state to regulate beliefs. It will take the rivalry between groups of Muslims seeking political power in the country that much time before they make peace. But the question is whether the country can wait that long before it slowly disintegrates as a poor, mediocre country, surpassed by all our neighbours. The question is whether other Malaysians will wait that long before they migrate to more advanced countries where their skills and talents are required The middle ground will only happen by the implosion of the power of the clerics. But that’s not happening. There is no middle ground between those who believe they are righteous /the learned. There is no discourse possible among them. Today in Malaysia, there is no letting up from the competing sides to enlarge their armies of followers, religious department officials, NGOs, academics, etc. Our schools and universities have a large following of Islamist groups. The “moderates” can hope for the emergence of the middle ground, but there is no visible sign of that happening Is Anwar a Muslim moderate?? Can he lay the middle ground? Yes, he is if his speeches are any indication. However, the challenge from Malay groups with PAS leading the way is difficult to overcome. Anwar has to reform, not by speeches, but by actions, the whole education system. He must use the power of the mind to defeat extremism. Only reason and logic can create enough push for a renaissance awakening If Anwar resorts to more of the same approach- PAS clerics' interpretations of Islam are wrong( “jumud” ), then the rivalry will continue for the next 500 years. If Anwar is genuinely a “Renaissance Man”, then he must free the people to read books to encourage science and mathematics. He must not censor anything he disapproves of. He must not hide behind Sec 233 of the Multimedia Act, the Sedition Act. He must be willing to use RTM to organise debates on the most contentious issues. Is he trusting enough to let Malaysians free? That’s the key to the middle ground