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ADDRESS BY
D.Y.T.M. RAJA NAZRIN SHAH
RAJA MUDA PERAK DARUL RIDZUAN
AT THE
21st LAWASIA CONFERENCE 2008
DATE: THURSDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2008; TIME: 10:30AM
VENUE: KUALA LUMPUR CONVENTION CENTRE
It is a pleasure for me to be here this morning to address such a distinguished audience. Since its inauguration 20 years ago in Kuala Lumpur, LAWASIA has become more than just a conference. Bound by the common desire to promote the professional practice of law, it has become a veritable knowledge and networking institution. I am proud to be associated with this endeavour. I hope that the LAWASIA Conferences will grow in strength for many years to come.
Global economic crisis
The theme of this conference is “Challenging Asia”. There is no greater challenge facing Asia today than the global financial and economic crisis that has engulfed the economies of western nations and which now is fanning out across Asia. Already some countries have become incapacitated, while others are close to it. Triggered by the financial crisis in the United States, it is fast transforming into an economic crisis of such mammoth proportions that it threatens not just our economic wellbeing, but also our social and political stability.
It began following a prolonged period of excessive risk-taking activity in an environment of low-risk premia, loosening of credit-underwriting standards in housing mortgages and proliferation of complex financial instruments that masked excessive risk build-up. Complacency in the area of corporate governance compounded the problem as financial institutions accumulated high levels of leverage and depended on non-traditional wholesale funding.
The global financial system has been severely weakened by mounting losses on impaired and illiquid assets, uncertainty regarding the availability and cost of funding, as well as unwillingness to extend new credit to the wider segments of economy. Market confidence has dwindled, leading to the collapse of key financial institutions, which in turn has necessitated wide-scale public intervention and cross-border cooperation to support a more orderly deleveraging process, while minimising the potential risk to global economic growth.
At some later date, we will need to reflect thoroughly on the events leading up to the global financial crisis. Hard questions will have to be asked about how the unrestricted pursuit of profits could have taken such a calamitous turn. For now, the focus should be on how we can get out of the crisis we find ourselves in.
More than ever, now is the time for cool heads and steady hands. We need to be consummately pragmatic and decisive, for the actions taken in the coming months and years will critically determine the collective security and stability of our people for decades to come. One would hope that the Group of 20 nations meeting next month will take into account not just the interests of the world’s financial centres but all those in one way or another are paying the price for the excesses of a few.
I want to focus today on what Asia’s response should be. As a prime beneficiary of its integration with the world at large, Asian countries must step up to the plate and demonstrate ownership of the world’s current financial problems. They cannot afford to shy away from their responsibilities of contributing solutions for they are an integral and growing part of the world economy.
The concerns I have about Asia are not so much about its economic strength. There is good reason to be quietly confident that countries can pull through given their past enterprise, ingenuity and dogged determination. Asia’s economic weight in world affairs is growing and this structural shift is unlikely to be halted by the highly damaging events of the current financial meltdown.
The concerns I have about Asia have to do with the social fabric of the people. For Asia is made up complex societies that are stratified not just by class but also by ethnicity as well as linguistic and religious differences. The single biggest challenge, the dividing line on which its future hinges, is preventing the great global economic crisis from precipitating the great Asian social crisis.
Asia’s diversity
Let us consider some so-called realities of the modern age. Global trade has created a vastly wealthier society at all levels and has opened up a consumerist hunger that is historically unprecedented. What was once the domain of kings and emperors is at the reach of millions of people, with consumer goods driving economic growth as never before. Riding on this growth, we have seen new economic powers emerge in just the space of a generation. Nations like China and India stand pounding at the door of the west, wanting a voice, a presence, and recognition of their culture and their values.
Sadly, we have also engendered a vast impoverished and disenchanted segment of society who have either been abused by the developments in the globalised economy, or have been left out of these developments altogether. They pose a significant challenge both to our economists who must suggest ways of including them in our miracle and to our philosophers and moralists who must explain how we can live side by side with our vastly more impoverished brothers and sisters while watching our own wealth and well being grow. And while we continue to debate the whys and the wherefores of the poor and disenfranchised, they are making themselves increasingly more noticed by drawing attention to their plight in ways both benign and violent.
In short, Asia is a continent of incredible heterogeneity. Its successes are real but these cannot be allowed to mask the contrasts and divisions of its seething masses. This diversity is a source of great strength but it, like everything else, must be constantly and carefully nurtured. It cannot be taken for granted for a building block can very easily become a stumbling block. Diversity is only strength if the unity of the whole, and not the differences, are being emphasised.
These are the realities that have to be negotiated. An Asia that degenerates into modern day tribalism and infighting will pose a danger to itself and to others and this must be avoided at all costs. What can Asian governments do to prevent the global economic crisis from unravelling the intricate relationships that give them the right to be called nations? What can ratchet up the social cohesion needed to make them stable and contributing members of the world community at this most critical of times?
Principle of inclusiveness
It is necessary I believe to hold firmly to the principle of inclusiveness. No segment of society must be disrespected, discredited and disenfranchised. No group should feel that their efforts and contributions go unrecognised and unwanted.
Bringing this about is one of the greatest challenges of governance today. We must abandon the ‘silo’ mentality where we only look up at what is happening and not beside us at what others are experiencing. We can no longer afford to formulate policies, laws and regulations on a discriminatory basis and in an ethical vacuum.
Case for empowerment
To my mind, there is no better way to express the principle of inclusiveness than through the practice of empowerment. Only inclusive development through empowerment can societies become strong. Only inclusive development through empowerment can we achieve lasting outcomes.
We do not need to be overly cerebral on what empowerment is or is not. The term ‘empowerment’ was originally developed in the context of gender equality but it has now gained much wider currency. It embraces not merely the under-classes but all those who do not walk the corridors of power and who have little say in what affects their lives. It is about giving the opportunity to those who do not have them to live self-fulfilling lives.
The consequence of not empowering citizens or, worse, disempowering them, is to create a deep sense of alienation and hostility. Indeed, it is very often an overwhelming sense of alienation and powerlessness that causes the rash acts of violence that fracture societies. It gives these citizens every reason to seek to divide society in order to redress their dissatisfactions. This is bad and insensitive politics. On another level, we cannot morally turn our backs on the fundamental responsibility of ensuring that all stakeholders in our society, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, have a place under the sun.
We can, of course, ignore the more troublesome elements in our society. But closing two eyes to the problem does not build the unity and integration required to face the economic and social turmoil that is likely to result. Where there should be cohesion, there is fragmentation. Where a progressive middle class should be created, there is instead impoverished sectarianism. This is not theoretical speculation. We see evidence of it throughout the world and not least within Asia.
Empowerment is a precondition for an integrated and progressive Asia. Interestingly enough, the forces that can connect Asia also have the potential to empower its people. The Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has said that “development is freedom”. In the context of Asian integration, the development of these forces through effective regional institutions can indeed free its peoples from the burdens of poverty, stagnation and ignorance. Allow me to suggest five areas that can drive both the connecting and empowerment of Asia.
The first prerequisite of empowerment must be to strengthen the rule of law. The law has the capacity to unite and enfranchise the people of Asia like no other. Countries only begin to empower their people when the latter are regarded as individuals with rights and aspirations. When these rights and aspirations are disregarded, those who are most capable depart, leaving behind the less capable and resilient. Individual rights must, of course, be balanced against larger societal rights. The two are not always compatible in every respect but they are also not as diametrically opposed as might be commonly perceived.
The second source of empowerment is greater political participation. One of the essential tasks of Asia’s leaders is to convert residents into citizens and citizens into stakeholders. Empowerment is never a passive act. It is only when citizens are also stakeholders will there be the widest sense of ownership of problems and challenges. In order for Asian countries to weather this storm, governance systems must be broadly based and consultative to minimise non-cooperative behaviour.
A third prerequisite is the reform of societal ‘software’. Values and beliefs need to be changed and this is never a straightforward task. True empowerment is not mandatorily taught as much as voluntarily ‘caught’. All societies comprise intricate sets of political, social and economic incentives and disincentives and these are not always consistently aligned to arrive at the targeted outcomes. Strenuous efforts must be taken to ensure that desirable behaviour such as entrepreneurship and innovation are rewarded, while undesirable behaviour such as corruption and abuse of power are penalised.
A fourth source of empowerment is technology, particularly information and communication technology. We are faced with an increasingly informed society, enlightened by the mass spread of information through ICT, ranging from the internet to the mobile phone. Ironically, we are also living in a vastly misinformed society, where wrong information can spread as quickly and as widely as correct information. At no time in our history has information been of more value to the average human being, to his or her government, and to the private and public enterprises that serve the individual. And at no time has the value of accurate information been more important. We are also faced with a much shrunken world, where distances have been immensely shortened not only physically through the development of affordable and reliable transport systems, but also temporally, where ICT has again made distance an irrelevant feature of communication. For the first time in history, we can share ideas across oceans in real time, without needing to wait for conquest for our ideas to be spread. We are also watching a shift in the value of social and economic priorities as the globalised economy comes into its own. We now place more emphasis on non-material assets such as knowledge and skills than on material assets that have defined human society for so long. Technology has radically and dramatically changed lifestyles, leisure and business. Access to technology may be comparatively better in Asia than the rest of the developing world but it is still highly skewed. The digital divide among and within countries remains large. Failure to address it will create a new class of digital illiterates who are unable to participate in the new economy.
A fifth source of empowerment is education that breaks the chains of oppressive traditions and extremism. Education has paved the way for many to find their way out of poverty and for countries to sharpen their competitive edge. Unfortunately, a good quality education is still a dream for many. Where education facilities do exist, there has sometimes been the tendency to ‘dumb down’ to the lowest common denominator rather than seek world class excellence and distinction. Just as we have embraced free trade and globalisation as the engine of economic growth, so too must we embrace education as the engine of social rejuvenation and development. We are potentially entering an age where we will for the first time in history share a global calamity of our own making in the guise of man-induced climate change. Not only can we share information and knowledge and hard technology across borders as never before, we can also share our pollutants and our toxins, to the point where all the inhabitants of our planet may potentially need to make serious adjustments to their lifestyles and their livelihoods to continue living on this planet.
These societal challenges require a new approach and as we make our first strides into the 21st century, we find that no other institution is as well placed as our educational institutions to help us meet these challenges. These institutions can provide support by promoting participation, discussion, research, innovation and collaborative action across boundaries on a scale that no other institution can. It is through such efforts that we can bridge cultures and foster international cooperation and solidarity within and between nations, and to build truly functional networks that can provide solutions to common problems.
Concluding Remarks
In the final analysis, ‘Challenging Asia’ has as much to do about deepening the relationships that connect Asians together, as it is about common policy responses to the forces swirling around us. I wish to thank the organisers for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts. I wish you all the very best in your deliberations in the coming days.
(source: The Malaysian Bar)
Dear Pete,
It’s me again from the outside.
I have this uneasy feeling that you did not receive my first letter. Since today is also an uneasy day for me, I thought I would try writing to you again. Don’t worry, this time I will make sure you receive this. For I am going to insert it into the delicious butter cake I am baking this Sunday. So let’s hope they don’t poke their fingers into your food too!
I noticed that you have picked up the pen again. A terrific piece, packed with your trademark punches. Your usual no holds barred. As I read it, I was overwhelmed. No, not by your writing style, although the idea of you writing with a pen beats that of you pounding on a computer keyboard. But of how, no walls of bricks, no fastening of handcuffs, no solitary confinement, no incessant mental pressure, no withdrawal of your home comforts, can move you a weeny tiny bit. These offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from you but one thing: the last of your human freedom, to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose your own way. Yes, despite the attempt to break you; mentally, emotionally and physically, you are still the Raja Petra that we know before.
Zorro has the privilege of visiting you in Kamunting some two weeks ago. How did he smuggle himself in Pete? Not that his package can easily fit into Marina’s handbag? Then he must have charmed the lights out of the guards. He brought news that you are well in spirit but not in the body. Have you had that MRI done?
Actually, I wrote today because I want to tell you about my uneasy day. I started to hyperventilate again due to the fast approaching day of your 2nd Habeas Corpus decision. So many questions in this grey-less mind of mine. Will he be fair? Will he judge in your favour? Even as I type out the questions, my heart is beating so quickly. I am thinking about it so much that a friend joked, ‘If you were to meet RPK, you would probably fall in love with him because you are thinking so much!.’ Sheesh..! We cannot talk about this love thing so openly. The National Fatwa Council has been busy with ‘tomboys’ and soon ‘yoga’ too. Better not get them started on the love thing, although love is the greatest among hope and faith.
Now back to the crux of the issue, the anticipation, the anxiety of seeing you back on the outside, back in the comfort of your home, is just too much to take. Not just for us, but for you and your family too. No words can describe the murmurings in my heart. Only prayers can calm the murmurings, the anxiousness.
I leave with you again, a poem to read.
The
I’m
Possible
Can you imagine the impossible?
Or do you look between your fingers
At the horizon?
The unthinkable can free you,
break the bars
of old thoughts,
shatter habit,
open space for new thinking.
Even if it is truly outrageous,
the impossible can still, perhaps,
scatter a seed,
so a new plant can
possibly
grow.
But don’t confuse the impossible
with the merely implausible,
for there’s a
difference-
The implausible fits.
The impossible has to come from outside
to shake freedom
loose.
(Author: Lenore Horowitz)
We, on the outside, will think and work out the impossible. For as long as you live without freedom, the rest of us must face the guilt.
Rest well Pete. Take care and God bless. See you REAL soon.
SINGAPORE, Oct 29 – Malaysia is rated as “high risk” while Singapore is well-positioned to weather the economic slowdown because of its political and social stability, says Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy.
Read more here.
Can you believe this? Our country is vulnerable. We are in a ‘not too healthy’ condition to counter the effects of the global economic recession! And why? Because our country is not socially and politically stable!
Our Prime Minister has assured us (in a statement some weeks ago) that, “We have the strength and the resilience of Malaysians as we have faced it before and our banking system is still strong, there’s stability in the country and predictability in terms what’s going to develop politically.”
Our Prime Minister said there is political stability in our country. But others do not agree. They said we are not stable socially and politically. I tend to agree to that. For example, instead of being concerned about the FDI outflow, the falling oil and palm oil prices, we are bickering about who should be appointed the general manager of PKNS!
So where does that leaves us? Should we people take cover and the leaders take heed? Or we continue to deceive ourselves, thinking, “Our system is strong. There is no crisis. Our economy is not in recession!”
What a shame, we have leaders with no heads!
Mr. Najib, Malaysia’s Prime Minister -to-be was interviewed on Bloomberg Voices earlier, read the gist of what he said here.
Barely days later, Mr. Najib has to give an after thought to his earlier comments on NEP.
Here are some statements to clarify his stand on NEP. Feast on it, people…
“When I spoke (about the NEP) in an interview with Bloomberg recently, I did not mean that everything in the NEP would be abolished now.”
“I said that when the Malays and Bumiputeras have attained success and the confidence to compete at the domestic and global levels, then they would no longer need quotas or special considerations.”
“What I mean is gradual liberalisation, not saying that tomorrow we will do away with every single provision.”
“This concept of gradual liberalisation…I think it is something that can be accepted by everyone.”
“I reiterate that the NEP elements would be replaced by the process of liberalisation in a gradual manner or in stages, and not overnight.”
“I understand that this has caused concern, especially among the Malays.”
“We will take the views of all quarters so that whatever we implement will be accepted by the people.”
“As I had said before, we will be fair to all, we will not take away or deny the rights of the other communities.”
“I will continue to champion the Malay agenda. Let there be no one, whether in or outside this convention hall, question this.”
(Source: Bernama)
So it seems, Mr. Najib, being a Prime Minister for all Malaysians is tough, huh? I hope that you will be able to juggle a healthy balance for all Malaysians…
This Sunday, I baked two items; a golden butter cake with chocolate glaze and a mini cheesecake. These were to be shared with my two buddies, K & R.
My appointment with them was for lunch around 12 plus. So I started early on the baking, at 9am. Did not know there’s so much to do for the chocolate glaze and by the time I completed baking both cakes, it was 12 noon.
Shaun (the swan) came back in time to snap these photos before I hurried off for my meeting with K & R!
Golden butter cake with chocolate glaze
Mini cheesecake
We get to peep into the mind of our Prime Minister-to-be in these answers given during an interview in Bloomberg Voices. If taken at face value (now don’t jump at me yet, I said FACE VALUE, OK!), we seem to have hope for positive changes to take place IF or WHEN he becomes Prime Minister. Here are some of the answers he gave to some questions asked.
Najib’s views on the NEP:
“I’m working towards gradual liberalisation (of the NEP) as and when the bumiputeras feel they are confident. And I’m glad to say that more and more of them are confident about competing now, of doing well globally and of course, domestically.
“In the not too distant future, we will see elements of the NEP being replaced.”
“My position is there should be gradual removal of the elements of the NEP.”
“And I believe that the needs and legitimate grievances of every community, of all Malaysians in the country must be addressed. It must be seen that we are serious about solving their problems.”
Najib’s vision for Malaysia as the country’s upcoming leader:
“Not only in terms of GDP growth but we want to build a stronger Malaysia, stronger institutions, stronger values and people, and generally manage the greater expectations of Malaysians in terms of a more progressive, matured and sophisticated society.”
On civil liberties:
“We have to address that.”
“We can talk about the Internal Security Act, for example. It’s a piece of pre-emptive legislation in the context of combating terrorism, in the context of preventing something ugly from happening, whether it’s an act of terrorism, whether it’s a racial clash or something like that.”
“And at the end of the day, whatever laws you want to apply in this country have to be predicated on strong popular support for the laws, otherwise it will be counterproductive.”
Rejuvenating Umno:
“I think Umno is up to the task. We have to grow through this whole process of understanding where we are today and where we fared badly in the past elections.”
“There must be this political will and desire to change within Umno. I don’t think we can expect people to look at us in more favourable terms unless we change, we rectify our weaknesses, we project a better image.”
“I’ve come up very openly to say that if we do not change, the people will change us.”
The need to get a fresh mandate (need to hold an election):
“We intend to continue and intend to deliver and at the end of the period, the people can judge us.”
(source: Bernama)
Sweet music to your own ears indeed, when you said, “I’m quite pleased with what I have achieved so far.”
But, Mr. Najib, don’t be too pleased yet. Just a timely reminder here from Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening; “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.”
Keep your promises first Mr. Najib, before you go to sleep (please don’t inherit the legacy of Mr. Abdullah of going to sleep first, before he fulfills his promises).
Think I am going to suggest to Zorro to add a Bravery Medal Award to his collection of Dickhead Award and the fatal Fart Chamber.
Lim Kit Siang has finally revealed the sole lone ranger BN member of parliament who signed the petition urging the prime minister to prioritise the debate on the Internal Security Act when Parliament reconvenes on Wednesday, read more here at Malaysiakini.
The first citation for this Bravery Medal should go to this man.
Billy Abit Jol
A five-term MP for Hulu Rajang and vice-president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak.
For this BN MP has guts to stand up for what he believes in. He is not a doormat, nor a b*lls carrier, not a hypocrite, not a ‘tikus’! He is a man with a conscience, and yes, he has a lot of grey matters up there!
(Don’t some running dogs feel so small now?)
Happy greetings to all Malaysians celebrating Deepavali.
May you have a happy and memorable time with your family and friends!
Keep up the spirit of oneness and peace!
God bless!
The Finance Minister said, ‘Malaysia is not in a crisis and we will not go into a recession. Yes, our stock market is affected by the sentiments in other markets but I would like to stress that we are not in a financial crisis, and certainly we should not talk ourselves into one.’
Actually I am a bit confused with this recession thing. Because I cannot reconcile the Finance Minister’s assurance of the country not going into a recession with the various negative and mitigating news I picked up over the last couple of weeks. I am no economic expert. Just a man in the street trying to figure things out. Personally, I have been feeling the pinch, here and there. In the rise of food, fuel and other essentials prices, the glaring evidence of jobs getting harder to come by, pay-cut, possible downsizing (if things don’t improve)… So please tell me what’s going on? If there is no economic crisis in our country, then why the negative effects and the mitigating measures?
(Malaysia Insider) Najib today launched the Malaysia Savings Sales 2008, the rebranded Year End Sales (YES) where retail stores try to convert the sound of footfalls into the ringing of cash registers. Read more here.
(NST) The amount of cash sent home by the 2.1 million foreign workers in the country is expected to increase to RM18.1 billion this year. Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said up to June this year, they had remitted RM9.124 billion and on average each sent about RM720 monthly. Read more here.
(Malaysiakini) About 50,000 contract employees in the civil service are facing the possibility of being retrenched by the end of this year, according to the Congress of Union Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs). Read more here
(Singapore Straits Times) Malaysia plans to loosen investment rules to lure foreign funds and will review guidelines to ease rules on foreigners buying property, Finance Minister Najib Razak said yesterday. The government will also inject RM5 billion (S$2 billion) to double the size of a local fund that invests in undervalued companies to reduce the impact of a global slowdown. Read more here
(Malaysiakini) Malaysia has issued a guarantee for all bank deposits until December 2010, following the lead of several other nations in a measure to maintain the stability of its financial system. Read more here.
(Bernama) The Northport and Westport, Malaysia’s premier ports, may feel the pinch from the global economic crisis in the next quarter, says Port Klang Authority general manager Lim Thean Shiang. Read more here.
I know declaring a recession would cause public alarm. But don’t worry. The people won’t fault you and put you under ISA. The people would appreciate the truth and the government’s sincere and concerted efforts to help us ride over this difficult times. Is that too much to ask?
