Mahathir Found Solution to His Old Dilemma

Mahathir May Have Final Solution to His Old Dilemma (May 2001)

30 years ago, in his book The Malay Dilemma Dr Mahathir (now Malaysian Prime Minister) claimed that no matter who the person is, he or she will be able to do a job 'if given the opportunity and the right guidance'. His view though simplistic is the essence of Malaysia's New Economic Policy (NEP) implemented since 1970. Like their leaders, many Malaysians believe that the quota system that ensure places are reserved for the Malays in every aspect of life in Malaysia will somehow improve the well being of the Malays. In fact they thought they could even do it without worrying about having the 'right guidance' - although it was entirely possible that they never knew what that meant. Whatever is the case, Mahathir has finally learnt from the aftermath of the 1997 crisis that his old idea did not work. Also according to him, Malay students were not bothered about their education and were losing out to their peers of other races. They were not interested in the sciences and other technical subjects preferring to do the easier subjects like arts and religious studies.

Now Mahathir may think he has a better idea on how to solve his country's problems. In fact he's probably hitting himself for not thinking of it earlier. This new idea was mooted when he suggested that to show that the Chinese in Malaysia are committed to their country, they (only the Chinese) may be drafted to do national service in the military. Soon, to show that the Malays are committed to improving their own lot, Malaysia will be drafting Malays as engineers, doctors, IT technologists, dentists, heart surgeons, scientific researchers and enterpreneurs. You see, that way they do not even have to study and compete against others in schools.

Finally Malaysia will be proposing to the United Nations to make a resolution that to show that the world is committed to the development of 'developing countries' like Malaysia, they should begin to draft Malays as CEO of all Fortune 500 companies. You see, that is perfectly fair as it is only 500 jobs and well within the quota that should be fairly allocated to the Malays based on the ratio of their population to that of the world.

Mahathir must be patting himself on the back half wondering why no one else in the world ever thought of that!