The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 08:15 PM PST 14 FEB ― Dalam satu kenyataan terakhir Dr Mahathir Mohamad menyebut kira-kira, PAS mahu berpecah dengan DAP dan dalam perkara yang sama Setiausaha Agung PAS, Mustapa Ali pula berkata, PAS tetap bersama DAP. Dengan kenyataan Dr Mahathir bererti dia telah berputus asa untuk memecahkan PAS dan DAP. Dan dengan penegasan Mustapa itu bererti, tak usah buat apa, PAS tidak akan tinggalkan DAP sebagaimana yang dikehendaki oleh Dr Mahathir dan Umno. Semahu-mahu Dr Mahathir, biarlah PAS tinggalkan DAP terutama menjelang PRU13 ini dengan alasan konon supaya kesucian perjuangan PAS dapat dipelihara. Jika dengan tujuan itu apakah Umno pula sedia tinggalkan MCA dan MIC demi kesucian perjuangan Melayunya. Jika PAS tidak berani meninggalkan DAP demi muslihat politiknya, maka orang PAS juga boleh bertanya, beranikah Umno meninggalkan MCA demi musllihat dan kesucian perjuangan Melayu seperti yang didakwanya? Mati-mati Umno tidak berani meninggalkan MCA dan Gerakan sekalipun kedua parti Cina komponan Barisan Nasional itu sudah tinggal nyawa-nyawa ikan. Dapat ditelah jika Umno berani meninggnalkan MCA, nescaya putuslah nyawanya. Hidup Umno dulu, sekarang dan selama-lamanya adalah atas bantuan hayat MCA. Kalau MCA tidak lagi mahu bersama Umno, matilah Umno. Wakik politik Malaysia hari ini, penerusan politik masing-masing bergantung kepada keupayaan mereka bermuafakat dengan parti-parti lain yang mewakili kelompok masing-masing. Yang idealnya ialah supaya setiap parti itu menjadi pertubuhan berbagai kaum seperti PKR. Tetapi setakat ini belum ada parti seperti it u yang berjaya. Di peringkat yang terakhir ini, PKR dalam peringkat percubaan dan PAS sedang mencuba membawa semua kaum bergabung dengannya melalui sayap Dewan Perhimpunan Penyokongnya. DAP, Gerakan dan PPP mencuba sejak awal untuk menjadi parti semua kaum tetapi ia belum berjaya. DAP dan Gerakan menonjol parti yang disertai majoriti Cina dan PPP menjadi parti orang India juga. Sementara percubaan PAS dan PKR mencapai sasaran menjadi parti semua kaum, maka muafakat parti mewakili kelompok masing-masing seperti yang Umno dan MCA buat adalah praktikal. Atas realiti atau wakik inilah maka PAS dan DAP meraikan kehendak zaman berpakat dengan PKR dalam Pakatan Rakyat. Apa tujuan dan impian masing-masing biarkanlah dan lantaklah asal masyarakat berbagai kaum rasa seronok dan selesa untuk bersama. PAS dan DAP merasa amat selesa dengan apa yang nikmatinya bersama PKR sekarang, maka apa orang lain nak kata. Biar berbuih mulut orang Umno cuba menghalang tidur sebantal PAS dan DAP, tidak sedikit pun mereka hiraukan, hingga nanti kering air liur orang Umno, lalu ia pun diam. Dengan nada cakap Dr Mahathir tentang PAS tidak akan berpecah dengan DAP adalah tanda air liur orang Umno mula kering. Berapa lama ia hendak memperleceh kerjasama PAS dan DAP biarlah sehingga lalu. Dan bila PAS dan DAP berjaya membuktikan setiakawannya selepas Putrajaya dibebaskan nanti, nescaya Umno pun tidak bercakap lagi. Berapa lama pula PAS dan DAP hendak terus bersama? Selagi ia mahu dan lalu dan selagi mereka percaya dan mempercayai. Dan jika mereka juga tiba ke peringkat tidak percaya dan mempercayai seperti Umno dan MCA sekarang, maka mereka pun jadi macam Umno dan MCA jugalah. Tetapi DAP, PAS dan PKR mesti bekerja menjadi muafakat yang endless possibilities. * Ini adalah pandangan peribadi penulis |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:37 PM PST FEB 14 — My neighbourhood grocery is manned by a local nursing graduate. Located in the rougher end of the residential area, the store is frequented, among others, by UN-managed Myanmar Christian refugees, cross-sections of African communities, Indonesian contract workers living out of abandoned shoplots, and Malaysians. Su is a single 24-year-old on minimum wage. She feels the future is stark as the search for a job in the industry she was trained for is made difficult by graduates from her college not being employers' preferred choice and hirers tempted by the option of cheap foreign nurses. Su's student loan is a growing burden as the RM60,000 she owes for that degree is turning out to be her own little inferno. She is not alone; she is part of the most despairing group in the country at present, the annual output from local universities who are increasingly without jobs, with temporary government jobs or ending up as blue-collar workers — cashiers or restaurant servers. In the coming general election, equally with education and healthcare as key decision points, voters should examine the jobs situation here at home. All together, not nitpicking Any discussion about jobs does revolve around the unemployment rate. However, an appraisal predicated only on that stat can mislead, plus, rarely does it on its own offer insight of what lies ahead. Same as with GDP growth, an increasing pie does not translate to an equal or just carving up of the said pie. The discourse must extend to the quality of the jobs, the promises they hold and the benefits they offer. Then a broader overview of the economic structure of the economy, for job projections and sustainability assessments are constructed from what industries exist, continue to exist and new industries to emerge. It veers to education and immigration, and yes, corruption. The employment burden That the average salary of those in the oil and gas industry is RM7,500, and that of those not in it being a fifth at RM1,500, tells an alarming story. The government's obsession for decades to stunt unemployed rates has led to creativity rather than creation. The civil service being overstaffed has been retold to death, but that reality operates side by side with government-linked companies (GLCs) presumably under instructions to retain large number of staff despite strenuously outsourcing work. This is not to blame one industry for being profitable, it is profitable anywhere, but for the other industries or sectors to be not showing enough productivity per worker when divided by the bloated staff numbers. Perhaps the way forward is to strengthen the ability of medium-sized companies which are lither and have the capacity to grow the respective industries, like information technology. Stronger SMEs are prone to hire young, reduce the layers of hierarchy and open doors to equity sharing. Government has to symbolically move away from the ethos that size is quality, as seen by the fixation with large projects and large companies. This is important, because it is time to transform the thinking that employment is a burden for the established order and shift to a think that the right allocation of human resource will lead the charge for smaller but more robust organisations. The US rethink US President Barack Obama made two pledges in regards to jobs in the wealthiest nation in the world. He said that his administration will go after the jobs that have left stateside for cheaper destinations and second, turn the country into a producer of new economy jobs. The American worker, Obama asserted, may not match the wage rates in Honduras but the American worker can produce better products efficiently which gives a cost-value rationalisation that is second to none. It is about marrying logistics, local inventiveness, work pride and automation to reinvent the thinking that manufacturing jobs are tied only to searching for places that do it for less. In the second more dreamy but grounded opinion on the new economy, he tied it to education, the continued conviction that a meaningful education rich with science and technology will prepare a generation capable of envisioning the industries of tomorrow, and therefore the jobs of tomorrow too. There is much take-home value for Malaysia in this regard. MCA president Chua Soi Lek, leading the chorus call to use policy tools to avert the minimum wage on businesses, missed the cue, that the raising of wages can be the trigger to force Malaysian firms to increase efficiency. Malaysia has often fashioned itself to become more of a higher value manufacturer like Singapore, but in order to be that, then the country has to present clear ideas on which particular industries it can do this and how the state will support it to become sustainable. This may be the harder objective to meet, irrespective of which coalition wins at the polls. The second might be easier, with the help of migration. Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, is a permanent resident of Singapore and has renounced his US citizenship. While there is a coterie of tax-related issues to the decision, Singapore is not unique in offering these benefits. The thing is, Malaysia is a tropical paradise, multicultural and a tourist hub. The allure of settling down in Malaysia is always tempting. In an increasingly borderless world where business is a matter of clicks, the choice of abode can be entirely personal. But more than just reeling in retirees in limited-access programmes, so that they spend most of their life savings here, there is the opportunity to get those building their wealth to be based in Malaysia. Their businesses will generate jobs, and even support industries. This is where Malaysia has a permanent advantage over the Koreas and Argentinas of the globe. However the laws are prohibitive, altering them encroaches on touchy subjects. Laws of ownership without Bumiputera requirements and fair access to permanent residency leading to citizenship without the threat of expulsion on a whim. While menial workers from regional countries are seen as a zero-sum game as they reduce job openings for locals and not create jobs, the star migrant from an increasingly open and accepting Malaysia will lead to jobs for others, and even full-blown industries. Get them talking about it Theoretically, in the hands of 222 newly-elected parliamentarians lay completely the policies to affect jobs in Malaysia. For too long those decisions have been made by just key members of the Cabinet and every other Malaysian is clueless until the next slew of rules is belted out. This election season all the candidates would have social media to share their message. It is up to the electorate to goad them into explaining their thoughts and ideas on the matter. As for Su, today is another day scanning barcodes and selling cheap nasi campur. Docked outside the shrinking middle class as wages are dwarfed by rising costs, she is even further disadvantage for she is unfortunately a non-voter. It has to rely on others standing in her boat to consider for her in the coming election. If enough of her generation feel there is too little being done to give them the right type of jobs through the appropriate policies, those governing may need to look for jobs after the 13th general election. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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