Endoh’s Dungeon

Singaporeans are still generally calm, while recent fuel price hikes fumed our Malaysian friends. It was anticipated because Malaysia had once again, chosen to point fingers at her neighbours instead of examining what has gone wrong with their governance. It is always hard for the Governments to take a step back and say, “We are sorry, we have been wrong.”

When the news first broke out, my thoughts weren’t about how much Singaporean motorists will have to pay for petrol in Malaysia. Simply, being close enough to top up petrol in Johor Bahru is a bonus, and should not be seen as a Rights of Singaporean motorist to enjoy the subsidies. How does cutting down on fuel subsidies help the Malaysian Government then?

I always feel Malaysia has been wasted, given the huge amount of resources several hundred times more than Singapore, they could well grow into the United States of Asia. Yet, when this little red dot progressed economically over the last few decades, Malaysia is “struggling” with the loss of potential revenues from all aspects.

1. Land
Land is Malaysia’s greatest asset, which Singapore is severely lacking in. Why shouldn’t Malaysia makes full use of it? Of course, Malaysia is heavily scattered with Oil Palm and Rubber plantations. They have been Malaysia’s key exports since… God’s knows when. If Malaysia can open up more land for advance industrialization, I am sure they will rip much more than Singapore has.

2. Speed
Malaysia’s speed of adapting is subjective. Some may feel she has done relatively well in the last 20 years, but perhaps for me, I feel it’s too slow. Opening up resources is one thing, but how quickly and appropriately we use these resources is another. If Malaysia wants to launch a serious challenge other than the petty nitpicking, they should really head back to the drawing board and spot where they’ve failed.

Coupled with land, who knows foreign establishments in Malaysia will be doubled? Or even tripled? If potential businesses are knocking on your doors and you “turn them away”, who can be blamed? The Malaysian citizens?

3. Law Enforcement
Let’s not talk about the world, let’s just keep it to “Singaporeans AND Malaysians” are aware of the atrocious crime rate and bribery in Malaysia. This is understandable in a way because Malaysia is such a huge country, and it will be difficult to control every bit of it. Perhaps, it will be a good idea to flush the entire system top-down and ridden the departments of corrupted officers. When I say flush, I seriously mean TOTAL FLUSH! If I have to replace 8 out of 10 officers in a single department due to corruption, then I will just do it.

There are repercussions for sure, but it’s a matter of calculated repercussions when we put the righteous people in the right place for the right job.

These people, harm not only the visitors and also the Malaysian citizens. These atrocities have also taken the limelight away from the well-deserved highlights of the country. Again, who knows all the money that can be used to appease the Malaysian citizens are in the pockets of Government officials? Isn’t Singapore facing a similar dilemma?

4. Heritage & Tourism
Malaysia has endless attractions, and even nature parks. They are so much better than those artificial installations in Singapore because, they are natural. Divert a little more money to improve these places, and extensively promote Tourism in Malaysia. Every time I step foot in Malacca, especially around Three Gems Hill (also known as Bukit China or San-Bao-Shan or 三宝山), I am always intrigued by the amount of Chinese immigrants buried there. Also, the Portuguese influence in Malacca is so rich. Unfortunately, these places are in ruins due to bad maintenance.

Or take another example, the bridge that connects a nearby small town of Kemayan to Bahau, from what I gathered from my relatives… has been there since WW2. If I am not wrong, it runs over one of the river branches leading to the main Pahang River. Many lives were known to have been lost in ambush along that stretch. How about developing such places as tourist attractions? Better still the country’s National Park, Taman Negara, is just a stone-throw away. The rainforest houses unique habitants of her own.

5. Effiency
With such varied resources, managing them is a chore. Hence, ensuring the efficiency in running these valuable assets is the best bet in attracting potential incomes. State offices are also well known to cause delay, and I often hear of how some Malaysians lamented about a simple passport taking 8 weeks to 12 weeks to arrive. The transport condition in Malaysia was also recently highlighted.

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These are only a small handful of stuffs I can think of within a short time. There are, of course, many more layers of possibilities for Malaysians to explore. Every neglected factor is loss of income (to me), as simple as that. Instead of focusing on how funds are losing outwards, the problem could well be internal and funds are draining into places which shouldn’t be.

Afterall, if Malaysia can spend billions researching and planning on a Nuclear power station, I believe spending a few dollars on these is not a problem.