Ethic versus ethnic

Har Wai Mun | Dec 12, 08 12:43pm
(Available at http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/94775)

They look the same, sound the same, but they are not the same. Correct! Correct! Correct! Ethic is different from ethnic but unfortunately, in Malaysia, the latter is misused to camouflage or even suppress the former.

MCPX

Some clear examples include the debate on the New Economic Policy (NEP). The opposition alliance is actually questioning the ethical reasoning behind the implementation of this policy and want it revised to benefit all, regardless of race, instead of an elite few.

However, many others are trying to divert the issue of ethics by bringing in the Malay supremacy issue.

Ethnic was also used to camouflage the rationale of Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim’s two suggestions, namely reserving 10 percent of places in UiTM for non-Bumiputera students and foreigners, and the appointment of Low Siew Moi as acting head of PKNS. Recent suggestions regarding education from various parties have been instantly met with an ethnic-sensitivity-roadblock without proper debate.

Negative effects of deteriorating ethical standards, results of political plays on ethnic and religious sensitivities, are ample and recent: Malaysia’s high ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index, the low ranking of local universities, alleged misbehaviour of some rescue personnel in the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide tragedy, a tarnished judicial system, the Lingam case, the resignation of Zaid Ibrahim and the proposed ‘toothless’ Malaysian Commission on Anti-Corruption (MCAC).

Despite the significant reduction in petrol prices and the looming economic crisis, prices of goods have not dropped. Materialistic attitude and greed seem to have successfully orchestrated an invisible consensus among local sellers to maintain higher prices as well as attract investors to continuously bet on the stock market and encourage the over commercialisation of the education sector in Malaysia.

Ethical standards in Malaysia have dropped to make way for the rule of might based on the power of politic and money. This situation needs to be reversed as soon possible.

I hope the process of healing the country can start with the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the restoration of a transparent, empowered judicial system. The quality of our academic system must also be improved, to educate Malaysians on the importance of ethics and the need to think beyond ethnic lines.

Malaysia-West Asia Relations and Foreign Direct Investment: Proposal for an Ummah Network based on Social Capital Concept

Har Wai Mun, Lam Zheng Ling & Liew Khai Yi

[UKM Institute of West Asian Studies national conference on "Malaysia-West Asia relations: Prospect and challenges" on 1st -2nd December 2008]

Abstract
Research on foreign direct investment (FDI) often ignores the psychology aspect of relationship. The role of relationship is embedded in Bourdieu’s social capital, believing that networking and friendship could be valuable factors for attracting business. In macroeconomic context, international relations could be an important determinant in attracting foreign investment. Manifestations of this conceptualization are guanxi and “Bamboo network” in Chinese business culture. Applying to Malaysia international relations with Islamic countries of West Asia, an “Ummah network” can be established to enable win-win situation in investment decision. This is in contrast with the rational behaviour of profit maximization motive of the classic school of thought. In reality, foreign investors with higher degree of negotiation power may seek maximum incentives at the expanse of the welfare of the host country, thus evaporating any possibility of win-win outcome. Given close relationship between Malaysia and Islamic countries of West Asia through Islam brotherhood and membership of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Malaysia is in the best position to utilize its social capital to attract mutually beneficial FDI rather than giving excessive incentive to profit maximization oriented investors. Furthermore, growing tension and suspicion between Western world and Islamic countries strengthen Malaysia’s position to build up long term investment relationship with West Asian countries. Hence, this paper aims to explore potential mutually beneficial Malaysia-West Asia partnership through the perspective of social capital networking with the focus on foreign investment. The ultimate objective of this paper is to propose a framework for the establishment of a relationship-based “Ummah network” between Malaysia and West Asia.

[Full paper and presentation slides available at: http://www.harwaimun.com/presentation.html]

S.H.E. vs Nameewee and multilingualism

Har Wai Mun | Nov 28, 08 4:00pm

(Available at: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/93932)

I refer to the Malaysiakini report “Namewee in a new video controversy”.

Recently, we were presented an example of Newton’s Laws of Motion (Third Law) with regard to Mandarin language and particularly in referring to Nameewee’s (Wee Meng Chee) latest controversial video clip.

According to Newton, ‘to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction’. In social science dialectic, one may rephrase this theory as ‘on one hand...on the other hand’.

Back to Nameewee’s video clip, he seems portray Mandarin language as of ‘no value’ when compared to English in Malaysia. This is in complete contrast with one of S.H.E’s (a Taiwanese female band) songs entitled ‘Mandarin (Chinese) Language’.

In their song, S.H.E. claim that ‘among the different people of the world with different skin colours, hair, nationalities and tastes, the Mandarin language is the most popular choice’.

It continues: ‘The whole world is learning Mandarin’ because ‘Mandarin is being more and more globalised’ and therefore, ‘this (Mandarin) language we (Chinese) speak makes all other people listen seriously’. Mandarin in the S.H.E. song is a marvelous and valuable language.

The equal and opposite reaction to the S.H.E song is Nameewee’s video, portraying Mandarin language as ‘shameful’ and ‘useless’. In his video clip, knowing Mandarin without mastering English mean it is hard to get employment in the urban areas.

Being told to balik kampung actually juxtaposes Mandarin as a village language to English as an urban language in the Malaysian context.

Attention should also be paid to the issue of the over- domination of the English language in both as the medium of instruction in Malaysian colleges and for employment until Mandarin-speaking Malaysians are isolated and discriminated.

Besides Mandarin, Malaysians should also do a reality check on the survival of the Malay language as well as other minority languages. I have regularly been getting responses in English from even Malay speakers despite the fact that I spoke to them in Bahasa Melayu.

This reflects a choice to speak in English, which is an early symptom of the extinction of a language.

One should realise that language is a hidden resource to unlock knowledge, bridge differences (particularly due to mis-communication), to foster relationships for social harmony or business and to reflect on human civilisation (as in a Malay saying, bahasa jiwa bangsa).

Hence, multiracial Malaysia should encourage multilingualism to blossom but not over-emphasisie on a particular language be it the English or the Malay language.

Neither should we politicise or threaten any expression of dissatisfaction due to language matters, but debate them constructively.

Complication of mankind’s destiny in all aspects has created a spectrum of colours between black and white. S.H.E.’s song and Nameewee’s video (Mandarin and English) could represent the opposite ends while our debate (other languages) could fill up the in-between with variety.

Rising crime rate in Malaysia?

Crime is part of the “3C” factor that played a role in the Barisan Nasional government’s moral defeat in the 12th Malaysian General Election in March 2008 (Lim & Har 2008). Prior to that, an opinion pool commissioned by The Star newspaper in December 2007 reported that the three most concerned issues to Malaysian are cost of living (as claimed by 96% of the respondents), followed crime rate (88%) and illegal immigrants (40%) (Zulkifli Abd Rahman & Florence A. Samy 2008). On crime, Malaysians generally have not satisfied with the crime rate. Statistics from the Royal Malaysia Police are summarized in Table 1. As per Table 1, total crimes, rape and property crime accelerate in year 2006 and 2007. If year 2004, the year of the prior 11th general election is used as yardstick, total crimes have increased 33.94%. Increase in rape cases is even more alarming at 84.92%. Perhaps, a laymen voter might not understand or have exact access of these statistics, but their fear of crime and their family members (especially the daughter) safety have been part and parcel of their life, hence further boiling their dissatisfaction towards the government.

Nevertheless, the eruption of dissatisfaction and fear on crime concerns in Malaysia could be due to few high profile crime cases involving brutality against women and children. Example of those cases include the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibu (body was allegedly blown up by military-grade explosives, case still pending hearing), Canny Ong (rapped, stabbed and then dumped into a manhole to be burned to dead on 14 Jun 2003), Nurin Jazlin Jazimin (8-year old, reported missing since 20 August 2007), Nurul Huda Abdul Ghani (10-year old, brutally raped and murdered, Jan 2004 case) and Sharlinie Mohd Nashar (five-year-old, reported missing on 9 Jan 2008). Besides, gang-rape cases also widely reported in Johor Baru, the capital city of Johor state. A series of rape cases in June 2007 particularly terrified the residents of Johor Baru. On 12 June 2007, three men raped a 19-year-old girl and forced her 22-year-old boyfriend to watch helplessly, after he had been slashed twice. The following day, a group of armed men took a couple on a terror ride before raping the 35-year-old woman in the presence of her friend, who was slashed. On 20 June 2007, a schoolgirl was raped by four men and another by a bogus policeman in two separate incidents within a six-hour period (The Star Online 2007 & Farik Zolkepli 2007).

Based on the annualized half year data (from January to June) for 2008, the crimes continue to increase but the year-to-year rate of increase seem slowed down significantly for all the three category of “total crime”, “rape” and “property crimes”. Annualized method is used due to unavailability of up-to-date figure on crime rate. Nevertheless, scenario for the second half of year 2008 could be greatly different from the first half of the year, with added hardship to living standard such as sharp increase of petrol price (despite being reduced significantly months later) and economic crisis looming. Hardship and crimes generally have positive relationship, hence not surprisingly that some qualitative news (including individual’s everyday experience and those reported in media) indeed pointed to a rising crime happening in Malaysia. The Star newspaper (24th November 2008) reported that Teratai assemblyman Jenice Lee marched peacefully with 40 other residents to the local police station to submit a memorandum on the rise in the number of crime incidents in the area, highlighting 50 recent cases the residents want the police to act on (Aziz 2008: M7). Another random example of crime cases, The Star Online (10th November 2008) reported that residents in the Jalan Dharma and Lebuhraya Bodhi areas in Penang are living in fear after thieves broke into three houses over the past three weeks.

Further on crime and police matter, a debatable case worth mentioned. Malaysiakini (Ghazali 2008) reported that on 16th Oct 2008, the Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar was mauled by the opposition when he revealed in Parliament that the police beat along the infamous Lorong Haji Taib ceased operations because its personnel were exposed to contagious diseases and safety risks. This was related to the closure of police beat in the notorious Chow Kit area in Kuala Lumpur, which the reasons are varied. Some versions claimed that the closure is “due to fear of criminals or health concerns” but the Home Minister later clarified that “the 'right' reason was that the owner of the building (police beat station) wanted to build shop houses in the area.”

Regardless of what had happened, prevention is better than cure. Hopefully, all parties from ordinary citizen (especially helpless children, students and golden citizens) to higher authority such as the police, Member of Parliament and Ministers responsibly play its part to fight crimes in Malaysia.

Reference:

Aziz, F. (2008). Rising crime rate in Ampang. The Star. 24th November: M7.

Farik Zolkepli. (2007). Two rape incidents in Johor Baru, just six hours apart. Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp? file=/2007/6/21/nation/18088466&sec=nation. Access date: 19 May 2008.

Ghazali, R. (2008). ‘Fear of thugs’ not behind police beat closure. Retrieved on 24 Nov 2008 from http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/92594.

Lim, K. H. & Har, W. M. (2008). “Political volcano” in 12th Malaysian General Election: Makkal Sakhti (People Power) against communal politics, “3Cs” and marginalization of Malaysian Indian. Journal of Politics and Law. Vol. 1(3): 84 – 101.

Malaysia Royal Police. (2008a). Jenayah indeks 2000 – 2004. Retrieved on 20 May 2008 from http://www.rmp.gov.my/statistics/statistic_content.cfm?tajuk=16.

Malaysia Royal Police. (2008b). Jenayah indeks 2005 – 2007. Retrieved on 20 May 2008 from http://www.rmp.gov.my/statistics/statistic_content.cfm?tajuk=17.

Malaysia Royal Police. (2008c). Jenayah indeks 2007 – 2008. Retrieved on 24 November 2008 from http://www.rmp.gov.my/#.

The Star Online. (2007). Trio rape girl after car chase. 13 June. Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/6/13/nation/18009628&sec=nation. Access date: 19 May 2008.

The Star Online. (2008). Residents fearful after break-ins. Retrieved on 24 Nov 2008 from http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/11/10/north/2469515&sec=north.

Zulkifli Abd Rahman & Florence A. Samy. (2008). Bread and butter matters. The Star. 12 February: 1 & 8.

Weathering the financial crisis: Malaysia rated among 'most risky'

[Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/11351-weathering-the-financial-crisis-malaysia-rated-among-most-risky]

SINGAPORE, Oct 29 - Malaysia is rated as "high risk" while Singapore is well-positioned to weather the economic slowdown because of its political and social stability, says Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy.

Its analysts ranked Singapore as having the least political and social risks next year among 16 territories in Asia-Pacific, according to a summary of its 87-page report released to the media yesterday. Malaysia, Thailand and India were ranked as the most risky because of internal developments.

The unlikelihood of sudden political changes, stable labour relations and sound policies, including measures to help the poor, were among the factors in Singapore's favour, said Perc's managing director, Robert Broadfoot.

"Singapore's fiscal situation is strong enough for the fiscal incentives that are going to help the country get over the crisis and spread the pain of recession," he said. Politically, he noted, Singapore has no election coming up and the Government would stay in power. In addition to crafting good policies to take Singapore through a recession, the Government's ability to implement them is a plus point.

Social stability is also expected, he said, because Singapore has "no insurrection movements, the labour situation is stable and more harmonious than most countries, and you don't have religious fundamentalist movements."

The report also concluded that despite external shocks, Singapore and Hong Kong will emerge stronger in their credibility as regional and international business centres.

Singapore's Government-backed institutions such as Temasek Holdings and the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) remain well-positioned to capitalise on opportunities that emerge in the region and globally in these times. Broadfoot said: "GIC and Temasek have assets and are liquid. Their brands are still quite good: Temasek has an image of a stable company and will be viewed as a preferred partner."

Hong Kong's ace in its pack is The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) coming through the crisis intact as one of the large remaining private banks in the world. The report found that while Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia could be hurt the most by the crisis, they were the most stable politically and socially.

On a scale of zero for the least risky to 10 for the most, Singapore scored 2.76, followed by Australia (2.9) and Hong Kong (3.23). Most risky are India (6.87), Thailand (6.28) and Malaysia (6.07). They are vulnerable not so much to the financial fallout but due to internal developments, the report added.

So, while India and China have been seen as engines of growth that will lift Asia out of a slowdown, the report warned of the external and internal troubles these countries will face.
China will have to contend with a drop in exports to the US, and deal with social instability arising from a widening income gap and a surge in unemployment.

India faces uncertainties over a general election due by May next year, rising communal violence and acts of terrorism.

The report predicted that a weakened US is likely to be less aggressive in pushing its views on other countries. This will put more responsibility on US allies like Singapore, Japan and Australia to take the lead in issues the US has previously fronted, such as countering terrorism.

Singapore Management University law professor Eugene Tan warned that Singapore still faces terrorist threats.

It is also uncertain how long the slowdown will last, he said, adding: "Race, language and religion are still fairly strong faultlines and the slowdown will make those faultlines more significant." - The Straits Times.

Politics of fear should stop

Har Wai Mun | Sep 16, 08 4:04pm

(Available at: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/89826)

The recent ISA arrests sparked shock, fear and concern in Malaysians but this politics of fear is not alien to us. Malaysians are now constantly being reminded of the May 1969 riots. That black incident in our shared history was linked to three issues, namely Ketuanan Melayu, the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the Islamic state. These issues in themselves shouldn’t pose any problems if they are not politicised and manipulated by unscrupulous politicians.

Acknowledging Malay dominance and Islam as the country’s official religion has never been a problem with Malaysians as together with this, the constitution also guarantees the right of every citizen to freedom.

Indeed, our muhibbah spirit helps to nurture a harmonic, multicultural Malaysian society that is the envy of many nations around the world.

However, ISA takes away our freedom and strikes fear into our society. Communal politics create unnecessary conflicts among ethnic groups, hence creating fear. No one should influence Malaysians to see differences as conflict. We should embrace difference (in ethnic, religion and ideology) in a spirit of tolerance and understanding.

Secondly, the NEP is not the only affirmative policy in the world. There is Black Economy Empowerment in Africa, the “Germany Eastern burden” after Germany’s reunification and the aboriginal empowerment program in Australia.

Why are there no problems in these countries when this issue is brought up for discussion but immediate protests over the NEP after the March General Elections? Was it another tactic by the government to keep the rakyat in line? It seems we can’t have a rational, educated discussion about the issue without the threat of ISA hanging over our heads.

Thirdly, the Islamic state issue is a favourite game of the BN. It enjoys pitting DAP and PKR against PAS. It also tailors its opinions on the matter according to its audience. For example, to a Chinese audience, BN works to strike fear by saying that if PAS takes over, it will set up an Islamic state and their freedom would be threatened. But in a Malay-Muslim setting like the Umno General Assembly, members go all out to play to the Malay gallery.

It is no secret that in the March General Election, Chinese and Indian voters were warned that if they voted for the opposition, their ‘voice in the government’ would be jeopardised. As for the Malays, they were told that if they supported the opposition, their rights could be jeopardised. Such blatant use of racism is sickening but the coalition still believes such tactics are valid. This only goes to show how out of touch the government is with the ordinary rakyat.

Malaysians have matured tremendously over the past four years, especially in political matters. The alternative media like blogs and Internet news sites have provided Malaysians with a refreshing new insight into Malaysian politics. Gone are the days where we depended solely on newspapers for our daily dose of politics. Indeed, mainstream newspapers are now facing the very real threat of becoming irrelevant in today’s new political landscape.

The beauty of Malaysians today is we can all sit down and discuss our issues like the adults we are. There is absolutely no place for the politics of fear in our society. The government should give the people more credit than to scare them with outdated, archaic mechanisms, whose ultimate goal is not to keep peace but to stifle freedom of speech. Hence, the draconian ISA must be abolished! Instead of resorting to this, the government might do better by listening to the rakyat and giving them a fair chance to express themselves without fear.

Academic freedom and the end of academia

Har Wai Mun | Sep 5, 08
(Available at: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/89169)

Apex University is the latest icon in Malaysia’s academic world, portraying great ambition and seriousness. But haven’t we already heard of ‘Smart Schools’, ‘Vision Schools’ and ‘Sports Schools’ before? All of these portrayed the same ambition and seriousness when they were launched years ago.

However, year by year, normal schools have out-smarted the Smart Schools in SPM and STPM examinations. The Vision School concept was the government’s effort to promote national unity but communal politics from the same government seems to be jeopardising its own efforts. We have yet to see any results from our Sport Schools either. So, will Apex University share the same destiny?

Without doubting Universiti Sains Malaysia’s credibility to win the status of Apex University, the first question is why must only one university be chosen? Why must we put all our eggs in one basket?

Instead, I believe it would have been better if the government outlined key performance indicators for universities where incentives and funding would be based on. This creates healthy competition, thus automatically accelerating progress towards excellence.

Giving special support and attention to only one university might not be fair to the other universities. In addition, the government might face huge embarrassment if the chosen Apex university is out-performed by the non-chosen ones.

Secondly, given the current scenario of limited freedom of speech and over commercialisation of the education sector in Malaysia, how can we achieve excellence in academia?
The lack of a thinking culture is getting more worrying and is becoming a major challenge to our academic society.

In Malaysia, exams act as a ‘quality control’ check on potential employees, starting from seven- year-old primary students to the fresh graduates in their early twenties.

As a result of heavy emphasis on examinations, the argumentative culture, which is needed for empowering thinking is being suppressed, hence causing the death of dialectics.

This situation is exaggerated by government suppression through various restrictions imposed on members of academia like laws such as the Universities and Universities Colleges Act (UUCA) and the Statutory Bodies Act, plus the need to have teaching permits for lecturers.

Over commercialisation has resulted in the mushrooming of colleges, universities or even private schools, thus overwhelmingly increasing the supply of education services.

Simple economic theory will tell that increase in supply (education institutions) without an increase in demand (students) will lead to a decrease in price (quality of education through lower entry requirements).

Over supply of graduates could also cause unemployment and underemployment. Professor Khoo Kay Kim has contrasted the situation in the millennium era with that of University Malaya's early days, when a mere 25 percent of its students who had come in as freshies would walk up the stage to receive their degrees on convocation day, four or five years later.

But now, the passing rate in the university is very high, exceeding 90 percent and this is even more apparent in private universities because failing the students mean alienating potential customers.

Besides that, Malaysia’s academic excellence is being threatened by career minded school teachers and university lecturers who view their academic posts as careers and assume academic activities as ‘teaching only’.

The worst is the assumption that an academic job is an easy job for a stable income. They will not bother or might even discourage others from conducting research.

On top of that, flexible working hours accorded by the institutions of higher education for research purposes are utilised by careerists to earn extra income from giving part-time tuition, selling unit trusts or partaking in direct selling.

Let us also not forget about a shocking effect from this market-driven education – the issue of "thesis outsourcing" in Malaysia. This issue made headlines in December 2007. It was reported that hundreds of master’s and PhD students in Malaysia were getting "professional thesis writers" to pen their thesis.

The Higher Education Ministry said it was aware of this, but as educational institutions were not complaining about it, little could be done to put a stop to this shameful practice.
Last but not least, administrative hegemony, that comes together with discrimination, would continue to derail Malaysian academics towards excellence regardless of what the government has planned.

Two prominent cases worth mentioning: Firstly, Prof KS Jomo, an internationally renowned Malaysian economist left University Malaya for the United Nations early this year to take up appointment of assistant secretary-general after "decades of frustration, discrimination and non-recognition of his academic and intellectual talents and qualities".

Jomo was never given any senior appointment, although many of his students have been made deans of faculty or heads of department. His application to be a senior professor was supported by three Nobel laureates as referees, but was rejected.

The second case is of Associate Prof Dr Edmund Terence Gomez, also from University Malaya. Despite being given strong verbal assurance by the university’s vice-chancellor, Gomez was initially denied a two-year leave of secondment to take up the prestigious research appointment as Project Manager at the Geneva-based United Nations Research Institute for Social Development to pioneer global research on racial conflict.

The university claimed it turned down the application because it needed the services of the lecturer.

In the two cases mentioned, international recognition for Jomo and Gomez should have been seen as an honour to the universities and their outstanding achievements should have been encouraged. Political or racial discrimination should not interfere and control academic freedom and fairness.

So, whither Malaysia’s academia? Could the Apex University programme save our education system from the end of academia? The whole education system should be re-evaluated and upgraded. Academic freedom and fairness should be guaranteed.

Failing to do so might resulted in Malaysians losing confidence in their own education system and therefore sending their children to international schools and foreign universities. There have been rumors that even our ministers are doing so. If this is true, what else can we say?

Oil Price Hike: Reuter’s Factbox & Anwar Ibrahim vs. Ahmad Shabery Public Debate

Oil price hike issue seems to extend its lifespan from prior to the 12th Malaysian General Election to the recently ended Permatang Pauh by-election. Here are some information on this issue – an extract of information from Reuters and a summary of arguments on Malaysian oil subsidy policy that mostly based on the Anwar Ibrahim versus Ahmad Shabery public debate.

Reuters’ Factbox: Why oil prices hit a record high?

Source: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/energy
Access date: 28 August 2008

Prices have rallied from a dip below $50 at the start of 2007 and this year have risen by around 40 percent from $95.98 a barrel at the end of last year. Adjusted for inflation, oil is well above the $101.70 peak hit in April 1980, according to the International Energy Agency, a year after the Iranian revolution. The balance of demand and supply is tight with daily demand of roughly 86 million barrels per day, almost the same level as daily supply.

The following are other major factors that have driven the oil market higher.

(1) Dollar weakness and funds

A combination of weaker performance in other asset classes and expectations of continued strength across the commodities complex has drawn in investors and speculative funds, providing further support for the market. An added incentive for them has been the weakness of the dollar against other major currencies, which makes dollar-denominated commodities relatively cheap. They are also seeking an inflation hedge, as commodities tend to rise when other asset classes fall.

(2) OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been at the forefront of those citing speculation and a weak dollar as the reason for higher prices, saying it is pumping enough oil to keep the market balanced. Saudi Arabia, the biggest OPEC producer, is expected to raise output close to 9.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in June up from around 9.1 million bpd in May. OPEC has not officially increased output since a meeting last September and has no plans to meet formally until September 9.

(3) Peak oil?

Some analysts have questioned whether OPEC is capable of raising its output significantly. The so-called pessimists have argued the world's oil supplies are at or near a peak. Optimists say there is still plenty more oil and improved technology will ensure it can be extracted from the ground, but a host of political issues has hindered production from many of the biggest reserve holders. Iraq's output has been disrupted by years of sanctions and then war. Sanctions have also limited exploration in Iran and violence has interrupted flows in Nigeria.
Adding to the difficulties of getting oil out of the ground, high prices have fuelled a trend for resource nationalism, or resource-holders seeking to keep the bulk of their natural wealth for themselves. The biggest OPEC producers already prohibit foreign operators from accessing their oil reserves. Non-OPEC Russia, the world's second biggest oil exporter, has also been limiting foreign involvement in its upstream while its output has stagnated.

(4) Demand

There is mounting evidence high prices have begun to erode demand, but continued growth in China and other emerging economies is expected to offset the impact of any fall in developed countries. While high taxes reduce demand in some developed economies, subsidies spur consumption in emerging economies. In the developed world, some governments are considering reducing taxes, while emerging economies, struggling with the growing burden of subsidies, have started to lift them.

(5) Refinery Bottlenecks

Even if there is plenty of crude to meet demand that does not mean there is an adequate supply of refined products, such as diesel and gasoline, as there is a lack of refining capacity. Faced with planning battles and reluctance to invest in the downstream sector, which is not always profitable, the world's biggest energy consumer the United States has not built a new refinery for decades.


Anwar vs. Ahmad Shabery public debate

The debate entitled ‘Form the government today, reduce fuel prices tomorrow’ was organized by news portal Agenda Daily and took place at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Kuala Lumpur at 8.30pm on 15th July 2008. The contents of the debate and other off-the-stage justifications from the government as well as counter-arguments from Anwar Ibrahim are summarized as below:

Government: Global oil price increase, thus increase the government’s financial burden to subsidize.

Counter-arguments: Malaysia is a net oil exporter. Thus, increase in oil price should be beneficial to Malaysia. Increase in net oil revenue could be channel towards domestic fuel subsidies.

Government: Fuel (petrol) price in other foreign countries are much higher. Examples are Norway and Finland. Hence, fuel in Malaysia is under-priced.

Counter-arguments: Those countries that have higher fuel price are non oil-exporting countries. Furthermore, theirs income per capita are much higher than Malaysia.

Government: Petronas already contributed much of its profit back to government for subsidies. Government could not take all of Petronas profit as the company needs retain profit for further development.

Counter-arguments: Repayment from Petronas is enough; only the usage of its repayment is questionable. Example is channeling government revenue to infrastructures and giving tax relief incentive for the benefit of industry players is actually another form of “subsidy”, but not to the poor but to the capitalist. Unnecessary projects and corruption cause leakage to the needed fund to subsidy for fuel. Deals with IPP also seen as leakage and benefit to capitalists rather than the poor citizen.

Government: Malaysia’s oil reserve will finished in near future. Therefore, government needs to have prudent saving from current oil revenue for the benefit of the future. Otherwise, a more shocking bigger fuel hike may happen once Malaysia turn from net oil exporter to net oil importer.

Counter-arguments: Those reports about exhaustion of Malaysia oil reserve are based on assumption that no other oil field would be found in Malaysia. Thus, if more new oil field found, Malaysia would still be net oil exporter. Furthermore, Petronas is currently exploring oil field overseas instead of locally. Petronas should be encouraged to continue doing so to prolong exhaustion of oil reserve in Malaysia. Investment returns from Petronas could also be another source of funds for fuel subsidies.

One World, One Dream: Whither Malaysia?

The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games finally came to a conclusion, offering few thoughts to the world and also to Malaysian. China topped the standings by winning the highest number of gold medals. This shows the world that the emerging of China as a potential superpower is not merely a dream or myth. Therefore, some Western powers lead by the United States shows sign of distress by “attacking” the credibility of China. Attacks started even before the bidding for this Olympic Games. China lost in its first attempt, believing that anti-China propaganda, particularly on human rights issues, did the damage to China. During the torch run, disturbance were everyway as sentiment over the issues of Tibet been fanned up non-stop in Western media. Some Western media have been criticizing host China since the opening ceremony. Criticisms included questioning China’s ethical behaviour over the issues of Lin Miaoke’s photogenic stand-in for the real singer, Yang Peiyi, China boasting their military might in the opening ceremony, alleged fake (recorded) live fireworks display, continuous voicing out on China’s human right abuse and accusation of China’s gymnast being underage. Perhaps, a clear jealousy over China success is the medal ranking – putting the United State as No. 1 by using the “total medals” as yardstick for ranking instead of ranking by number of gold medals is seen in various Western media. See Telegraph’s report that criticized US media on this issue. Anyway, all those criticisms as well as ranking method discrepancy may have their respective merits in this rhetoric-oriented world.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Final Medal Standings

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank by total
1	China	51	21	28	100	2
2	United States	36	38	36	110	1
3	Russian Fed	23	21	28	72	3
4	Great Britain	19	13	15	47	4
5	Germany	16	10	15	41	6
6	Australia	14	15	17	46	5
7	Korea	13	10	8	31	8
8	Japan	9	6	10	25	11
9	Italy	8	10	10	28	9
10	France	7	16	17	40	7
	Selected Asian countries
31	Mongolia	2	2	0	4	=44
31	Thailand	2	2	0	4	=44
33	DPR Korea	2	1	3	6	=30
39	Azerbaijan	1	2	4	7	=27
40	Uzbekistan	1	2	3	6	=30
42	Indonesia	1	1	3	5	=38
50	India	1	0	2	3	=51
51	Iran	1	0	1	2	=57
52	Bahrain	1	0	0	1	=69
65	Kyrgyzstan	0	1	1	2	=57
65	Tajikistan	0	1	1	2	=57
71	Malaysia	0	1	0	1	=69
71	Singapore	0	1	0	1	=69
71	Vietnam	0	1	0	1	=69
80	Chinese Taipei	0	0	4	4	=44
81	Afghanistan	0	0	1	1	=69

Source: Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at http://en.beijing2008.cn. [Note: Original link to respective countries medal intact for access to further information]

Compliments to host China are plenty as well. Quoting Reuters, “China basked in the glow of their 51st gold medal and got a clear thumbs-up from International Olympic Committee on the last day of the Games on Sunday…The hosts finished well clear atop the medals table with 15 more golds than the United States.” CNN reported “Grand fireworks and spectacular choreography brought to a close the Beijing Games Sunday as one of the most remarkable Olympics in recent history were declared at an end” while AFP wrote that “For China, the investment of more than 40 billion dollars on the Games reaped handsome rewards. They not only topped the gold medal count, but a near flawless organisation meant the controversies that marred the build-up largely slipped into the background.” AFP also quoted IOC President Jacques Rogge described the Games as “truly exceptional”. Rogge further elaborated that "more than 40 world records were set, more than 100 Olympic records, and of course we had the two icons of the Games, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt" say it all for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Picture source: Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Besides China, South Korea and Japan are the only Asian countries managed to be ranked among the top ten (by gold medals count). Another 16 more Asian countries managed to win at least a medal, including a silver achievement for Malaysia. But, the question is should Malaysia has won more medals? Relentlessly boasting its “dynamic” economic, why Malaysia seem so proud of merely winning a silver medal? Please do not compare with Singapore. Benchmarking towards a lower level of achievement is not a good culture for the country, indeed any country. One of the higher benchmarks that could inspire Malaysia is Jamaica. Jamaica won 6 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 2 bronze medals with Usain Bolt creating world records in men 100 meters, men 200 meters and men 4x100 meters rally. Even fellow Asians like Mongolia, Thailand and DPR Korea respectively have two gold medals.

From the opening and closing ceremony, host China gave emphasis on Chinese writing and system, including the arrangement of participating countries parade (that surprisingly seeing Australia delegations coming out at the end of the parade), the countdown and its President’s speech. If Olympic is held in Malaysia, will our national language, Bahasa Malaysia being emphasized and given priority over English? Not to dream of topping the medal standings like China, but when will Malaysia produce its first gold medallists and world record breakers? When will Malaysia have a world sport icon?

One world, one dream. Sports such as Olympic (and maybe Soccer World Cup) could bring all countries around the world to share a dream of sportsmanship. Regardless of triumph or disappointment, it would be good if the world could stop all conflicts (even for a short while) to savour the excitement of the Games peacefully. Nevertheless, dreams may be different again after the Games. When China is realizing its dream, the United States may begin to have nightmare of losing its superpower status. Meanwhile, Malaysia seems have not wake up from its sweet dream since long time ago. Hence, in four years time in London 2012 Olympic Games, whither Malaysia?

Reference:

AFP. 2008. Curtain down on 'truly exceptional' Beijing Games. Source: http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.eec675fb1ae4cc3ca249a6b0eb442603.101.html. Access date: 24 August 2008.

CNN. 2008. Grand spectacle closes Beijing's Olympics. Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/08/24/olympics.close/index.html. Access date: 24 August 2008.

Reuters. 2008. IOC says China Games leave positive legacy. Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=sportsNews&storyid=2008-08-24T094553Z_01_SP110934_RTRUKOC_0_US-OLYMPICS.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-R1-MostViewed-1. Access date: 24 August 2008.