theSun, Malaysia
December 16th, 2010
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” must be high on the lie barometer. The tongue has got to be the most vicious weapon. A careless word does sting and now we know what some people think of us – thanks to Wikileaks . But is it a surprise? There’s an old saying about how if we all knew what others thought of us, there would be no two friends left in the world. Though the question remains- is this really a surprise?
On our side of the causeway, we’re told to focus on our achievements and ignore snide remarks while Singapore attempts damage control trying to cover multiple elephants with a tissue paper. In a few days or weeks, the scenario might be reversed- who’s to say? And Singapore might be the ones sending us a protest note.
I do however like the high road we’re told to take especially since we’ve fallen two spots on the Human Development Index (HDI) and now sit quite comfortably on the 57th place while our not so favourable neighbour is 30 countries ahead of us at the 27th spot in a whole different category named ‘very high human development’. So let’s focus on our achievements and not theirs.
The HDI now in its 20th year, started with the quote ‘people are the real wealth of a nation’. We in Malaysia have over 27 million people in our country according to the World Bank but for some Malaysians, it is not the number of people but their level of patriotism that ultimately matters. Perhaps the HDI should have carried out studies on patriotism just like in Malaysia to be doubly sure that the wealth is legitimate. Ironically, just last month the comment questioning the level of patriotism was met with disdain and within a month there’s been a 180 degree change citing studies and a 9% jump. How is patriotism even measured? And we wonder why our neighbours see us as simpletons.
Maybe we’re confused about patriotism because history textbooks are being meddled with . If we ourselves aren’t sure about our history, about who is responsible for what and where we’ve all come from, it’s no wonder that patriotism is being questioned.
But back to the HDI. Three new indices were included in this year’s report Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index , however, Malaysia did not have the necessary data available according to the Economic Planning Unit.
In order to focus on our achievements, we need to know where we are and pan out a strategy to get us to where we are to be. If developed status is what we are after, should we not be most concerned about poverty levels in our country and gender inequality instead of patriotism levels so that we know what needs to be done for the poor and the marginalised? We are only as rich as the poorest among us.
The fundamental truth about development has to do with people, not patriotism, tall towers or how Malaysians abroad give our country a bad name. Development is about people and how well we look after them. If we care about the people and invest in the people, allow creativity and not limit talent we then head in the right direction.
On a recent trip to Johor, a friend lamented as we looked across to the other side, “Amazing how just on the other side, they got it right”. One has to wonder, why we are still playing catch up to a country that shared our history and if there is some truth in what was leaked about Malaysia. Giving credit where it is due, Singapore has done well and we only have ourselves to blame for our bad press. Instead of just focusing on our achievements, we should take this as a wake up call to stay focused on our 2020 goal and so not dwell on what has been said.
It is good to know where we stand but we cannot stop people from speaking ill of us. Retaliating never looks good. The best revenge is to be successful and we have ten years. Just ten years to achieve what we’ve set out to do.
Natalie wonders how patriotism is measured while untangling the Christmas tree lights! Merry Christmas!
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
