Of meritocracy, equal opportunities

It comes to mind these days that there have been many arguments regarding merit, which has turned both political and racial.

For many Malaysians venting online, it seems to be rather abundant that the solution to all Malaysia’s woes is the need for merit-based policies in hiring and awarding contracts, or even handing out placements in public universities.

Seems rational enough, except for the fact that we are denying a few elements within the concept of meritocracy are unfair in a society that is obviously suffering from large gaps of wealth and inequality of income.

While many wish to emphasise on the social inequalities being faced through the implementation of Bumiputera privileges (which not many can even afford), none wishes to look at the issue of equal opportunities before jumping ahead to this conclusion.

In other words, does the son of a fisherman in northern Selangor who goes to national school have the same access to opportunity as the son of a five-figure monthly salaryman in Subang Jaya who goes to an international or private school?

Because when you talk about equality, this is the basis for all of it – equal opportunities for all, equal access to education, jobs and credit regardless of race but at the same time, at the expense of wealth.

Yet, nobody wants to talk about discrediting wealth because, of course, many want to be capitalists I guess.

Some may even say it is utopian, but it is not, it is Scandinavian.

Wealth gaps need to be addressed or made irrelevant before we even consider talking about merit. This would mean the same opportunity for the son of a padi farmer barely scraping through every month and the millionaire’s son who goes to one of those private colleges which guarantees a year studying in London.

It would also mean allowing the same amount of discretion for the designer setting up his or her fashion label and the keropok lekor/pisang goreng seller to set up shop.

Do we really have such a system? No, we do not.

This is what the government has continued to try to do through the setting up of multiple agencies. Unfortunately, and here is the kicker, there is a racial differentiation in the access to capital and credit through no one’s real fault and has nothing to do with merit.

I will emphasise this clearly, it is no one’s fault that ethnically, there are more Chinese able to set up shop in this country compared with the Malays.

For one part, the Malay phrase of “bersusah-susah dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian” in the two communities are with two different timelines in mind. You see, for the Chinese, this phrase applies for their next generation, not for themselves.

In the Malay community, there is no such wising up throughout the Malaysian majority perhaps because they were not told or taught as a major point to invest in hedge funds, company stock, bonds or even the Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB).

While the Malay politicians in a certain party are quick to accuse the Chinese of being able to achieve more in the economic sphere, there is no mention as to the why.

They do not wish to talk about how the initial generations create nest eggs for the next generation to be able to set up shop or even migrate for better opportunities.

It is also the proof of why meritocracy would not work, and it really does not work anywhere because inherited wealth guarantees better opportunities for those that have it. And unfortunately, in Malaysia, only one ethnic group actually focuses on doing it.

That being said, however, we must admit that there is a huge divide between the rich and the poor of all ethnicities in Malaysia, be it the Malay, Chinese, Indian or even the multiple Orang Asal communities in our borders.

While the government has since the 1990s emphasised on creating a huge Malay middle-class community and succeeded, it has not done so without considering the cost both financially or socially.

The financial cost can be seen at the level of household debt, which in March was 86.8% of Malaysia’s GDP. To simplify, for every ringgit the country produces, 87 sen is owed to someone.

The social aspect has also been seen equivalently seen in the recent years. The huge wins by Pakatan Rakyat in both parliamentary seats and state assemblies are not so much an aspect of the whole “reformation” battle cry, but the fact that the people are seeing the increasing gaps in class warfare being left to thrive.

However, there is no promise that the change in who runs the government can guarantee the addressing of wealth inequality better because while politicians need votes, they also need money to allow them to get to the voters in the first place. – December 10, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.