Why Malaysia needs an alternative vision

In the midst of a chilling denouement involving a former prime minister and the incumbent, and a series of economic, political and communal flashpoints that are testing the resilience of the Malaysian prospect, a deeply meaningful book entitled “An Alternative Vision for Malaysia” was launched at a low-key event a fortnight ago.

The book, a collection of speeches and writings by Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, the simple-living reformer and socialist leader, zooms in on some of the major paradoxes facing the modern world and argues persuasively for a saner, kinder path to development.

Underlying Dr Devaraj’s credo is a core belief that the welfare of the humble majority, or “rakyat marhaen”, must be given a central place in any system, whether economic, political or value-based, in order for a just society to take shape.

Where this focus is lost, he shows, much suffering is created for a huge number of people – hence the need for a new vision to restore the people’s right to live lives of dignity and fulfilment.

For this reason, it is important to pay attention to Dr Devaraj’s message, since even going by official statistics it is undeniable that a large majority of the people are subsisting in a sub-par state due to persistent economic and social disadvantages.

For example, Dr Devaraj, who is the MP for Sungai Siput, shows in a parliamentary debate entitled “Protecting ‘Malay Interests’? Whose?” which is included in his latest book that while the interests of the majority Malay population should rightly be given priority, since some 62% of Malay families – according to government figures – are earning below RM3,000 per month, the interests that are being promoted by Malay government leaders are not those of the poor of their community, but of the Malay contractors and corporate class.

Ironically, he points out, although key aspects of the Malay agenda set out at Independence have been achieved – including Malayisation of the civil service, control over several economic sectors and control of about 60% of the GDP – the common Malays are still facing crippling economic hardships.

He cites numerous cases of students in his semi-rural constituency who quit secondary school as they could not afford the RM50 monthly school bus fare.

Also, says Dr Devaraj, in the villages of Sungai Siput, many Malay families have had their water supply cut because they could not pay the monthly water bill of RM20.

In truth, the needs of the 62%, comprised paddy planters, farmers, factory workers, contract workers, government staff and fishermen, are at odds with the interests of the politically-connected contractor class and corporate Malays, who formed 2.8% and 0.5% of the community in 2007, according to figures provided by the Prime Minister’s Department.

Dr Devaraj cites two cases of replanting schemes in his constituency that had gone wrong, where the contractors had been well paid by Risda, the agency concerned, but the farmers were left without an income because the activity was abandoned.

As for the corporate class, the official promotion of health tourism, Dr Devaraj notes by way of example, will mean handsome gains for the government-linked companies in the health system, while the resultant exodus of health professionals to the private sector will adversely impact the health and welfare of the Malay “marhaen” who rely on government hospitals.

But Dr Devaraj’s alternative vision is not just about a particular group, but concerns the correction of imbalances in economic systems, the fulfilment of basic needs and the harmonious functioning of plural societies, to take some key strands from his writings.

In one paper he discusses the failure of the current development model to ensure the right to livelihood for millions of people around the world despite the promising words of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted over 65 years ago.

The root causes of the global economic malaise that result in such failures, Dr Devaraj points out, include an inequitable system of international trade that prevents the prices of primary produce of developing countries from increasing at the same rate as that of manufactured goods in the developing countries.

Consequently, the third world countries gradually become permanently indebted to the rich ones and are never able to escape their dependency on credit.

Another factor is the evolution of an economic system where the interests of the large corporations, known as the 1%, have become the most important priority.

Economic policy in many countries is now formulated with the goal of attracting private investment, Dr Devaraj notes.

These perspectives, which used to preoccupy the alternative economic movement over the past several decades, have become dramatically more acceptable to the mainstream following the shocks that triggered the global economic recession in 2008.

Dr Devaraj argues that the scope for rectifying the inherent flaws of the current development model is limited by the perception that there is no alternative to economic development apart from the path of unbridled expansion of the activities of the large corporations.

This view is tied strongly to the perception that “the alternative system as attempted by the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc was a total and horrendous failure – that any attempt to restrain monopoly capital by bringing these monopolies under the control of the people must necessarily lead to a repressive and authoritarian political apparatus, and to an undermining of human rights, liberty and democracy.”

In the light of the continuing churn in the global economy that is keeping governments, businesses and the people on tenterhooks – and on the local scene, the shockwaves that are bringing Malaysia to the brink of a new era, the ideas that Dr Devaraj promotes offer hope for a way forward that would protect the most vulnerable from a mercilessly mercenary fate. – April 25, 2015.

* R B Bhattacharjee is associate editor at The Edge.

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