What about our vision? — Lim Sue Goan

FEBRUARY 26 — During the Chinese New Year, the issue that attracted the most attention was foreign workers, which has gained momentum after the festive holidays.

This issue has fully exposed the administrative flop and loss of direction of our government, along with the indecisive attitude of the policy-makers.

It will bring more trouble for the government if the issue is not properly addressed, denting further the government’s reputation and the country’s international image.

The government has wanted to “extract” additional tax revenue from these foreign workers and their employers to fill the shortfall from dwindling oil revenue. As a result, the levy has been drastically increased. As if that is not enough, the government plans to bring in additional 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh.

When our ministers are busy with bringing in new workers and legalizing the illegal ones, they seem to have overlooked our grand economic transformation program and Vision 2020.

To be a high-income developed country, we must transform ourselves from a labor-intensive manufacturing and services-oriented economy to knowledge-based economy. The government has in 11^th Malaysia Plan set a target of less than 15% foreign workers in the workforce, but many of our ministers seem to have forgotten about this.

The government has failed to draw up a plan to reduce our dependence on foreign workers and gear ourselves towards automated and technology-heavy production, and this will keep the country forever at the stage of over-dependence on migrant workers because our businesses are reluctant to adopt mechanized production and spend on R&D. This leaves the responsibility of economic transformation solely with the government.

And now, even the government itself appears to be wavering, having little willpower to cut our dependence on foreign workers. Before we can even join the league of developed states, we already pride ourselves as a country teeming with unskilled migrant workers.

A country that foregoes its vision will only retrogress on near-term interests with the long-term vision drifting further and further away.

The reversal of the government’s foreign worker policy has also exposed the gross inefficiency on the part of the federal government. A day after human resources minister Richard Riot signed the MoU in Dhaka, our home minister hastily put a brake on the entry of new foreign workers, causing much confusion among the public.

But then why such a dramatic turnaround? i think this has something to do with attitude. When the public voiced up their objection to the additional 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers, the policy-makers were worried about more powerful backlash and abruptly reversed their earlier decision.

On extending visa exemption facility to Chinese tourists, we once again witnessed the pathetic level of efficiency on the part of the Malaysian government. The cabinet had in last June approved the measure of extending visa-free facility to Chinese tourists arriving in tour groups, and the prime minister subsequently announced that Chinese tourists would enjoy visa-free entry into the country from October 1 to March 31, when he unveiled the measures to stimulate the national economy on Sept 14 last year.

Unfortunately this measure has never been put into implementation probably due to some political factors.

The summoning of Chinese Ambassador Huang Huikang by Wisma Putra was another incident that has protruded the gross rashness of our cabinet ministers.

I personally feel that Umno’s political crisis has taken its toll on the altitude of our policy-makers and senior government officials. To keep themselves safely in power, these people have become intolerant to criticisms and are overly fearful of possible backlash from Malay organizations in particular.

As such, we see ministers voicing up against public comments posted on the cyberspace, threatening to take harsh actions against netizens liking or sharing unverified news messages while amending relevant laws to toughen the punishments for violators. The government has gradually backed off from its judiciary reform agenda towards tightened grip on the civilians’ freedom of expression.

There is no way politicians can control how the people think and express themselves in the Internet age. Unfortunately under the existing system, there is not much chance for the civil society to openly confront the governing body.

A country that backs down on its pursuit of democracy and freedom, where administrative and political confusion reigns supreme, and where its leaders go for their own interests and abandon our collective vision—will eventually drift further and further away, leaving the country and her people taking the brunt of their leaders’ foolishness. 

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.