Yoursay: Soon Malaysia will be sending maids to Vietnam

YOURSAY | 'If we continue on this path, most of our neighbours would have overtaken us.'

Vietnam surpassing M'sia should be a wake-up call

Anonymous 770241447347646: A tale of two countries. Vietnam. Its people have gone through the worst scenario. People who have experienced hunger and death right before their very own eyes.

Now they know what it is to appreciate life. They know what the price of success is. And when finally they are tasting the fruits of their struggle, they will definitely want more.

Malaysia. A land of huge resources not only in agriculture but also in human capabilities. This was the foundation set by our forefathers. Their sacrifices saw that the next generation does not have to face so much struggle.

A land with almost perfect climate and a second generation that was given opportunities and resources to take it to the next level. Our neighbour, Singapore, grasped that opportunity and see where they are today.

Our leaders from the time of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, instead of grasping the opportunity, wasted their time and effort on many wrong policies, especially in the area of education.

This. in turn, churned out a generation of people not prepared for the future. They spent too much time on issues that were not benefitting the nation on the whole.

While our neighbours were struggling against all odds to raise the standards of living of their people, we were wasting years after years in this race and religious rhetoric, and arguing who are the actual owners of this nation.

If we continue on this path in the next few years, most of our neighbours would have overtaken us.

In future, we will have to compete against these nations for investments. Will our people be more qualified to attract these investments or will our neighbours be more prepared to receive them?

Anonymous 2460851488616887: Unfortunately, our politicians are more interested in race and religion instead of knowledge or technology.

The rot started many years ago; some of those politicians who were responsible then are still around now. I hope I do not see, in the balance of my lifetime, that this beloved country of mine is reduced to a bankrupt state and Malaysians having to work overseas as cheap labourers.

Veritas: A bit too late, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang. Your party should have joined BN in the 1970s and helped shape Malaysian politics then, when Islam was less of a refuge.

Your ‘Save Malaysia’ agenda, leading you to link up with Dr Mahathir Mohamad two years ago, should have been done 30 years ago.

The chauvinistic view of DAP has roots deep in the past, and joining the current government has not removed this image but in fact, worsened it.

I know hindsight is 2020, but you need to admit you did not fully understand the Malay-Muslim mind and the deep psychological afflictions of the community.

Unfortunately, this psyche will make it difficult to move towards a strong national developmental agenda.

The country has to sink towards a narrow Islamic state, in the mode of Zakir Naik, exhaust itself through this process, and then finally after 30 years or so, the Malay-Muslim community might be ready for another kind of politics.

By that time, I wonder how many non-Malays will be around. Trying to be an elder statesman now is both too late, and also too early.

Anonymous_1550607211: Some 16 years ago, we knew that China going into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will mean Malaysia must revamp its economic policies and plan its way to compete with the Chinese.

Instead, we went into a major "inward-looking" (tidak apa) mode. China surged past us, Thailand is now our economic peer and India is coming at us strong.

There is nothing wrong with other nations doing better, but it seems to many that Malaysia is trapped in a morass of social/cultural problems and it can't get its act together.

Mind you, not for a want of talent and ideas, but simply unable to carry out a plan and sustain the plan over the long term.

Some day we will look at the huge gains made by Laos and East Timor or even Papua New Guinea, and we wonder what happened?

Anonymous 2465861491622056: Vietnam has introduced a corporate tax rate of 10 percent for companies shifting production from China to Vietnam. India followed suit and introduced a corporate tax of 15 percent for these companies.

Both countries have huge local markets plus local staff. How is Malaysia going to compete when no tax incentives have been announced, plus there are racist staffing requirements?

Further, the local staff productivity is in question as there are high turnover and medical leave and the labour laws making it difficult to terminate services without a high cost.

This has resulted in most employers resorting to employing illegal foreign labour.

Wg321: Ten or 15 years ago, many Vietnamese came to Malaysia seeking employment in our factories.

Malaysians complained about them because our dogs often went missing. This was because Vietnamese love to eat dogs.

Today, there is no need for Vietnamese to come to Malaysia seeking work. Foreign direct investments (FDIs) are rushing to Vietnam to open up factories, especially Chinese investors because of the China-US trade war.

Anonymous_3e12: In the 50s, Hong Kong was sending maids to the Philippines. By the 80s, the reverse was taking place with the Philippines sending hundreds of thousands of maids to Hong Kong.

Malaysia is hell-bent heading in that direction when our workers have to go to Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh to find work in the future.

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