- Saya mengalu-alukan perhimpunan umat Islam yang bertujuan mempertahan kedaulatan Islam dan Perlembagaan. Saya sokong penuh tujuan-tujuan tersebut.
- Tetapi saya tertanya-tanya samada benar tujuan mendaulat Islam atau bertujuan mendapat sokongan bagi parti-parti politik tertentu. Yang pertamanya yang memimpin dan berucap ialah pemimpin Parti politik UMNO dan PAS. Dan akhbar melapor hasrat perhimpunan ialah untuk memperingati Kerajaan akan kedudukan agama Islam.
- Jika ia bertujuan mendaulat Islam, sepatutnya ia tidak terhad kepada parti politik tertentu sahaja. Gandingan parti-parti ini tidak mencerminkan solidariti orang Islam. Bahkan ia mengasing dan memisah umat Islam di Malaysia.
- PAS sejak awal lagi mendakwa orang parti UMNO adalah kafir kerana bekerjasama dengan orang kafir. Dakwaan ini masih tidak dibatalkan. Bahkan Amanat Hadi yang mendakwa Kerajaan UMNO adalah kafir dan kematian pejuang melawan Kerajaan UMNO, jika meninggal adalah syahid.
- Sekaligus dakwaan PAS dan Amanat Hadi memecah belah orang Melayu buat kali pertama. Orang Melayu semuanya beragama Islam dan termasuk golongan Sunni (Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah) pimpinan Imam Shafie. Tidak ada kelainan pendapat atau fahaman mereka berkenaan agama Islam sejak dahulu kala lagi. Mereka berpecah dengan mendalam dan teruk hanya apabila PAS ditubuh dan mendakwa orang UMNO kafir kerana bekerjasama dengan orang kafir. Demikianlah taksubnya orang PAS terhadap dakwaan ini sehingga ada yang anggap ibu bapa mereka yang menyertai UMNO sebagai kafir. Mereka dakwa perkahwinan orang UMNO tidak sah dan perlu dikahwin semula. Sembelihan orang UMNO haram dan tidak boleh dimakan oleh orang PAS dan bermacam lagi.
- Sehingga sekarang PAS tidak pernah batalkan dakwaan UMNO kafir mereka dan Amanat Hadi. Bagi PAS orang yang tidak sertai PAS adalah kafir. Mengikut PAS hanya ahli PAS sahaja Islam. Sudah tentu orang Islam yang mencari suaka di Negara bukan Islam sudah jadi kafir.
- Bagaimanakah PAS bersama UMNO berhak dakwa perhimpunan mereka menggambar solidariti orang Islam untuk kedaulatan Islam.
- Ada pula orang yang berjawatan, yang membisu seribu bahasa berkenaan dakwaan PAS dan Amanat Hadi. Apakah mereka terima kesahihan dakwaan PAS dan Amanat Hadi.
- Ada orang Islam yang kononnya ingin mengamal ajaran Islam. Tumpuan mereka adalah kepada perkara yang kecil yang mempunyai unsur politik. Sebaliknya larangan keras agama Islam tidak mendapat teguran dari mereka.
- Sekarang kita sudah dapati orang Islam Malaysia yang menyertai peperangan sesama orang Islam. Mereka sanggup membunuh orang Islam, sesuatu yang dilarang oleh agama Islam. Tidak ada gerakan oleh orang Islam yang ingin mendaulatkan Islam ini yang berhujah berkenaan dosanya membunuh, terutama membunuh orang Islam.
- Orang Islam itu bersaudara. Tetapi persaudaraan orang Islam dihapuskan dengan penubuhan PAS yang memperalatkan Islam secara salah untuk hancurkan persaudaraan antara orang Melayu Islam yang wujud sebelum PAS ditubuh.
- Yang lebih buruk lagi ialah melaungkan nama Allah semasa himpunan untuk memperkuatkan politik pecah belah oleh parti. Nama Allah diguna untuk menghalalkan penolakan ajaran Islam bahawa mengkafir orang Islam tanpa sebab yang nyata. Membuat dosa dengan melaku amalan yang dilarang oleh agama tidak sepatutnya disusuli dengan menyebut nama Allah.
- Islam melarang mencuri, tetapi PAS berunding dan bekerjasama dengan pemerintahan sebelum ini yang terkenal dalam dunia sebagai pemerintahan pencuri. Sekarang PAS terus berganding bahu dengan orang yang ditolak oleh masyarakat kerana mencuri.
- Ramai juga orang Melayu yang kerap menuduh Kerajaan ini tidak mendaulatkan Islam. Tetapi sebaliknya rombongan demi rombongan orang Islam datang dari negara-negara Islam lain yang dakwa bahawa Malaysia adalah contoh negara Islam. Dimana-mana juga di luar Negara terdapat orang Islam yang pandang tinggi Malaysia sebagai negara Islam. Mereka nyatakan keinginan melihat negara mereka menjadi seperti Malaysia.
- Kata mereka penduduk Negara mereka yang 100% Islam tidak pun dapat mentadbir dan menstabilkan Negara mereka, jauh sekali dari membangun Negara mereka. Kerap kali mereka bermusuh sesama mereka, membunuh dan berperang. Demikianlah huru hara di Negara mereka sehingga ramai yang terpaksa berhijrah ke Negara bukan Islam. Kelainan suku kaum, kelainan fahaman ajaran Islam, kelainan politik, kelainan pemimpin menghalang keamamanan. Kerapkali mereka terpaksa akur dengan kehendak kuasa besar yang bukan Islam. Ada juga yang dipengaruhi oleh Yahudi, samada secara langsung atau tidak langsung.
- Orang Islam di Negara-negara ini sering kagum dengan Islam di Malaysia. Mereka tidak mendakwa bahawa Islam tidak didaulat di Malaysia. Yang menuduh hanya orang Islam di Malaysia sahaja.
- Ya. Kita tidak potong tangan, tidak pancung kepala, tidak lontar batu untuk bunuh wanita yang dituduh berzina. Kita tidak berbuat demikian kerana Islam utamakan keadilan. Apakah adil memotong tangan orang Islam tetapi mengenakan penjara dua bulan pencuri bukan Islam. Apakah adil menghukum wanita yang dirogol tetapi tidak lelaki yang merogol. Ya. Tidak ada empat orang saksi. Tetapi ada bukti lain. Ingatlah Zulaikha bersalah kerana baju Yusuf koyak dibelakang. Ini disebut dalam Al-Quran. Di zaman ini kita boleh kenal perogol melalui berbagai cara.
- Syariat Islam mengutama keadilan, bukan hukum dan bukan saksi. Sesuatu yang tidak adil bukan Islam. Menentukan keadilan adalah ajaran Islam.
- Sesungguhnya tuduhan yang dilempar terhadap Kerajaan bukan kerana tidak mendaulat Islam, tetapi semata-mata kerana politik. Dalam usaha ini agama Islam yang suci menjadi buruk kerana kepentingan bukan agama.
- Sekali lagi saya ingin bertanya kepada Haji Hadi dan PAS samada mereka masih nafikan Islam saya dan orang yang bukan menjadi ahli atau penyokong PAS.
THE MALAYSIAN CONSTITUTION
1. When the MacMichael Treaties (or agreements) were signed, the states of Malaysia became a colony of the British. The Malayan Union would be ruled entirely by the British. The Malays could no longer claim ownership of the states. There no longer was a Tanah Melayu or Malay Land.
2. As one, the Malays rose in protest. Such was their unity that the British had to back downand abrogated all the MacMichael Treaties. The British agreed to replace the Malayan Union with the Federation of Malaya. Officially the accepted name was the “Persekutuan Tanah Melayu”. It reverted to being a protectorate by treaty.
3. The Government of the Federation of Malaya was led by the High Commissioner as the Chief Executive, presiding over the Executive Council and the Legislative Council. All members were nominated by the High Commissioner.
4. In 1955 the British decided to hold partial election for 52 of the 98 seats of the Federal Legislative Council.
5. The British believed that no single party could win more than 49 seats to claim a right to form a majority Government.
6. But in the event the Alliance of UMNO, MCA and MIC won 51 of the 52 seats and was able to claim the right to form a home-rule Government.
7. Immediately there was a clamour among the people and the parties in the Government for independence.
8. Negotiations were held in London and eventually it was agreed that Malaya would become independent in 1957.
9. In preparation for this, the Reid Commission was tasked with drawing up the independent Federal Constitution.
10. It was agreed that Malaya would be a democracy where the people would choose the Government. The rulers would be constitutional heads without executive power. Their position would be guaranteed by the Constitution which would be the supreme law of the country.
11. The party winning the election would name the Prime Minister (or the Chief Minister – Menteri Besar) and the constitutional head would endorse.
12. Should the constitutional monarch refuse to endorse and proposes his own candidate and endorses him, the winning party can reject him in the assembly – ‘dewan’, through a vote of non-confidence.
13. The constitutions of Johore and Terengganu which were promulgated earlier were nullified by the new constitution which was accepted by all the states of Malaysia. Accordingly on the 9th of May, 2018, the peoples of Malaysia went to the polls to elect the Governments of (the Federation) Malaysia and the Governments of the states.
14. It is important that everyone concerned respects the constitution and abide by it. Failure to do so would negate the rule of law.
BUDAYA BARU
Aku curi. Apa nak malu.
Apatah lagi aku boss kamu.
Tak perlu kamu malu kerana boss kamu mencuri.
Sikit-sikit kamu juga boleh dapat duit yang dicuri.
Nak malu apa. Bossku.
Bangsaku tak perlu malu.
Curilah…
Lebih banyak yang dicuri lebih mulia.
Digelar kleptokrat adalah puji-pujian.
Ayuh bangsaku. Mari kita curi supaya boleh jadi boss.
GABUNGAN UMNO DAN PAS
1. Gabungan PAS dan UMNO ini agak menarik kerana asas perpecahan dan penubuhan PAS dahulu belum selesai. Ulama UMNO keluar UMNO untuk menubuh PAS kononnya kerana Islam. Lagipun semasa kepimpinan UMNO yang lepas, salah satu sebab penggabungan bahkan kerjasama UMNO dan PAS tidak berlaku adalah kerana PAS telah mengkafirkan UMNO.
2. PAS tidak pernah menarik balik “fatwa” tersebut. Sudahkah PAS Islamkan UMNO?
3. Keduanya, PAS juga tidak mahu bekerjasama dengan UMNO pada masa dahulu kerana UMNO mengamalkan perlembagaan yang dituduh sekular dan kafir.
4. Ini adalah di antara asas Amanat Haji Hadi yang membawa kepada sembahyang dua imam; tidak mahu makan sembelihan orang UMNO, jenazah perlu disembahyangkan semula oleh orang PAS jika sebelumnya disembahyangkan oleh orang UMNO, mengharamkan anak mengahwini anak orang UMNO, mengharamkan isteri mengundi UMNO dan jika dilakukan akan gugur talak dan bermacam-macam lagi.
5. Adakah kesemua larangan dan amalan-amalan ini telah ditarik balik atau di arah untuk dihentikan? Apakah orang UMNO terima bahawa mereka dengan PAS kelainan agama tetapi perbezaan ini diterima kedua-dua pihak.
6. Melihat pada perkembangan sekarang, kerjasama antara UMNO dan PAS lebih ke arah untuk mengembali Datuk Seri Najib sebagai pemimpin dan menghalalkan semua jenayah yang Najib didakwa telah melakukan.
7. Adakah PAS sudah anggap Najib yang sedang menghadapi tuduhan-tuduhan rasuah dan salahguna kuasa tidak bersalah.
8. Apakah atas nama penyatuan Melayu dan Islam, rasuah, salahguna kuasa dan jenayah boleh dihalalkan?. Apakah ini adalah pembohongan yang wajib?
9. Betul Najib belum didapati bersalah kerana perbicaraan oleh Mahkamah belum dapat diadakan. Akan terimakah Najib sebagai pemimpin PAS jika ia didapati bersalah.
10. Tetapi jika ahli-ahli dan pemimpin-pemimpin PAS yang arif akan apa yang berlaku di serata dunia, kenapakah mereka masih bersedia bersekongkol bersama UMNO dan Najib. Tidak sedarkah mereka bahawa ramai ahli UMNO sudah meninggal UMNO kerana telah jadi kleptokrasi dan bukan demokrasi.
11. Mereka juga pasti sedar bagaimana beberapa buah bank terkenal dunia telah di tutup dan pegawai-pegawai mereka didakwa dan di jel kerana pembabitan di dalam skandal 1MDB.
12. Selain dari itu, PAS perlu sedar nilai yang diterap dengan bekerjasama dengan Najib dan UMNO di waktu ini.
13. Najib menggelar dirinya dan digelar oleh pengikutnya sebagai “Boss” yang tak perlu berasa malu.
14. Bos bermakna “Tuan Hamba”. Apakah PAS juga bersedia untuk jadi hamba kepada seorang yang dipercayai mencuri. Sudah gugurkah PAS perasaan malu apabila menerima Najib sebagai “boss”.
15. Beberapa orang pemimpin PAS telah datang berjumpa saya dan menyerah satu dokumen akujanji akan menyokong saya sebagai Perdana Menteri. Pemimpin PAS kata tidak akan berkempen sokong BN di Semenyih. Tetapi pada hari penamaan calon ramai pemimpin PAS hadir bersama pemimpin BN. Inikah janji PAS?
16. PH tidak gentar melihat gabungan PAS dengan UMNO. Ia memberi banyak isu dan peluang mendedahkan kedua-dua parti bahawa pembohongan sudah jadi wajib bagi mereka.
A GENOCIDAL STATE
1. Malaysia does not recognise Israel; has no diplomatic relation with it, does not allow Malaysians to visit Israel and does not allow Israelis to visit Malaysia.2. This is the only country in the world that Malaysia treats in this manner. Why?
3. In the first place Israel was created from a slice of Palestinian land, without a referendum or a plebiscite being held. The Palestinians were expelled from Palestine without any compensation for the land and homes seized by the Israelis.
4. Then Israel seized more Palestinian land so that Israel became bigger. The Israelis then built numerous settlements on Palestinian land without the consent of the Palestinian nation. Palestinians are barred from these settlements.
5. When the Palestinians resisted and threw stones at Israeli tanks and armoured cars, the Israeli soldiers fired live bullets at the Palestinian children and arrested many of them. The arrested people were detained for years without trial.
6. The detainees were used to exchange with Israeli soldiers captured by the Palestinians.
7. The Gaza strip is blockaded by Israeli forces. Relief ships carrying food, medicine and building materials were siezed in international waters and forced to go to Israel. In one incident 10 activists were killed. These acts by the Israelis is blatantly against international laws.
8. When the Palestinians fired futile rockets at Israel, the Israelis dropped bombs and fired missiles at Palestinian towns and villages. Schools and hospitals were destroyed, patients and children killed or maimed.
9. The blockade of Gaza is illegal but no country has condemned Israel for breaking international laws and moral codes.
10. Today Israel declares that Jerusalem is its capital. When Palestinian slapped Israelis soldiers, they were shot and killed and many were detained.
11. A high wall has been built to divide Palestinian villages and towns. Palestinians cannot visit relatives without being subjected to humiliating checks at many check-points created by the Israelis. The Palestinians are not allowed to travel on roads built by the Israelis on Palestinian land.
12. Thousands of Palestinian have been killed or wounded through Israeli military actions.
13. The whole world can see the injustice and the oppression of the Palestinian by the Israelis. But Israel is not even criticised by the people who talk so much about freedom from oppression and the rule of law. Israel seems to be privileged.
14. If anyone criticises Israel or the holocaust he is immediately labelled “anti-Semitic”. The implication is that he is inhuman or immoral. But the blatant inhumanity of Israel is not condemned.
15. Malaysia is not anti-Jew or anti-Semitic. The Arabs are also Semitic people. But we reserve the right to condemn inhuman and oppressive behaviour anywhere, by anyone. We have condemned the Myanmar people for their treatment of the Rohingyas. We have criticised many countries and people for inhuman acts.
16. Many people and many countries have condemned us. But we have not been labelled nor have we labelled people who speak as a matter of right in a free world.
17. Malaysia bans two Israeli athletes – the US bans citizens of five Islamic nations and plans to build a wall against South Americans. Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic ban refugees. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban referred to Syrian refugees as “Muslim invaders.”
18. Israel is a criminal state and deserves to be condemned. We know the strong backing for Israel. We cannot act against Israel beyond refusing to recognise it. We maintain we have a right to bar Israelis from our country. When the world condemns us for this we have a right to say that the world is being hypocritical. Their talk of human rights and the rule of law is so much empty words.
19. I appeal to those who sympathise with the Palestinian cause to voice their condemnation. Terrorism is not the answer. A proper strategy is needed to bring justice to the Palestinians.
THE RULE OF LAW
1. Among the most important objectives of Pakatan Harapan when it was struggling to overthrow the kleptocratic government of Najib Razak was the restoration of the Rule of Law. Najib had ignored the law when it suited him. In fact the laws were abused in order to oppress the people. Instead of protecting the people, the laws exposed the people to unknown but real fears.
2. The basic law of Malaysia is the constitution. It is a comprehensive body of laws which determines the legal structure of Malaysia from the Yang Di Pertuan Agong to the Rulers of the States, to the Federal and State Governments and the bodies empowered to rule and enforce.
3. All other laws are derived from the constitution. No law which in any way negates the constitution may be promulgated.
MEMPERASUAHAN ORANG MELAYU
1. Saya tidak tahu samada “memperasuahan” adalah satu perkataan dalam bahasa Melayu. Tetapi sama ada perkataan ini ada atau tidak, perbuatan memperasuahan memang kerap dilakukan dalam masyarakat manusia. Maknanya ialah perbuatan menyemai sifat buruk ini dalam masyarakat sehingga menjadi sebahagian dari budayanya. Masyarakat yang terima budaya ini, tidak lagi berasa segan atau malu dengan pemberian dan penerimaan rasuah, yang kadang-kadang disebut sebagai “tumbuk rusuk” atau “makan suap”.
2. Rasuah tetap diamal oleh semua masyarakat manusia. Tetapi biasanya masyarakat anggap rasuah sebagai satu amalan yang keji dan buruk. Mereka yang mengamal rasuah akan menyembunyi perbuatan mereka kerana sedar yang ianya adalah sesuatu amalan yang salah disisi undang-undang dan agama juga.
3. Tetapi apabila masyarakat terima amalan rasuah sebagai perkara biasa yang boleh diamal secara terbuka, maka tidak lagi ada perasaan segan silu apabila melakukannya, baik oleh pemberi atau penerima.
4. Di zaman pemerintahan yang percaya “cash is king” atau “wang adalah raja” maka pemberian dan penerimaan rasuah menjadi satu dari nilai hidup dan budaya, terutama dikalangan orang Melayu.
5. Apa sahaja sanggup dibuat jika disogok dengan wang atau pemberian yang diminati. Soal baik buruk sesuatu yang diberi atau diarah tidak termasuk dalam pertimbangan.
6. Percanggahan dengan undang-undang, bahkan berdosa dari segi agama tidak diambil kira. Yang diutamakan ialah pendapatan yang memuaskan nafsu.
7. Masyarakat tahu, mereka tahu sogokan dianggap sebagai perbuatan yang tidak baik dan dilarang. Tetapi penerima tidak fikir panjang. Baik, tidak baik; tetapi sogokan memuaskan nafsu dan dipercayai menguntungkan. Oleh itu terima sahajalah. Kesan buruk terhadap masyarakat adalah perkara remeh dan gampang.
8. Sudah tentu perasaan kebangsaan dan kesan terhadap bangsa dan negara tidak lebih utama dari nafsu penerima rasuah.
Selamat Menyambut Maulidur Rasul
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Alhamdulillah setinggi-tinggi kesyukuran ke hadrat Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala kerana kita dapat Menyambut Maulidur Rasul pada tahun ini. Selawat dan salam ke atas junjungan besar Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, ahli keluarga dan para sahabat baginda seluruhnya.
Islam yang dibawa oleh Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam merupakan bukan sahaja satu agama tetapi juga adalah satu cara hidup yang lengkap dan kita sebagai umatnya harus bersyukur kerana berpeluang menghayati kesyumulannya.
Kerana itu kita memperingati hari kelahiran nabi Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam sebagai penyataan kasih dan sanjungan tinggi kita terhadap baginda di atas perjuangannya dalam menyebarkan syiar Islam.
Selamat Menyambut Maulidur Rasul.Sekian terima kasih.
Inclusion in The Age of Disruption
Full speech text, titled ‘Inclusion in the age of disruption: Charting a common future’ at the 2018 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit. Courtesy NSTP.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. Good morning. First and foremost I would like to congratulate Mr Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and the people of Papua New Guinea for successfully hosting this year’s APEC summit.
2. I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my personal gratitude to the Prime Minister and the people of Papua New Guinea for being such a good host. To my mind, no matter how efficient the hosts are, clockwork precision does not make the heart fonder. It is the warmth and those flashes of smiles that linger with the guests which I felt and saw here in Port Moresby which really tell how we feel.
3. Just two days short of 20 years (on 15th November 1998), Malaysia hosted the APEC business summit in Kuala Lumpur and I delivered a speech entitled “Restoring Confidence, Regenerating Growth, Managing Globalisation Better.”
4. It was at a time when Malaysia, along with other countries in the region, was under a tremendous threat of being bankrupted, diminished and economically paralysed. In what is now popularly known as the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC), some of the East Asian nations, which prior to the crisis were dubbed Asian tigers, were thrown into utter disarray by currency speculators.
5. Years of hard work and progress evaporated overnight. Our economy regressed by decades even. We suffered. In a neighbouring country, nearly 40 million people lost their jobs.
6. Though we described them as rogue speculators, they were actually legitimate, a creature of a system which all the nations had embraced readily so that we become part of the global community.
7. But we were punished, whether by chance or design, while the currency speculators were laughing all the way to the banks.
8. Multilateral organisations provided some medicine to our weakening economy, but instead of making the economy healthier, it made us sicker. Their policies made it worse.
9. We decided to do it our way. We recovered much faster than those who had prescribed the conventional remedy they were advised to follow.
10. The rest is of course history.
Ladies and Gentlemen
11. The point is that, developing nations, in an effort to catch up with the leading or developed nations sometimes, if not always, end up losing and sometimes even worse than before they started. Many times, it is not because of our own doings.
12. But we soldiered on, some falling on the wayside; pick ourselves up only to face new challenges that are generally churned up by others.
13. Yes, some of us are still at it, trying to figure out what went wrong with our previous models in trade, economy, governance and political system and today we have to deal with what seems to be inevitable – the age of disruption, in particular of technological disruptions.
14. It is not a new phenomenon. In 19th century England, the usage of technology in the textile industry led to the machine-smashing and other forms of violence instigated by the Luddite movement.
15. But today, the age of disruption or simply disruption seems to be accepted, as the “catchall phrase for transformative change.” More to that, in the age of disruption we are expected to adjust our strategies and practices so as to be able to deal with the radical change.
16. It is not a new phenomenon, as I pointed out earlier. It is around us, be it digitalisation, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, advancement of automation and the advent of other new technologies that bring about sweeping changes in our lives and the way we do business.
17. In Malaysia, like in many other countries, is already being reminded of the effects of disruptive technology. The displacement of taxi-drivers to e-hailing taxi apps resulted in protests and demonstrations. Hoteliers complained of losing their clientele to home-sharing platform. Brick and mortar companies c
omplained of losing clientele to online retailers. These scenes are repeated in other countries, of those who losses out to new technology player.
18. The common theme in the three examples above is the strategy of increasing market share, through low cost operations and productive manpower. This strategy would be unusual two decades ago in the age before internet and when physical human involvements at all levels of business were necessary.
19. We can expect more disruptions ahead when we become more automated, with unskilled and even skilled workers becoming less and less relevant.
20. If unattended, it will cause employment crisis and upheavals.
21. That brings us to the title of this forum today – “Inclusion in the Age of Disruption: Charting a Common Future.”
22. The challenge is how to ensure no one is left behind in the age of disruption. Some will be slow on the uptake but others will be faster. But once we understand the pace will certainly increase. Still we must be careful that the disruption will not widen inequality. And inequality is bad for growth, and bad for social stability.
23. However, technology itself would not widen the income gap. Bad policies will. We must learn from the experience of others about good and bad policies, so we can avoid the bad ones.
24. The disruptions are not limited in the technological spheres, but also in politics and economics. Some of these are within our control.
25. The benefits of free and fair trade and economic integration have been ruptured, exemplified by Brexit and trade war between major economies. The trade war between the US and China has amplified further the disruptions to our trade and commerce.
26. How then government can respond to these new norms?
27. First, the policy must ensure that technology is accessible, and affordable to its citizen. Affordability and accessibility are key drivers in the widespread adoption of new technology.
28. But the biggest challenge facing any country is to ensure that technology does not widen inequality. For this, understanding of the technological base is important. Education is the answer especially knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and its application.
29. This education cannot wait. It must be promoted now.
30. History has shown that nations which respond quickly to disruption with systematic and coherent strategies for its citizenry had always been able to ride the wave of radical changes.
31. Again, in Malaysia, we have introduced several schemes and programmes to face the disruption and Industry 4.0. These programmes include re-training, new educational approaches, research and more scholarships for professional and post-graduate studies, as well numerous programmes that provide our youths with the latest the technology can offer.
32. We are in the midst of studying the possibility of introducing latest technology modules in the curriculum. The children must be exposed to latest skills sets from a very young age. They can cope with new technologies better than old people.
33. Second, the policy must also take care of the ‘losers’. For instance, those brick and mortar shops, taxi drivers, small hotels, and displaced workers who are losing to disruptive technologies must not lose out entirely. The policy must encourage them to be retrained and re-hired.
34. Third, there is a need to build capacity, especially in developing countries, to face the disruption. Investment in infrastructures such as in 5G can be facilitated by multilateral organisations. Every country must invest in advanced technologies.
35. Fourth, there must be a cooperation at the international level on how best to manage technological disruptions.
36. Are we to assume that the age of disruption that demands adjustments and sweeping changes so as to deal with the radical changes brought about by technological advancement also includes the need for us to re-evaluate trade globalisation and economic integrations?
37. The debate on data localisation, intellectual property rights, and other related matters will continue, but the philo
sophy of finding a mutual agreement is that it must benefit national government, and not just big multinational corporations or advanced economies.
38. There needs to be collaboration at the global level to ensure that everyone benefits from technological advancement. To a certain degree, the very process of building our capacity opens up opportunities for inclusiveness, especially in trade.
Conclusion
39. We have gone too far in free trade and economic integration to let them go under in this age of disruption. What we need to do is to adjust to it and from there build new partnerships and agreements to suit the changes.
40. What is worrying is not the strategy but the speed it is required to be implemented in order to be effective. It is a new frontier, mostly still unchartered. APEC too will have to deal with this disruption, failing which it too will become irrelevant.
41. It is time that member countries of APEC and other trade organisations realise that in the age of disruption, a fairer and more genuine cooperation between the developed and developing nations can help member states to deal with the disruption.
42. In a speech I delivered in the Malaysian Parliament last month, I mentioned that the government will focus on development that is inclusive and equitable to achieve the goals of a united country. We want to ensure that every citizen in Malaysia enjoys shared prosperity. APEC should also promote the concept of shared prosperity among its member states. I believe in the adage, ‘Prosper Thy Neighbour’ and not ‘Beggar Thy Neighbour’. Everyone gains from the former, while only one side gains from the latter.
43. Only with this win-win concept among APEC members can we chart a common and an inclusive future in the Age of Disruption.
Thank you.
1. Good morning. First and foremost I would like to congratulate Mr Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and the people of Papua New Guinea for successfully hosting this year’s APEC summit.
2. I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my personal gratitude to the Prime Minister and the people of Papua New Guinea for being such a good host. To my mind, no matter how efficient the hosts are, clockwork precision does not make the heart fonder. It is the warmth and those flashes of smiles that linger with the guests which I felt and saw here in Port Moresby which really tell how we feel.
3. Just two days short of 20 years (on 15th November 1998), Malaysia hosted the APEC business summit in Kuala Lumpur and I delivered a speech entitled “Restoring Confidence, Regenerating Growth, Managing Globalisation Better.”
4. It was at a time when Malaysia, along with other countries in the region, was under a tremendous threat of being bankrupted, diminished and economically paralysed. In what is now popularly known as the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC), some of the East Asian nations, which prior to the crisis were dubbed Asian tigers, were thrown into utter disarray by currency speculators.
5. Years of hard work and progress evaporated overnight. Our economy regressed by decades even. We suffered. In a neighbouring country, nearly 40 million people lost their jobs.
6. Though we described them as rogue speculators, they were actually legitimate, a creature of a system which all the nations had embraced readily so that we become part of the global community.
7. But we were punished, whether by chance or design, while the currency speculators were laughing all the way to the banks.
8. Multilateral organisations provided some medicine to our weakening economy, but instead of making the economy healthier, it made us sicker. Their policies made it worse.
9. We decided to do it our way. We recovered much faster than those who had prescribed the conventional remedy they were advised to follow.
10. The rest is of course history.
Ladies and Gentlemen
11. The point is that, developing nations, in an effort to catch up with the leading or developed nations sometimes, if not always, end up losing and sometimes even worse than before they started. Many times, it is not because of our own doings.
12. But we soldiered on, some falling on the wayside; pick ourselves up only to face new challenges that are generally churned up by others.
13. Yes, some of us are still at it, trying to figure out what went wrong with our previous models in trade, economy, governance and political system and today we have to deal with what seems to be inevitable – the age of disruption, in particular of technological disruptions.
14. It is not a new phenomenon. In 19th century England, the usage of technology in the textile industry led to the machine-smashing and other forms of violence instigated by the Luddite movement.
15. But today, the age of disruption or simply disruption seems to be accepted, as the “catchall phrase for transformative change.” More to that, in the age of disruption we are expected to adjust our strategies and practices so as to be able to deal with the radical change.
16. It is not a new phenomenon, as I pointed out earlier. It is around us, be it digitalisation, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, advancement of automation and the advent of other new technologies that bring about sweeping changes in our lives and the way we do business.
17. In Malaysia, like in many other countries, is already being reminded of the effects of disruptive technology. The displacement of taxi-drivers to e-hailing taxi apps resulted in protests and demonstrations. Hoteliers complained of losing their clientele to home-sharing platform. Brick and mortar companies c
omplained of losing clientele to online retailers. These scenes are repeated in other countries, of those who losses out to new technology player.
18. The common theme in the three examples above is the strategy of increasing market share, through low cost operations and productive manpower. This strategy would be unusual two decades ago in the age before internet and when physical human involvements at all levels of business were necessary.
19. We can expect more disruptions ahead when we become more automated, with unskilled and even skilled workers becoming less and less relevant.
20. If unattended, it will cause employment crisis and upheavals.
21. That brings us to the title of this forum today – “Inclusion in the Age of Disruption: Charting a Common Future.”
22. The challenge is how to ensure no one is left behind in the age of disruption. Some will be slow on the uptake but others will be faster. But once we understand the pace will certainly increase. Still we must be careful that the disruption will not widen inequality. And inequality is bad for growth, and bad for social stability.
23. However, technology itself would not widen the income gap. Bad policies will. We must learn from the experience of others about good and bad policies, so we can avoid the bad ones.
24. The disruptions are not limited in the technological spheres, but also in politics and economics. Some of these are within our control.
25. The benefits of free and fair trade and economic integration have been ruptured, exemplified by Brexit and trade war between major economies. The trade war between the US and China has amplified further the disruptions to our trade and commerce.
26. How then government can respond to these new norms?
27. First, the policy must ensure that technology is accessible, and affordable to its citizen. Affordability and accessibility are key drivers in the widespread adoption of new technology.
28. But the biggest challenge facing any country is to ensure that technology does not widen inequality. For this, understanding of the technological base is important. Education is the answer especially knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and its application.
29. This education cannot wait. It must be promoted now.
30. History has shown that nations which respond quickly to disruption with systematic and coherent strategies for its citizenry had always been able to ride the wave of radical changes.
31. Again, in Malaysia, we have introduced several schemes and programmes to face the disruption and Industry 4.0. These programmes include re-training, new educational approaches, research and more scholarships for professional and post-graduate studies, as well numerous programmes that provide our youths with the latest the technology can offer.
32. We are in the midst of studying the possibility of introducing latest technology modules in the curriculum. The children must be exposed to latest skills sets from a very young age. They can cope with new technologies better than old people.
33. Second, the policy must also take care of the ‘losers’. For instance, those brick and mortar shops, taxi drivers, small hotels, and displaced workers who are losing to disruptive technologies must not lose out entirely. The policy must encourage them to be retrained and re-hired.
34. Third, there is a need to build capacity, especially in developing countries, to face the disruption. Investment in infrastructures such as in 5G can be facilitated by multilateral organisations. Every country must invest in advanced technologies.
35. Fourth, there must be a cooperation at the international level on how best to manage technological disruptions.
36. Are we to assume that the age of disruption that demands adjustments and sweeping changes so as to deal with the radical changes brought about by technological advancement also includes the need for us to re-evaluate trade globalisation and economic integrations?
37. The debate on data localisation, intellectual property rights, and other related matters will continue, but the philo
sophy of finding a mutual agreement is that it must benefit national government, and not just big multinational corporations or advanced economies.
38. There needs to be collaboration at the global level to ensure that everyone benefits from technological advancement. To a certain degree, the very process of building our capacity opens up opportunities for inclusiveness, especially in trade.
Conclusion
39. We have gone too far in free trade and economic integration to let them go under in this age of disruption. What we need to do is to adjust to it and from there build new partnerships and agreements to suit the changes.
40. What is worrying is not the strategy but the speed it is required to be implemented in order to be effective. It is a new frontier, mostly still unchartered. APEC too will have to deal with this disruption, failing which it too will become irrelevant.
41. It is time that member countries of APEC and other trade organisations realise that in the age of disruption, a fairer and more genuine cooperation between the developed and developing nations can help member states to deal with the disruption.
42. In a speech I delivered in the Malaysian Parliament last month, I mentioned that the government will focus on development that is inclusive and equitable to achieve the goals of a united country. We want to ensure that every citizen in Malaysia enjoys shared prosperity. APEC should also promote the concept of shared prosperity among its member states. I believe in the adage, ‘Prosper Thy Neighbour’ and not ‘Beggar Thy Neighbour’. Everyone gains from the former, while only one side gains from the latter.
43. Only with this win-win concept among APEC members can we chart a common and an inclusive future in the Age of Disruption.
Thank you.
Keynote address at World Chinese Economic Forum(WCEF)
WECF, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
Firstly I would like to say thank you to the Forum, Economic Forum of The Chinese. The Chinese not only occupied China which is a big nation. But you go anywhere in the world you will see the Chinese people.
They have contibuted much toward the development of many countries by becoming citizens of those countries. And certainly in Malaysian we have 30% of the population made up of people of Chinese origin who are citizens of this country. And there can be no doubt that much of development of Malaysia is due to original Chinese citizen of Malaysia. Malaysia fully appreciate Chinese contribution to development of Malaysian. Indeed we feel that without them much development of Malaysia would be lagging behind but they have come here and to live here become Malaysian citizen and to help in the development of this country. And I am quite sure wherever they go they will do the same.
Somehow they have the neck of creating wealth wherever they go. They are businessman and they know how to deal with money and business and as we all know.
It is the business people who create the wealth of a country.
Government is good at collecting that wealth. But we lost the business people creating that wealth the government can collect no wealth.
Yes there are countries of course which are gifted with a lot of natural resources among which is petroleum and these countries have developed quite well but in other fields they have not been able to develop.
But the Chinese contribution to the development of Malaysia is not confined only to business and the making of profits but also in many other fields.
And they are able to adjust themselves with changing world. Today business is not about
opening shops along streets which was what they did when they came to Malaysia. The street of Malaysia are lined by Chinese shops retailing goods of all kinds and providing services all kind but as we all know.
This situation changes over time and now today we see complete change in the way goods are marketed.
Where before we have streets line by Chinese shops now we have a lot of shopping complexes where the shop are gathered in a place that is nicely air condition and comfortable to be in and to do the shopping.
It is a change. And this change is brought about by the ability of the Chinese to make adjustment to different conditions just as they are are able to make adjustment to the countries where they leave they are also able to make adjustments to the development of the world.
Right now we are going into the Fourth General Industrial Revolution this is something that requires a complete change of attitude and a complete change in terms of our knowledge.
We are living in the knowledge age. And we still in this age we need to have as much knowledge as we can in order to be able to coupe with new ideas about how life is going to be about how business is to be carried out. We now talked of artificial intelligence, we talked about machines,thinking machines and I am told that today that the machines will be teaching as not us managing the machines. So the world has changed. The way business is done is change but as we change we see a change in the attitude and the way that people taking advantage of the new technologies and discoveries.
Malaysia will continue to benefit from Chinese Enterprise and ability to take advantage of the latest in the field of knowledge.
We are now entering the age of the knowledge where machine can now collect data. Enormous amounts of data and the machines can then analyze the data so that we can do things the better way. Indeed the machines can analyze the data to the point where we will know what the future, we will know what the people of the world want, choices their preferences and knowing these we can produce to cope with the new demand this is the New Age that we live in and I’m quite sure the Chinese diaspora.
Wherever they may be would have acquired knowledge and adjusted to this new age. We are fortunate in that by and large the Chinese are peaceful people who have contributed much to the development of the whole World wherever they may be.
They have contributed. so we in Malaysia very feel happy that we are multiracial country. A multiracial country is not easiest country to rule.
Is not easiest country to remain stable normally that would be conflict between the different races.
But in Malaysia the named races the Chinese, Malay and Indian have been able to work together in every field including in the political arena.
It is the cooperation between the three races together with 39 tribals that we have been able to turn around this country. Many people thought that nobody can overthrow a government that has been involved for 61 years ever since Independence. Nobody felt that these powerful government could be overthrown. But coalition of Malay, Chinese and Indians has enable us to do what is regarded as the undoable. We have on the 9th of May this year overthrown a kleptocratic government. Reinstall democracy.
Today Malaysia remain very stable and peaceful Nation.
Democracy has been restored and power has ceased to be a big as it was before today we live by rule of law we show sensitivity and respect for each race and each religion in this country.
So we welcome our guest from all over the world to Malaysia so that they can see not just Chinese contribution to development of this country but the ability of Chinese, Malaysian Indian and 39 different tribes to work together and and be at peace and develop the country. So with those words I would like to say thank you very much for this invitation and I now launch the World Economic Forum of Chinese Diaspora in this world. I thank you.