Malaysia... Truly Asia!

Eva Nakamura, a nice and friendly postgraduate from Osaka, was never short of praise for Malaysia and Indonesia. Her three-month working experience in Jakarta seem very productive, after listening her making a simple conversation in Malay (well, she has yet to reach the level where you could clearly distinguish whether she is speaking bahasa Melayu Malaysia or bahasa Melayu Indonesia).

Eva and I @ Al Nawaz Restaurant

She also impressed me with her knowledge on Dasar Ekonomi Baru. And also surprised me with a couple of cepu emas questions about DEB.

"Before I answer you, may I know how you know about DEB?", I asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, I read about it when my colleague and I were assigned to be in charged of the floor where Dr. Mahathir Mohamed will be staying during his visit to Tokyo. I was just preparing myself, in case I need to make a conversation with Dr. Mahathir."

Once again, I was impressed by the dedication shown by this lady. It immediately recalled my previous experiences as one of the official liaison officers for the Central Bank of Malaysia. Yeap, this is one of the ways to differentiate a good LO from a not so good one. If you don't want to sound stupid, do your own research before hand or like Ustaz Ismail Kamus said in one of his ceramahs, D.I.A.M!

I told her that based on my limited knowledge, the Government formulated the DEB to address the issue of inequality of wealth distribution, which was the result of British divide and rule administration before Malaya obtained her independence. The association of economic activities by races had proved difficult in order to build a sustainable prosperous multi-racial country. Like a 100 metre race, it is more making sense if everyone can start from the same starting point. How can you call it a fair race, if there are sprinters who start the race 30m or 50m in front of others?

Eva nodded her head.

I continued by saying that to ensure the effectiveness of this programme, there must be a transparent implementation plan, prudent monitoring mechanism and clear timeline. If not, there will be an issue of moral hazard, which then will lead to a much burning issue.

Eva and the birthday girl, Ana Lucia

After that, the Government need to formulate a new development policy which addressing the needs of all walk of life in Malaysia and gradually nurturing the development of bangsa Malaysia.

"Would bangsa Malaysia means one country, one race, one language, one identity?"

I told Eva that I really don't have the answer to that question. Anyhow, Malaysians are so lucky, at least in the matter of education. We can go to a national school or chinese school or tamil school or religious school or even to an international school. And we have one of the most religious/faith-based public holiday - Eids, Chinese New Year, Gawai Day, Harvest Feast, Deepavali, Wesak Day, Thaipusam and Christmas.

"Yeah, I really think Malaysia is a wonderful country, at least a much tolerant country than her neighbouring countries. Not even Singapore."

"That's why we call ourselves, truly Asia!"