In The Minds of Young Malaysians

Globalization used to be widely celebrated as a new birth of freedom: better connections in a more open world would improve people’s lives by making new products and ideas universally available, breaking down barriers to trade and democratic institutions, resolve tensions between old adversaries, and empower more and more people (cf. T. Friedman, 1999; J. Mickelthwait/A. Wooldridge, A Future Perfect, 2000).

Just 10 years after, the very SAME term of globalization was used increasingly to express concern about the consequences of global change for the well-being of various groups, the sovereignty and identity of countries, the disparities among peoples, and the health of the environment (cf. Hirst and Thompson, 1996; J. Mittelman, ed., Globalization: Critical Reflections, 1996).

Globalization has thus become an issue in global debate, just like the one that we are havingat our time.

Being reported by World Bank as among the 24 nations the have globalize successfully and benefit from the process, Malaysia have seen the good and bad the powerful effect of the process as she had also been through the invasions and colonial times. The Asian values have kept us in mind to look at things from both sides as everything has its Yin and Yang. (I Ching)

The driving force of globalization is the same like since the Silk Road, the masters of the seas until the colonials: resources, trades and the human nature of adventurous exploration. Not much of the great ancient civilization remained and the most of the great trading nations raised hundred years ago crumbled never to return to their past glory, not to mention the wars that the colonial countries has to fight with their subjects. WHY? None of these globalization ideas worked?

In my opinion, our forefathers are not less clever than us, as we still based most of our system on their foundations. During their time, they have developed and achieved much – have they not able to see the warning signs? If not then, there are subsequently no less analysis and warnings for us to refer to. But, we are good at repeating history.

The syndromes of ruthless globalization venture: exploitation, inequalities and short sightedness as the local sentiments of protectionism, isolationism and even religion radicals does not grow out of nowhere. These are just the manifested mutation of the marginalized people groups being cornered to their desperation.

However, these obstructing forces of globalization are as dynamic as the driving force and closed door can be opened as opened doors can be closed. The main ingredient is the right intention, political will and strategy. Take the example of Malaysia, now there is a group of people that is hard core supporter of not only goods but culture from Japan, a country that invaded and occupied her before.

The current practitioners of globalization would have to play an active role to address the side effects of globalization ventures, as these world elite holds that power to decide on the faith of the people living in a foreign land they need to have to practice good governance and good world (be it corporate or political) citizenship. Bear in mind an old Chinese saying, “While the praying mantis is capturing the cicada, the oriole is watching from behind”, there are no less rising power that is prepared to seize the opportunity to swing the dynamic forces over just like history has shown us, over and over again.

May the force be with you.

The film “Blood Diamond” reminded me of the struggles and hardships that the people of the undeveloped countries are going through just to earn peanuts for a living.

Out of desperation they will not think twice of resorting to deceits and murders for they are blinded by the prospects of a brighter future for their families.

The fact that this is still happening in 21st century should be raising the alarm amidst reports of bribery and corruptions involving top countries leaders and certain nations investing millions in their military operations.

If the powers in developed countries can dictate their own terms that inevitably benefit themselves, what are the justifications for the unfair terms of trade between the rich nations and the poor ones? The exploitation of the poor is not unpreventable if the rich nations practice fair treatment to all.

I am eager to share my views and looking forward to hear and discover other opinions on this matter. I am also curious about what actions have been taken so far to rectify this blatant inequity and in justice.

However, despite the gloomy outlook of the situation, I am keeping my fingers crossed that our hope for a more just and equitable world will not remain an impossible dream.

More often than not, the poor are the victims of circumstances and if equity and justice is achieved, there will be a brighter future for all of us.

Study groups is very important for a distand learner. For me, it helps to retain the information I learned. It is like unconciously applying the learning techniques.

First of all, the study group ‘forces’ me to Study Regularly as it is out of the tutorial class and on top of my usual self studying schedule.

By coming out and meeting with fellow classmates to discuss the ideas not only i have to review & Organise the Information before hand but also motivates me to study better in order to have ‘face’ and keep up with the discussion in the group.

Besides that, the group Make the Material Meaningful, as there there will be group members that always ask about how to apply the information. Either by explaining or listening to the explaination, I got first hand experience on the relevance in daily of the newly acquired knowledge.

More importantly, as our group members are from different industries, this sharing of experience really broaden my view on how the things we learn in class can be applied to fields other than my own.

Combined all the above, all the interaction in the group and preparation need to come to a group, facilitated a environment that truely enables Studying Actively. The group sometimes mixed jokes, gossip and also some lunch/dinner session, whereby all the group members have to participate, think about and discuss (sometimes argue) active about the knowledge they learned. It has become part of our life, the paticipation has make it as if these learning are directly from our live experience.

Most of the time after a group session, though not long due to time contrain, there is a sense of familiar with the topic discussed.

Some clips of the YouthCares 2005-2007 Project of YMM.

See the original site at Youtube

Anxiously looking at a possible election, any opinion polling this time would again  create talking and debating points among political pundits, media watchers and the interested Joe Public.

Before getting into these discussion, it is worth it to take some time to set the record straight on what surveys are meant and not meant to do.

First of all, it is important to remember that surveys are but a snapshot of a point in time. It is meant to gauge voter sentiment at that particular point in time i.e. the period in which the survey was conducted.

Former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson once said that ‘a week is a long time in politics’. Elections can be made and unmade in the space of a week. In the space between a survey and the election, a lot can and will happen which might affect the sentiment of the voters.

Secondly, a national survey is meant to reflect sentiment on a national scale. A voter, from assessing the conditions in his particular constituency might find that a significant proportion of the voter sentiment is still anti-establishment while a national poll might refute that sentiment. It does not mean that the national poll figures have been rigged. Rather, local conditions cannot be extrapolated to national figures and vice versa. On the other hand, a poll conducted at the state level, with the appropriate boost in the sample size, would paint a more accurate picture of voter sentiment at a more localized level.

Besides that, in conducting any survey, sample size and selection is always a tricky issue. One cannot hope to meet all the criterion of ethnic, gender, age, education and income representativeness because of various constraints. Hence, the presence of a margin of error for every poll. All polling agencies including international renowned ones such as Gallup or MORI would include a margin of error for every poll they conduct.

It is also important to the method of polling and the cultural context in which the poll takes place. Every polling method has its pros and cons. Telephone polling, which has been used by some research agency, has the advantage of low cost and more accurate targeting but excludes those without phones who are usually the economically marginalized.

However, a face to face poll, is more inclusive but is also more expensive to run. Malaysians, who are generally suspicious of strangers, are sometimes reluctant to answer questions and may even answer in a way which they think would please the questioner. Most polling agencies in Malaysia have found that it is the Chinese community that is, by and large, the most reticent especially in regards to perceived ‘sensitive’ questions.

These cultural factors perhaps explain why some of the political surveys recently show a high percentage of unknowns or no responses especially for certain questions.

All in all, surveys are a useful indicator of what people’s perceptions are at a certain point in time. If they are analyzed and interpreted correctly taking into consideration other factors and supporting evidence, commentators, policy makers and even the man on the street can benefit from it.

I have mentioned in earlier post that the players of globalization are the powerful elites. No doubt they underminded the poor, intentionally or not by the way of opportunity cost and entry barrier. The one that needed the access to globalization the most, is the poor.

I am the 3rd generation of the migrant chinese in Malaysia. My grandfather flee the war and famine to this land. We heard about stories of uncles & aunties that came without any money but worked their heart out as a hard labor, then worked their way up to be a store keeper, started a small business which then made the million. Along the way, they made a full layer of middle class and also a strong Small & Medium Industry community.

This, has further grown to spawn international trade back to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and all nations that have Chinese refugee. A giant flow of returnee investors enriches the market in of the origin country as well like in Vietnam.

You give the opportunity to the rich, they will keep it, because they are able to. You give the opportunity to the poor, they will share it, because they have to.

There are no lack of rules and regulations. But there are bullies all around – we have seen none lack of them either.

The best part is, if the rules are made by the bully themselves, it is not hard to imagine the disastrous outcome.

It might sound idealistic, but it all come down to the root: I think one has to see the sincerity of the trading partners and the integrity of the rule maker to be convinced to participate. It could be in the same situation like Al Gore puts it ‘it’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue’

A Malaysian Chinese faces dilemma in his daily life, until they have all used to it.

Since 513, the Malaysian government has been using the strategy of dividing the economy cake to unite the different races. This has brought the country a long period of peace.

Some people with conspiracy theory opined that 513 is a coup. It changed the Chinese lead economy to a Malay lead economy as 2 important Ministries i.e. the Finance Ministry and Industrial Ministry lead by Chinese Minister changed hands.

The fact is, now the NEP has turned from its progressive prime to weather that work against its original aim. A change is needed before a collapse come – until the country is left behind by its neighbours e.g. Vietnam, Indonesia.

Other dilemma e.g. education etc has been covered by the strong economic grow of during Mahathir’s time which now, re-surfaces.

Malaysian Chinese never have hope on their children to hold ANY important position in government and big company. The top ceiling is there and this contributed the brain drain.

Recently there are news about the 53% Chinese that “love” to bride, however, it takes little logic thinking to understand – if the deserving service is provided, who would want to pay the extra money to bride?

Let’s look at the future: the political structure of this country is race based i.e. Malay centric and it’s a reality – we have used to it already, anyway.

However, the majority race need to understand the global trend of living harmony among ALL communities. The Malaysian Chinese have to REACH OUT to other community to bring the message across.

The country should not be ruled by race, but between those rich and poor, those benefited and marginalized.

Racial integration takes a long time, for example the formation of Han race took 1000 years. The main point is that we must have the HEART to do it.

Due to the working of the force mentioned in my earlier post, the question is not really whether it is a choice or not, but the choice made by who? made for who?

Sometimes, the traders won. sometimes, the manufacturer won. Then the farmers goes to protest. In my country, Malaysia, the government has a clear message to encourage the factories here to ‘go beyond’ and ‘the world is your market’. And even that, some industry players have complained in the news that the government is not doing enough to ‘help’ the industries.

Besides the industry player, the average Joe public is always being ‘protected’ from the unconvenient truth (of Global Competition, not the Al Gore movie) & policies and decisions of the government. This blindness, let public be easily manipulated by radicals (now religion radicals, e.g in one of our opposition state) into anti-what-ever-government-policy mindset.

Should the choices that need to be made be laid out in the beginning, and the decision maker spell out the reasons (tell us the real reason, not lip service excuses) of the decision and have a debate. Tell the people which sector will benefit, which will have to make changes etc i.e. let them be warned of the impact and be ready for it. Or better, make plans to help them change. I am sure, this could be sorted out much better.

Fear of the unknown is what caused the procrastination and all kinds of speculation. Given all the information of the decision maker have, maybe the people themselves would make the same decision as well.

Forces Affecting Globalization today is still the ones with the ‘power’ to do so

Merchants: In ancient times, the ones that have access to resources – gold, army etc – is rich enough to build ships and trade overseas. Now they are in the form on multinationals today. They continue to build on their wealth and, hence power to influence the way business are done. Traders want free trade, Manufacturers want protection, The farming industries want subsidies. They would exhaust all ways and means to create a business environment that would yield most profit for them. Being the elite of their nation, they have the resources, the ability and the access to the circle of power that make the rules of the game.

Politicians: Some are just puppets, some are decent leaders. However, they have to face the reality as they need the support of the business community (that can make or break them) so they must take into considerations all the needs and wants of these groups. Then the pressure from other trading nations. Few could really see the big picture due to limited info, or even skewed imagery of the press/lobbyist; which they have to balance with the majority views of their circles. This group of rulers that apparently have the power decide, in many times made decisions that they don’t even fully understand, due to the complexity of the power wrestling underneath.

The new comer: For a long long time, the people was minimal say in the forming of these policies. Most of the time, they won’t be able to understand it even, or see the ‘big’ picture. Now, with the internet, more information could be obtained and for some, they are doing their own form of ‘international trade’ online. Others, are in the form of social and cultural exchange via web sites, video & music download etc. The number of this sector is still relatively small, but have big potentials. Compared to the above giants, these are the mice that followed the cargo ship to the new frontier. Nevertheless, it’s still the ones that have access (to internet) that could participate actively.