I always tell my friends that there are two things of great concern to me. One would be the education system and the other the healthcare system. At least that would be my order of priority, mainly because of what age I am. Third, of course, would be my ability to cari makan (earn a living). But, again, at my age, my concern would be my retirement life rather than my working life. Housing would probably tie with cari makan, or at the very least come to a very close fourth.
I rank education as the first item on my list of priorities because that is how you start your life. You start your life by getting educated and unless you receive this education then the rest of your life is not going to be a bed of roses.
Towards the end of your life -- like what is happening to me now where I maybe have ten or 15 years left if I am lucky -- your health becomes the main concern. Hence that is the second item on my list of priorities.
In between this -- say for 40 years from age 20 to age 60 -- you need to ‘live’. And to live you need a job or a career. And this job and career would depend on what type of education you received.
So I break up my life into three parcels. Parcel one, the first 20 years or so, you receive an education. Parcel two, the next 40 years, you cari makan. And parcel three, the last 20 years of your life (if you are lucky enough to live till 80), you just need to look after your health (or else you will not reach parcel three and will die during parcel two).
So when I look at a good government, I will measure this ‘good government’ by its policies on education and healthcare. Will this government provide good and cheap (or better still, free) education and healthcare? Are the education and healthcare systems comparable or better than those in the advanced countries? (We must remember that just because a certain country is ‘advanced’, say like the US, this does not mean that its education and/or healthcare system are anything to shout about).
Once we are assured of these two very basic and very crucial services, we then need to consider the job and career opportunities that the government or country can offer its citizens so that we can have a decent lifestyle and quality of life. However, if we are not educated (or not well-educated) and our health suffers, how well the economy may be doing and how much job opportunities there are is no bloody good to us. We will either be too unqualified to get a job or too sick to cari makan anyway.
Once we are a recipient of a good education and our health is well looked after, plus we have a decent home and a reasonably good car to move around and to get to work, we will start looking at the other features of a ‘good’ government. And these would be, of course, good governance, transparency, accountability, no or minimum corruption, press freedom, freedom of choice (regarding religion, sexual orientation, association, etc.), no discrimination and persecution (based on race, religion and gender), a good legal system (good and just laws, independence of the judiciary, etc.), and so on.
Ideally, we would want ALL OF THE ABOVE. Nevertheless, while I too want all of the above, what I am mentioning here is my list of priorities -- what comes first and what comes later. We need first to be educated and healthy to enjoy good governance, transparency, accountability, no or minimum corruption, press freedom, freedom of choice (regarding religion, sexual orientation, association, etc.), no discrimination and persecution (based on race, religion and gender), a good legal system (good and just laws, independence of the judiciary, etc.), and so on. If we are not armed with a good education and are suffering from, say leprosy, no good government is of any use to us.
We speak about justice. But to most Malaysians justice is just about what you receive in court. Justice is not just about the legal system. Justice is also whether the education system has been fair to you. And if it is not fair to you then you have been denied justice.
Justice is also about whether when you are sick you are given medical treatment. If you need to be a millionaire before you can afford treatment, and if you are poor then you will die, that is not justice. Why can only the rich be given medical treatment while the poor need to die because they do not have money for medical treatment? And this happens in even the so-called advanced countries.
To the Chinese, the first item, education, is very important. If you get through that first level, then the second and final levels can take care of themselves. With a good education, the second part of your life (20 to 60) will be smooth sailing and once you reach the final part of your life (after 60), and with savings of at least RM3 million in the bank, you will be able to look after your health even if you need to pay for the healthcare yourself.
And that is what you will need to retire on at today’s standard and cost of living once you reach 60 -- RM3 million. This will increase as we go along, of course, and by 2030 it will have to be more than RM3 million. But if you retired today that is what you need if you are going to live for at least another 15 or 20 years -- RM3 million.
But how do you accumulate RM3 million in savings if you work in McDonalds or earn only RM2,000 a month? You can’t even pay for your living expenses let alone save RM3 million over 40 years.
RM3 million over 40 years is RM75,000 a year or RM6,250 a month. So you need to earn at least RM10,000-15,000 a month and with the income/dividends on your EFP savings you may eventually see RM3 million in your account by the time you retire at age 60. (I am just doing a rough calculation here so please do not split hairs on the figures).
So, unless you have a good tertiary education, there is no way you can earn RM10,000 a month or more. And if you can’t earn RM10,000 or more a month then you will not have RM3 million in your EPF by the time you retire at age 60. And that means it is bad news for you.
Furthermore, you need to set aside at least RM300,000 for each kid to enter university (for at least three years) and RM1 million if this kid does medicine. And if you have five children, like many Malay families do, me included, you need millions just to see all your kids through university (I know because I paid for my kids university education in the UK from my own pocket).
And this is one major bone of contention to the Chinese. The Chinese need to dig deep into their pockets to send their children to an overseas university. Then they see the Malay kids in overseas universities receiving government aid even though some (or many) of these Malay kids do not quite make the grade.
If I were Chinese I would be upset. Even as a Malay I am upset because I have had to spend a lot of my own money putting my kids though college/university at my own expense. Then I see the kids of the Yang Berhormat, Tan Sri, Datuk Seri, Datuk, and so on enjoying their life in the UK at taxpayers’ expense and bringing home Mercedes Benzes and BMWs when they return to Malaysia.
The government (whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat) has to understand this. And, of course, the Chinese blame the New Economic Policy (NEP) for this great injustice. But the government is not about to abolish the NEP. The NEP is a powerful political tool. It keeps Umno in power and if abolished Umno will be out of power.
Even Pakatan Rakyat will not dare abolish the NEP. If they do that would be the end of Malay support for Pakatan Rakyat. At best Pakatan Rakyat can declare that it will review the NEP and make it fairer and more equitable, without giving any specific details.
Okay, in what way is the NEP going to be made fairer and more equitable? Will UiTM be opened up to the non-Malays? Will 40-50% of places in local universities be opened up to the Chinese, Indians, Orang Asal and natives of East Malaysia? Would 50% of students sent overseas be from the non-Malay community?
Yes, what are the details of this fairer and more equitable NEP?
And note that I am only talking about education, the first item on my list of priorities. I am yet to talk about places in the civil service, business opportunities, licences, permits, quotas, plus a host of other things.
And before you start posting comments accusing me of asking you to vote for BN or saying that you are still going to vote Pakatan Rakyat and scream ABU and so on, this article is not about that. It is about justice. And justice, or the lack of it, is colour-blind.
http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/no-holds-barred/55423-one-reason-why-the-chinese-are-angry
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