Rich Malaysia, Poor
Malaysians is written by Dr. Anas Alam Faizli and first published in Januari
2014 by Gerakbudaya Enterprise. This 196 pages book is a collection of
well-written short essays on energy, economy and education in Malaysia.
Dr.
Anas Alam Faizli, known as Anas is a Malaysian non-political construction and
an upstream Oil and Gas professional, a scholar, an activist, and an author. He
holds a post graduate doctorate in Business Administration and is currently a
Director of a Malaysian Multi-National Company (MNC), a leading international
heavy steel construction company. Anas also serves as the Assistant Honorary
Secretary for the Malaysian Oil and Gas Services Council (2016-2018) and is
also a certified Oil and Gas Expert by Malaysia's Ministry of Human Resource. Additionally,
he also co-founded several non-governmental organizations and an economic
research think tank. Rich Malaysia, Poor Malaysians is one of his best-seller
books.
The
first part of the book revolves around Malaysia’s petroleum resources. Having
worked in oil and gas industry both in Malaysia and overseas for the past 14
years, the writer has a clear insight on the management of country’s oil
wealth. Hence the first four chapters are dedicated to our petroleum resources.
Chapter 4 on Higher Royalty Versus State Ownership of Petronas is particularly a
very interesting read. Oil royalty has been constantly making it way into the
election manifesto of political parties. As the new Federal Government has been
elected, the fight for higher royalty from the oil producing states has even
garner stronger voices and the rumble is getting louder. The essays left the
readers with things to ponder on the development of our oil and gas industry
and what kind of future it holds for the Malaysians. However,
the writer’s message is quite clear in this book, that the Federal Government
should stop milking Petronas so that it can have enough fund to reinvest.
My personal favorite of all
the articles is Chapter 5 on Funding of Higher Education. There has been an
endless debate on whether Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional or PTPTN
should be abolished and higher education should be made free for all
Malaysians. For the record, as of March 2018, the total PTPTN loans stand at RM52.84
billion, with a total of 663,000
loan defaulters who have never paid a single cent. As much as we want to
increase the access of higher education to Malaysians, the study loan mechanism
is seen as being unsustainable. The government keeps on giving loan without
getting the expected loan repayment hence making it harder to provide study
loans to the future generation. While the spirit is towards providing free tuition
fees for higher education at all public universities, mismanagement, oversight
or under-funding much be tackled. And perhaps a more sustainable mechanism needs
to be introduced to ensure equal access of higher education to all and
eventually to chart our path towards a high income nation.
Malaysia is a rich country,
but why her people remains poor? According to the writer, the New Economic Plan
supposed to help the eradication of poverty and restructuring of society but
has trickled down to no more than “the road of enriching and empowering a few
Bumiputeras.” As a result: Worsening intra-Bumiputera income inequality and
wealth distribution and widening inter-ethnic socio-economic gap. While the
poverty rate has gone from 49.1 percent to 1.7 percent in 2012, the Bumiputera
households remain the poorest now, occupying the bottom 40% of the Malaysian
households.
Higher education is necessary to
establish highly skilled workers, and to create competitive value proposition
for capital and production. However, 77 percent of the Malaysian workforces
with only SPM and below qualifications. The highly unskilled workers are a
structural barrier for Malaysians to move into higher income group where higher
salaries are being paid. Hence we will be trapped in middle income group for
longer time.
The unwillingness of business
to invest in productivity and training of locals has given way to the influx of
foreign workers, especially in factories. Despite the willingness of the locals
to work if given adequate wages, they continue to be displaced by business
owners who prefers cheap foreign workers, making it lesser wages and salaries
to the table of the locals.
The fact that this book covers
a myriad of issues from social-economy to education, it will not be an easy
read for everyone. Daunting task it may be to try and understand every single
article in the book, but in the end it always leaves the reader with issues to
ponder, hence triggering the critical thinking of the readers. Happy reading!
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