Priorities In Reforming Malaysian Education

Priorities In Reforming Malaysian Education

M. Bakri Musa

 

In Alice in Wonderland the Cheshire Cat advised Alice that if she does not know or care where she wanted to go, then any road will take her there. Likewise, if she just wants to get somewhere or just anywhere.

 

            This was my thought on viewing Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek’s presentation at the January 8, 2025 Astro Awani’s Forum on “Economy Malaysia 2025:  Education Reforms Raising The Floor,” moderated by BFM Radio’s Malek Ali. Fadhlina was introducing her Ministry’s upcoming Third Malaysia Education Blueprint 2025-2036. 

 

It was clear from her utterances that Fadhlina, like Alice, is also lost and bewildered; for Fadhlina, in education land. She too does not care where she would be going as long as she could end up somewhere other than “here.”

 

            The “here” in Malaysian education is also not where most Malaysian parents want their children to end up. You do not need PISA tests and other expensive international surveys to know the obvious and alarming deterioration of Malaysian schools. 

 

Consider language skills. Few Malaysians, from ministers and professors down to school kids and social media commentators, could utter even a simple sentence in either complete Malay or English. At that forum Fadhlina displayed well and frequent this odious Malaysian habit. 

 

Canadians are also bilingual.  However, when Prime Minister Trudeau speaks in English, it is flawless; likewise when he reverts to French, the other official language. No irritating and incomprehensible jumbling of both languages. Malaysians however, sound like they are uttering pidgin English or the old Bazaar Malay. Only the Filipinos with their own English/Tagalog mishmash could outclass Malaysians. 

 

As for mathematical competency, a Malaysian official once chided me for praising Singapore’s then 5 percent annual GDP growth versus Malaysia’s 4. 

 

“What’s the big deal, it’s only a one percent difference!” 

 

If you are jogging at 4 mph and your companion is doing a brisk 5, yes, she is going faster by only 1 mph. Percentage-wise however, she is 25 percent faster. At the end of the day, you would be miles behind. The importance of numeracy skills and some quantitative comprehension! Sans both, you are but agak agak(wild guessing) and can be easily misled.

 

            As with destination, so it is with a problem. If you do not fully comprehend the problem, then you would easily be satisfied with any solution. Satisfied, yes; solving the problem, far from it!

 

Fadhlina, like her predecessors, remains blissfully ignorant of the core deficiencies of Malaysian schools. First and most glaring is that the problem is not with Malaysian schools per se rather those attended by Malay children. Children of the rich, Malays as well as non-Malays, have a cornucopia of excellent choices in expensive private schools. 

 

Chinese schools are also doing fine. No surprise that Malay parents are increasingly opting for that stream for their children, to the chagrin of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay-first) types. Sarawak is also opting out of the national policy by now teaching science and mathematics (STEM) in English. 

 

This illustrates the second problem. The “national” in national education is misleading. Instead, it caters only to Malays. 

 

Then there is the perennial ever-elusive goal of 60:40 percent ratio of “Science” versus “Arts” streaming. That had been the stated objective for decades. At least back then they took concrete steps, like building a new science block at Malay College and setting up many secondary science residential schools. 

 

Today we have gone away from teaching STEM in English except in Sarawak. Worse, we have the perversity of the so-called “science” of hadith and revealed knowledge muddying the issue. Labels are cheap, as well as easy to print and affix. Witness the current silly divisive controversy over halal ham sandwiches.

 

More important than silly streaming would be to ensure that all students have heightened science literacy and enhanced quantitative skills. If you have the latter, then you would not try to be pseudo accurate in quoting such nonsense as the current 50.83 percent achievement with science/arts streaming, as the minister did at that forum. Enhanced mathematical ability also means knowing the significance and precision of numbers and decimal points. 

 

 The government is confused over the role of religious schools. Should they be like missionary schools of yore and today’s church-affiliated American schools, or be seminaries to produce future ulama of which we already have a glut? Only a tiny portion, if any, of the students at the old mission schools or today’s American church-affiliated schools end up in the clergy. Further, what goes on in Malaysian Islamic schools is but indoctrination masquerading as education. 

 

National schools are determined to “out-Tahfriz” religious schools, and in the process driving out the few remaining non-Malays in that stream, further contributing to the segregation of the young. 

 

As for the forum’s theme of “Raising The Floor,” it is far more important to build a floor that is even, supportive, and on a strong foundation. Beyond that, help these youngsters aspire and reach their own heights. A raised but rickety floor only invites tragic accidents. 

 

 

Menilai Kecekapan Pemimpin Dunia Ketiga

  

 

Menilai Kecekapan Pemimpin Negara Dunia Ketiga

M. Bakri Musa

 

 

Kecekapan seorang pemimpin negara Dunia Ketiga berkait songsang dengan sanjungannya di Barat. Yakni, semakin tinggi pemimpin itu diminati di Barat, semakin kecil kemungkinan pimpinan mereka berkesan di tanah airnya.

 

Mendiang Presiden Corazon Aquino dari Filipina di puji tinggi oleh Barat. Dia diberi keistimewaan berucap kepada sesi bersama Kongres Amerika Syarikat. Sementara itu balik di tanah air, negaranya merosot. 

 

Sebaliknya, tiada siapa pun di Barat (atau Dunia Ketiga) teringat siapa pemimpin Taiwan. Tetapi negara itu sudah beberapa dekad telah mengalahkan China dan juga kebanyakan negari lain dari segi ekonomi dan pembangunan. Sungguh pun pemimpin Taiwan mengunjung tinggi "nilai-nilai Asia" tetapi pada satu masa lebih separuh daripada menteri negara itu mempunyai ijazah kedoktoran daripada universiti terkemuka di Amerika. Pakar kesihatan awam mereka mendapat pujian dunia atas keberesannya menghadapi wabak Covid-19. Walaupun Mandarin, bahasa rasmi Taiwan, dituturkan oleh lebih ramai di seluruh dunia, tetapi rakyat Taiwan tidak menganggap mereka tidak martabatkan bahasa ibunda dengan membelajar Bahasa Inggeris. Beribu penuntut mereka belajar di Barat. Itu tidak bermakna mereka tidak mengindahkan budaya dan institusi mereka.

 

Perdana Menteri Singapura Lee Kuan Yew dianggap oleh dunia sebagai pemimpin yang berkesan. Namun, pengiktirafan itu timbul lewat. Pada awalnya dia disangkakan hanya sebagai seorang datuk bandar biasa. Pada satu masa dia berkempen, dia ditolak ke dalam longkang. Itu bukan satu masalah untuknya dia. Malah Agensi Perisikan Pusat Amerika Syarikat (Central Intelligence Agency) pada mulanya menganggap dia sebagai seorang pemimpin biasa Dunia Ketiga yang korup. Mereka cuba merasuahinya, dan apabila itu gagal, memeras ugut dia.

 

Semua ini mukadimah panjang memandangkan kesibukan Perdana Menteri Anwar Ibrahim baru-baru ini yang bergelumang dengan pemimpin dunia dan penampilan di pentas global yang berkilauan. Sementara itu, cabaran penting berterusan dan terus melumpuhkan negara. Yakni, akar rasuah yang cepat mendalam, institusi yang lemah (khususnya sistem pendidikan), dan pelacuran agama yang kian bergiat tanpa berhad. 

 

Tidak mungkin Perdana Menteri Anwar boleh mempelajari memerangi rasuah dengan melawat London atau Washington, DC. Mereka mempunyai bencana pecah amanah mereka sendiri. Begitu juga dengan membaiki sistem pendidikan. Sekolah di Amerika kebanyakannya hanyalah dewan besar untuk menampung kanak kanak. Tidak guna kita contohi.

 

 

 

Sebaliknya, kita lebih baik meneladani bagaimana untuk menentangi rasuah dan membaiki persekolahan negara dengan mencontohi dan belajar dari pemimpin di selatan Tambak Johor. Belanja lawatan tersebut amat murah dan perjalanannya pun mudah, tanpa “jet lag” yang melumpuhkan.

 

Seorang pemimpin yang tanpa segan silu mencontohi Lee ialah Paul Kagame dari Rwanda, Africa. Di Kigali, ibu kota negara itu, rakyat boleh makan di tepi longkang kerana ia bersih dan dijaga dengan baik. Jika Kagame boleh melakukan demikian di Rwanda, mustahil jika Anwar tidak boleh berbuat yang sama di Malaysia.

 

Mungkin dalam menghadapi ancaman puak pelampau agama Perdana Menteri Anwar boleh belajar lebih banyak lagi dari Barat yang sekular, khususnya Amerika. Perancis juga negara Barat tetapi sekularismenya jauh berbeza. Di Amerika, sekularisme bermakna tidak menyebelahi sesuatu agama dan soal kepercayaan sendiri. Sekularisme Perancis mempunyai sentimen anti-agama yang kejam. Itu adalah satu tindak balas yang sedia difahami memandangkan kekejaman kaum paderi Katolik di negeri itu pada satu masa yang lepas. 

 

Dunia serta pemimpin Islam semasa tidak boleh kita contohi untuk mengatasi ranjau pelampau agama yang kini menyerang Malaysia dan melumpuhkan masyarakat Melayu. Sebaliknya, contohi Amerika, khususnya institusi yang berkaitan dengan gereja seperti Universiti Georgetown dan Notre Dame, serta sekolah persediaan (Prep School) dan berasrama miliki gereja seperti Groton di Massachusetts dan St. Paul di New Hampshire.

 

 

Georgetown dan Notre Dame, walaupun universiti yang bergabung dengan gereja, mempunyai program Pengajian Islam yang di sanjung tinggi. Bandingkan dengan Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia di mana kitab Syiah di kunci! Groton dan St. Paul boleh di contohi oleh sekolah berasrama penuh dan sekolah Tahfiz kita. Hanya sebahagian kecil sahaja graduan Groton yang menjadi ahli paderi. Sekolah tersebut menyumbang lebih daripada bahagian mereka menjadi doktor, jurutera, dan usahawan Amerika.

 

Selama ia dalam belantara politik, Anwar mendapat keistimewaan untuk menjelajahi universiti terkemuka di Barat seperti Oxford, Georgetown, dan Johns Hopkins. Baharui hubungan itu. Jemput bekas rakan sekerjanya di sana untuk memberikan seminar peribadi kepada kabinetnya. Contohi Presiden Ronald Reagan. Dia pernah menjemput tokoh intelektual seperti George Will, James Q Wilson, dan William F Buckley, Jr., ke White House untuk makan malam merangkap sesi "tunjuk ajar". 

 

Jika ungkapan yang berkobar tanpa had mencukupi, Indonesia di bawah Sukarno tidak menjadi negara yang bangsat dan rakyatnya menderita. Betul, Churchill dengan pidatonya yang hebat boleh merangsang rakyatnya semasa perang dunia ke dua dulu. Walau bagaimanapun, apa yang mengalahkan pemerintah Nazi ialah perancangan yang tepat dan pelaksanaan D-Day yang teliti.

 

Lebih bermanfaat jika Anwar biasakan mendengar dan kurang berceramah. Seumpama orang tuan rumah, biasakan ke dapur dan jangan hanya menunggu hidangan yang endah di serambi. 

  

Gauging The Effectiveness Of Third World Leaders

 Gauging The Effectiveness Of Third World Leaders

M. Bakri Musa

 

 

A Third World leader’s effectiveness is inversely related to the West’s adulation of him or her. The more that leader is being fawned upon in the West, the less likely is he or she to be effective back home.

 

            The late President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines was idolized in the West. She was even granted the rare privilege of addressing a joint session of the United States Congress. Meanwhile back home, her nation was fast spiraling into an abyss. 

 

Few in the West (or the Third World) could name the leaders of Taiwan. Yet that nation had for decades bested China as well as much of the world. Taiwan leaders’ commitment to “Asian values” notwithstanding, at one time more than half of the Taiwanese cabinet sported doctorates from leading American universities. Her public health leaders’ handling of the Covid-19 pandemic was applauded worldwide. Mandarin, Taiwan’s official language, may be spoken by more people worldwide, but the Taiwanese do not regard learning English or studying in the West as tidak mertabatkan (disrespecting) their own language, culture, or institutions.   

 

Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew was universally regarded as an effective leader. However, his recognition came late. Early on he was treated as another pugnacious city mayor. During one of his early campaigns, he was pushed over into a monsoon drain. That did not faze him. Even the United States Central Intelligence Agency had earlier thought of him as but another of your typical corrupt push-over Third World leaders. They tried to bribe him, and when that failed, attempted blackmail.

 

All these are but my long preamble to noting Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s recent flurry of hobnobbing with world leaders and appearances on glittering global stages. Meanwhile the three perennial critical problems crippling Malaysia–entrenched corruption, weak institutions in particular rotten schools, and rising Islamism–fester. 

 

There is little that Prime Minister Anwar could learn on combatting corruption by visiting London or Washington, DC. They have their own versions of that scourge. Likewise with fixing Malaysian schools. Many American public schools are but mass warehouses for her young, not worthy of our emulation. 

 

Instead, you can learn much on tackling both issues by visiting leaders across the causeway. Those visits would also be far cheaper and more convenient, with no distressing jet lag afterwards.

 

One African leader who unabashedly emulated Lee is Rwanda’s Paul Kagame. In Kigali, the capital city, you can eat your lunch by the roadside drains as they are so well maintained. If Kagame could do that in Rwanda, so can Anwar in Malaysia.

 

As for combatting Islamism and religious extremism, Prime Minister Anwar could learn more from the West, specifically America. France is also the West but her secularism is of a different variety. Unlike America whose secularism means state neutrality in matters of faith, France’s version has an underlying virulent anti-religious strain to it. An understandable counter reaction considering that nation’s history with medieval Christianity.

 

Anwar has nothing to learn from other Muslim countries or leaders on how to deal with religious extremism, a cancer gnawing at Malaysia and crippling Malays. Instead, learn from America, specifically her church-affiliated institutions like Georgetown and Notre Dame Universities as well as prep schools like Massachusetts’s Groton and New Hampshire’s St. Paul.

 

Georgetown and Notre Dame, despite their church affiliations, have excellent programs in Islamic Studies. However at Malaysia’s International Islamic University, Shiite literature is kept under lock and key! Groton and St. Paul would be excellent models for Malaysian residential and Tafriz schools. Only a tiny portion of Groton’s graduates end up in the clergy. Such schools contribute more than their share of America’s scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

 

During his years in the political wilderness, Anwar was privileged to have spent time at Oxford, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins. Renew those ties. Invite his former colleagues there to give private seminars to his cabinet. Emulate President Ronald Reagan. He used to have such intellectual luminaries as George Will, James Q Wilson, and William F Buckley, Jr., to the White House for private dinners cum “tutoring” sessions. 

 

If soaring oratories alone would do it, Indonesia under Sukarno would not have been the economic basket case that it was. Granted, Churchill galvanized the Brits during the relentless German bombings. However, what defeated the Nazis was precise planning and effective execution of D-Day.

 

Skipper Anwar should do more listening, less lecturing. Go below deck to search for and get rid of the loose nuts and rusty bolts that could sink the ship of state. Listening more and lecturing less might also prevent a mutiny.

 

Confess and Redress Commission To Combat Corruption

 Confess And Redress Commission To Combat Corruption

M. Bakri Musa

 

Towards the end of his forty-minute address to Indonesian students at Al Azhar University in Cairo last November 2024, President Prabowo announced a major policy initiative:  Amnesty to the corrupt in return for their giving up their loot. The students cheered!

 

Back home the reception was far different. The intellectuals and academics mercilessly ridiculed him and his idea, but Prabowo was unfazed. “Saya bisa di ejek!” (I am used to being mocked), he panned. They had mocked him earlier when he initiated the free school lunch program.

 

That President Prabowo could be ridiculed and he in turn accepting criticisms reveal the remarkable sea change in that republic. A generation ago when his father-in-law Suharto was in power, such criticisms would have been unthinkable, likewise the consequences. Consider the tragic fate of Pramoedya Ananta Toer. 

 

            Prabowo’s bold innovation is a tacit recognition of the magnitude of public corruption in Indonesia and past failures at tackling it. Properly executed, his amnesty program could dent this scourge. Corruption and influence peddling are not unique to the Third World. In America they just re-label them as lobbying, political contributions, and aggressive advocacy. Whatever terms you use, the corrosive effects remain. 

 

When faced with an entrenched problem and where the usual remedies have proven ineffective, it is time to consider other bold measures that may seem counter-intuitive.  

 

            During apartheid South Africa, egregious abuses of human rights were entrenched, pervasive, if not institutionalized. When Nelson Mandela was released from his decades-long imprisonment and later elected President of South Africa, he recognized this immense challenge. He was more into finding the extent of the abuses, their victims, and other hidden aspects of that abhorrent culture. His hope was that the ensuing exposure would shame citizens and prompt societal changes for the better, sunlight being the best disinfectant. 

 

His Truth And Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was less a “law and order” exercise, more of restorative justice, focusing on acknowledging the abuses and on healing rather than revenge or punishment. Mandela wanted his nation to know the extent of the abuses and hear from the victims as well as perpetrators by promising amnesty to the latter in return for their testimonies and confessions. 

 

A comparable Confess And Redress Commission (CRC) could just be the pathway to tackle corruption in Malaysia. Like Mandela’s TRC, CRC would be less to punish, more to find out the magnitude, pervasiveness, and infinite manifestations of this social scourge, as well as to gauge the magnitude of the monetary loss and opportunity costs. 

 

CRC would create a prisoner’s dilemma of sorts among bribers and bribees. Cooperate and confess, you could reduce or even eliminate potential punishment through amnesty. Remain quiet and you risk being exposed by the other party.

 

The amnesty period should be for a short duration, about six months, and only for acts within the past decade. Long amnesty period would encourage collusion. Restricting to corrupt acts within the past decade would circumvent possible statute of limitation strictures. 

 

The confession would be through sworn statements detailing their roles, money involved, relevant supporting documents, and other evidence. This submission would be made through legal counsel. No amateurish free lancing self-declaration or self-lawyering. 

 

The inducement for full cooperation would be total amnesty, together with the assurance that your self-confessed evidences could not later be used against you. 

 

As for the loot, you would have to pay 5 percent of the bribe amount at the time you submit your declaration. That would increase to 10 percent if paid within 30 days, and 25 percent beyond that to six months. No confessions would be accepted if the deposit were not paid within six months of declaration. 

 

Prabowo’s amnesty would have the corrupt return their loot. Minimal incentive there. 

 

If your evidence were later led to successful prosecution of the other party, then your deposit would be refunded. In addition, you would get a percentage of the loot recovered, comparable to America’s Whistleblowers Protection Act (WPA). That’s incentive enough! 

 

Malaysia too has its WPA but has minimal impact. There is no incentive (except for civic duty) and great risk of backfiring if for example you were to criticize the government. America’s WPA helped recover billions in Medicare and other abuses. 

 

Like America, Malaysia also has her Asset Declaration Act for public officials. It is complex and covers too many individuals. Limit that to only the top 100 (sultans, ministers, chief secretaries, and appellate judges) and make the declaration simple and public. Google President Biden’s asset declaration – simple and open. 

 

Back to Prabowo’s free school meals. That has now degenerated into another colossal wastage with tasteless foods being served. I wonder how much corruption was involved in awarding those catering contracts?

 

It is not enough to have a brilliant idea. You have to be prepared to modify as you go along if the implementations were to be less than what you had expected. Nothing is perfect at its inception.

Najib And 1MDB - Emblematic Of The "Malay Problem"

 Najib And 1MDB – Emblematic Of The “Malay Problem”

M. Bakri Musa

 

The humongous One Malaysia Berhad (1MDB) mess is emblematic of a much greater and complex “Malay Problem.” That is, the ignorance and willful detachment of Malay leaders to the pressing monumental challenges facing our community.

 

To wit, the two major Malay political parties, United Malay National Organization (UMNO) and the Islamic Party PAS, planned a major rally this Monday January 6, 2025 to support former Prime Minister Najib Razak, the central crook in the 1MDB scandal now jailed. Pardoning Najib will not contribute in any way towards solving the Malay problem. On the contrary he is very much part of the problem, thus cannot be part of the solution. 

 

Last Friday January 3, days before the rally, UMNO abruptly withdrew its participation ostensibly in deference to an earlier royal decree. It would also have been awkward had UMNO taken part as it is part of the government. Unstated but clear and loud as the call for Azzan is that the present Agung will not be beholden to what his immediate predecessor might have decided (or not) with respect to Najib’s pardon. UMNO readily cowed to that presumed palace disapproval of the rally.

 

The previous Agung had a soft spot for Najib; not so the current one. The present one had in no uncertain terms declared on day one his abhorrence for corrupt leaders. Long close to the crisp, honest and competent ministers across the causeway, Sultan Ibrahim has minimal tolerance to their corrupt sluggish Malaysian variety.

 

Come Monday we will see how far UMNO members can escape their feudal mindset to exercise their rights to a peaceful assembly. PAS meanwhile issued a statement to continue with the rally, thus in effect defying the palace. Kudos to them if they do indeed proceed. The right to a peaceful assembly far outranked the presumed defying of a royal decree.

 

This much is clear. Najib has once again demonstrated that he is a divisive figure. As veteran journalist Kadir Jasin noted, Najib was convicted not for stealing naan at the local Indian bakery. 

 

A major turnout this Monday would portend more and even greater future 1MDBs should these leaders regain power. On the positive side, that would also signal that Malays (especially those in UMNO) have escaped our feudal mentality and assert their rights to a peaceful assembly.

 

Last December 12, 2024 there was the pathetic sight of former Prime Ministers Mahathir and Muhyiddin Yassin announcing with great fanfare the formation of a “Meja Bulat Melayu Terancam” (Roundtable To Tackle the Precarious State of Malays). Mahathir and Muhyiddin are no fans of Najib; their parties also have an overwhelmingly Malay membership. 

 

Nearly a month later, nothing more was heard. Meja Bulat leaders’ rhetoric betray their true core:  theirs is more pendatang (immigrant) paranoia, less problem solving. An apt kampung expression best describes such passion:  Hangat hangat taik ayam (the warmth of chicken droppings). 

 

            It is difficult to comprehend the magnitude of 1MDB’s losses as its myriad subsidiaries had taken many loans, all guaranteed by the parent company. Besides, the ringgit and dollar of 2012 (when the bonds were issued) were much stronger, sans the ravages of inflation and foreign exchange rate gyrations since then.

 

            Far more consequential, and again unquantifiable, were the associated lost opportunities. Had the billions squandered been spent modernizing classrooms, libraries, and laboratories of our schools as well as recruiting quality teachers, there would be little need today for that Meja Bulat.

 

1MDB was the giant government-linked corporation (GLC) that morphed in 2009 from the old sleepy Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) soon after Najib became Prime Minister. TIA was a local Norwegian Sovereign Fund wannabe, a trust fund to manage that state’s hydrocarbon windfall. While the Norwegians today could live comfortably (if they choose to) just from the returns of their Sovereign Fund, Malaysia still bears the horrendous burden of 1MDB, and not just in monetary terms. 1MDB has polarized Malays and Malaysians. The courts are still plugged with the related criminal cases. As for those bonds, the last payment would not be till 2043.

 

I first heard of 1MDB back in 2012 when I saw a full page “tombstone” advertisement of its bonds in The Wall Street Journal. What drew my attention was the then unbelievable usurious near six percent interest rate.

 

At the time I had just refinanced my house. My rate was under three percent, with the associated costs a mere few hundred dollars, less than half a percent of the value of the loan. By contrast, Goldman Sachs, the bonds’ underwriter, collected a cool US$650 million in fees for the total face value of US$3.5 billion bonds, a whopping nearly 20 percent. No wonder Goldman Sachs executives awarded themselves obscene bonuses!

 

At the time a top Bank Negara official was vacationing in California and visited me. Showing the advertisement, I teased him that my creditworthiness was far superior to Malaysia’s. His reaction stunned me. He knew nothing of the bond offerings! I would have thought that such a major transaction would have been a hot topic in the Bank’s boardrooms and around the water coolers.

 

Bank Negara is not your typical Third World institution. Its first head was a Queen’s Scholar and Cambridge graduate, Ismail Ali, legendary for his brilliance, competence, and most of all, integrity. The Bank’s head during the entire 1MDB saga was one Zeta Aziz, an Ivy League PhD in economics and daughter of the famed economist Ungku Aziz. 

 

Nor was the 1MDB debacle unique. Much earlier were the London Tin and Forex scandals, among others. Then-Prime Minister Mahathir thought he was smarter than George Soros and the other London futures traders. Mahathir forgot that while they used spare funds from rich investors and thus could afford possible losses, he gambled with precious public funds meant for rural schools and clinics in his Ulu Kedah.

 

There is yet another bigoted, sinister and inflammatory underlying theme to the current 1MDB narrative. It is hidden or purposely not referred to. That is, an honest trusting Malay leader (Najib) had been hoodwinked by a conniving local Chinaman (Jho Low) and a smart foreigner (Tim Leissner). Never mind that Najib’s own stepson Reza Aziz was very much in the muck of things.

 

Leissner was particularly reprehensible in Malay eyes. He briefly converted to Islam purportedly to gain the favor of a well-connected Malay beau who happened to be the chief executive of a major media company. Being a Muslim, whether born, instant, or put-on, opens many doors in Malaysia. Leissner was key for Goldman Sachs getting 1MDB’s underwriting.

 

This lady was even smarter. She did a ‘Leissner’ on him and received a mansion in London for their brief affair as well as not exposing the great fraud that he was. 

 

It is this destructive racist theme in the current 1MDB narrative that is holding sway among many Malays. It is this that makes 1MDB so dangerous. Alas, this sinister strand is missed or willfully glossed over by our leaders and masses. That is the crux of the problem, and posing the greatest threat to plural Malaysia.

 

January 4, 2025