DEC 1 — When at a duty-free zone, you have to buy. No matter how broke you are — and I was then very broke — there is an unbearable shame leaving the facility without buying anything. In that instance I was at the hyperstores inside the Clark Freeport Zone, Luzon in the Philippines just before the millennium.
In the spirit of keeping up with the times I bought then what seemed a bargain. Coffee nuts, very cheap coffee nuts. Not coffee beans, you can't make a drink from these nuts, you just have to munch them.
The bargain was, when you buy one pack, you get five packs free. One pack was cheap enough, but getting five other packs free gave me a buzz. I was shopper extraordinaire.
Of course that feeling fades rapidly when you try to actually eat the nuts. I've never opened the other five "free" packs, and if other purchasers felt as bitter in the mouth as I did then, there must be tonnes of those free "packs" in a long forgotten landfill.
Those packs remind me of the Najib administration's reform zeal in politics and economy. It was on full display, with the rushed passing of the Peaceful Assembly Bill two days ago.
Ask me anything, as long as I don't need it
It must have started with a meeting, as most things do in Malaysia. A meeting after "jamuan pagi" ("morning tea", over here tea is a full-on meal) of course.
The prime minister would have asked the young men in the room (they are always young and male) how to tackle the need to reform without Barisan Nasional (BN) risking one vote come election day. Of course in the world of reasonable persons it would not have seemed a ridiculous request.
The nature of reform is about moving away from how things are done, therefore, reforms by definition upset people. They would not be reforms otherwise. If it was easy and effortless, it would have been done a long time ago.
It is like saying white landowners were pleased by the redistribution of their plantation lands to their former slaves during America's post-civil war reconstruction period. That they thought aloud: "How splendid, why did we not think of that before?" And walked on with peace in their hearts.
Of course, to clarify matters, reform cannot just be confrontational, just for shock value. It has to be planned, managed and done in stages that the bitter pill can be swallowed over time, and the need to shock does not overwhelm the actual need to see the process through. To its functional end.
A reform is successful when a generation later, looking back, most people would be of the consensus that it was the right thing to do.
But as they say, this is Malaysia (TIM, my friend).
Rather than slog to an equitable and progressive proposal, the young men in the nice conference room have to stay true to type; promise what they can afford to give (free coffee nuts, anybody?), and set out to manage perception (language, terminology, public relations blitz, media overdrive, etc).
Between the excitement of giving stuff and the streams of consultant speaks drowsing them to new heights, they feel a sense of national service — before they head off for the buffet lunch at the five-star hotel.
They reckoned since people were upset about the old laws, giving them new laws will ease the pressure on government. So let's have a slew of new laws, and repeal the old ones.
But hold on to your seats, they want the new laws to do exactly what the old law did, perhaps a bit more if possible. No point enacting laws that don't help your side stay in power, is there?
They are perplexed that people are upset despite them being given new laws with new names. Didn't Abdullah Ahmad Badawi end corruption with a single mighty swing of turning the Anti-Corruption Agency to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission?
Malaysians are just not grateful, they'd sigh.
Going sideways, never forward
Which is why all the initiatives by the Najib administration are heading to frustrating stalemates of little consequence.
The world is indeed in rapid change in the last two years, nations have all been served notice. An unwillingness to face their respective demons will lead to dangerous outcomes, primarily to those in power.
The world has become a daily classroom. There are examples of where genuine reform is leading to promise and confidence. There are other situations where promises become continuing resolutions, and false starts, and those tricks have been quickly recognised and the bluff called. And then those sticking to their guns finding themselves more and more isolated.
The prime minister is at a pivotal point of his tenure. He can join a global chorus or gamble that as ever Malaysia will operate in a vacuum and above all the norms elsewhere.
Surely Najib knows that the right to assembly means groups will find assistance from the police to exercise their democratic rights, without a minister deciding if they are acceptable.
Certainly he understands that real suffrage is to let all citizens vote, even if they are not in the country, and to protect the sacrosanct one person-one vote rule use indelible ink.
Undoubtedly the prime minister is privy to the dictum that without fair wages — which minimum wage at least begins to address — in a rich nation like ours (his minister just concluded yesterday that 79.5 per cent of Malaysian households earn RM3,000 or less, meaning four out of five families have it tough) most people live lesser lives. It is much better than in various parts of the world, but sir can you first shut up the loudmouths around you and consider how cruel this is for a rich Malaysia?
Economic reform must mean the reduction of all the hidden costs burdening hardworking business owners which in turn disallow them from rewarding their employees appropriately. It must end the era of a whole class of people who prosper without actual labour, accumulating wealth on the backs of everyone else who works.
Some businesses which are run very badly must be allowed to fall on their own silliness. Government is the referee of fair business, not the determiner of the next millionaire.
When government funds are not just about helping people with personal ties to politicians, then economic possibilities will open up for thousands of unknown Malaysians.
With most families earning and having so little disposable income, they are left depending on public schools to cope with a globalised world and free healthcare to stay healthy whether at work, school or play.
For sure the prime minister knows these expectations better than me. He has known these for a long time. He is just no better than the young men hired to come up with pretty plans. They just can't shake the disease of a feudal class. To want things without paying for them, and when a payment must absolutely be made, passing the bill to the peasants.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
Full content generated by Get Full RSS. 
The Malaysian Insider :: Food
PARIS, Dec 1 – Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi got a celluloid reincarnation yesterday when a movie version of her life by "Fifth Element" and "The Big Blue" director Luc Besson was released in France.
KUALA LUMPUR, 1 Dis – PKR mendakwa polis bertindak membersihkan imej bagi pihak Umno ekoran kenyataan Timbalan Ketua Polis Negara Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar tiada unsur pecah amanah dalam skandal projek ternakan lembu Pusat Fidlot Kebangsaan (NFC) setakat ini.
