Since the mid-1990s and the advent of the Internet and the rise of mobile telephony, many of us must have wondered time and again where the genteel era disappeared to. The demands of commerce has forced us to multi-task in a hundred different ways within the span of a hour or, two. The velocity of transactions has increased to breakneck levels. Stress levels have increased manifold. People walk at a faster pace, usually with mobile phones in hand. Those with bluetooth devices look like insane asylum escapees when talking hands-free.
So, what's the point of describing the obvious you may ask?
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The point that I wish to make this time is that Malaysians should venerate the tempurung mindset, especially during this time of economic turmoil in the outside world.
Imagine, bayangkanlah, if our economic regulators were super-efficient as the Singaporeans. Malaysian institutions would have been showered with all types of super-sexy financial instruments Made in U.S.A. and, these institutions would now be caught in the financial cesspool and, the Malaysian taxpayer would now have to bailout these institutions.
.
.
Some of us were perturbed when the Securities Commission re-introduced shortselling via the Securities Borrowing and Lending Regulations a few years ago. They said it signalled that the Malaysian capital market had recovered and, we were ready to re-engage the world.
Then, Bank Negara removed capital controls using the same rationale.
.
.
But, against the shining light of the stupendous economic progress and growth of China, the quantum leap ICT power of India and, even the rise of the new Switzerland aka Singapore, Malaysia was and, still is, seen as an economic and financial backwater. And, so, much of the hot money went every which way and a little trickled our way.
This meant that we had a less exciting capital market. This meant the large Malaysian companies that were listed in Bursa Malaysia were little grains of sand when measured against the likes of Singaporean corporations, never mind the others in Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, China, Europe and the U.S. Truly, Malaysia was a geographic tempurung.
National competitiveness
Malaysians are said to be less competitive because our skill sets are too backward. Training us takes longer because of our short attention span or our inability to concentrate for long periods of time.
Our regulators take forever to study new things that forward-thinkers want to foist on the Malaysian economy. Our regulators take longer to grasp complicated concepts that underpin sophisticated financial products.
.
.
Our bankers are said to take longer to calculate risk.
Our accountants are accused of taking too long to conduct due diligence exercises.
Our lawyers take too long to draft contracts.
Most recently, our Bank Negara was accused of being indecisive in raising interest rates.
It seemed to be uncool to be Malaysian.
The value of the tempurung
The True Story of Ah Q written by Lu Xun is apposite here. The fictional protagonist, Ah Q was known for deluding himself into believing he was the victor every time he lost a fight. In one scene, Ah Q was beaten and his silver was stolen. He slapped himself on the face, and because he was the person doing the slapping, he saw himself as the victor.
This deep-rooted need to maintain a victorious status even when actually defeated can be used to show the Malaysian obsession with maintaining a good appearance to all outsiders to be ridiculous at times.
But, maybe this time around, when economic turmoil is reaching boiling point, Malaysians may be entitled to say that all that is said to be bad about Malaysia's approach to modern economics isn't so bad after all.
Malaysians are honest about our inability to comprehend complicated financial algorithm and downside risks. We are honest about needing more time to study and, study again, new financial products. So what, if the Singaporeans have already done their math and written the laws and, have begun to introduce these financial products?
.
.
Malaysians operate at a different perception of time. Under the tempurung we determine when it is night or, when it should be day. We control our domain. The outside world must enter into our tempurung on our terms.
This time around, this may be the lesson that Malaysia can teach the world. Maybe this view is not original. Wasn't this what the Che Det fellow has been hectoring about since 1998 under the label of nationalism?
So, what's the point of describing the obvious you may ask?
.
The point that I wish to make this time is that Malaysians should venerate the tempurung mindset, especially during this time of economic turmoil in the outside world.
Imagine, bayangkanlah, if our economic regulators were super-efficient as the Singaporeans. Malaysian institutions would have been showered with all types of super-sexy financial instruments Made in U.S.A. and, these institutions would now be caught in the financial cesspool and, the Malaysian taxpayer would now have to bailout these institutions.
.
.Some of us were perturbed when the Securities Commission re-introduced shortselling via the Securities Borrowing and Lending Regulations a few years ago. They said it signalled that the Malaysian capital market had recovered and, we were ready to re-engage the world.
Then, Bank Negara removed capital controls using the same rationale.
.
.But, against the shining light of the stupendous economic progress and growth of China, the quantum leap ICT power of India and, even the rise of the new Switzerland aka Singapore, Malaysia was and, still is, seen as an economic and financial backwater. And, so, much of the hot money went every which way and a little trickled our way.
This meant that we had a less exciting capital market. This meant the large Malaysian companies that were listed in Bursa Malaysia were little grains of sand when measured against the likes of Singaporean corporations, never mind the others in Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, China, Europe and the U.S. Truly, Malaysia was a geographic tempurung.
National competitiveness
Malaysians are said to be less competitive because our skill sets are too backward. Training us takes longer because of our short attention span or our inability to concentrate for long periods of time.
Our regulators take forever to study new things that forward-thinkers want to foist on the Malaysian economy. Our regulators take longer to grasp complicated concepts that underpin sophisticated financial products.
.
.Our bankers are said to take longer to calculate risk.
Our accountants are accused of taking too long to conduct due diligence exercises.
Our lawyers take too long to draft contracts.
Most recently, our Bank Negara was accused of being indecisive in raising interest rates.
It seemed to be uncool to be Malaysian.
The value of the tempurung
The True Story of Ah Q written by Lu Xun is apposite here. The fictional protagonist, Ah Q was known for deluding himself into believing he was the victor every time he lost a fight. In one scene, Ah Q was beaten and his silver was stolen. He slapped himself on the face, and because he was the person doing the slapping, he saw himself as the victor.
This deep-rooted need to maintain a victorious status even when actually defeated can be used to show the Malaysian obsession with maintaining a good appearance to all outsiders to be ridiculous at times.
But, maybe this time around, when economic turmoil is reaching boiling point, Malaysians may be entitled to say that all that is said to be bad about Malaysia's approach to modern economics isn't so bad after all.
Malaysians are honest about our inability to comprehend complicated financial algorithm and downside risks. We are honest about needing more time to study and, study again, new financial products. So what, if the Singaporeans have already done their math and written the laws and, have begun to introduce these financial products?
.
.Malaysians operate at a different perception of time. Under the tempurung we determine when it is night or, when it should be day. We control our domain. The outside world must enter into our tempurung on our terms.
This time around, this may be the lesson that Malaysia can teach the world. Maybe this view is not original. Wasn't this what the Che Det fellow has been hectoring about since 1998 under the label of nationalism?
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