New Malaysia springs from within us

I AM writing this column at the birthplace of Harry Potter, exactly 21 years and one day since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the very first book in the series. I am on a “Potter Pilgrimage” in Edinburgh, a much-needed respite following nine months in an intensive masters’ course on public policy.

   

Lyana Khairuddin 

Sunday 30 June 2018

Time flies by these days. Next week, the 2017/18 batch of Chevening Scholarship recipients will have our farewell event. There are 44 Malaysians in this group, around 3% of the total.

With my time in Britain coming to an end, I am getting a feeling of déjà vu. Eight years ago, I was in this exact same position – leaving a country where I gained not only quality education but also lifelong friendships and enriching life lessons, to go home.

My return in 2010 was filled with anxiety and I must admit, forced me into a bout of depression that lasted three years. I felt that back in Malaysia, my wings would be clipped professionally.

Despite coming home then to an assured position with a public university, I felt I would have benefited more from working as a post-doctoral fellow in laboratories overseas rather than fighting for bench space and teaching students a curriculum that had not changed from the time I was myself a student there.

Worse, I did not realise how much Malaysia had changed in the four years I was away. Suddenly, the fact that I returned with a PhD from a laboratory that founded the cervical cancer vaccine did not matter as much as my hair, the way I dress, my weight and my marital status.

Petty things, but these are the issues I had to deal with. The Malaysia I returned to in 2010 was adamant in making me “the other”, and it was resolute in dividing and pitting Malaysians against each other.

Such rhetoric would make anyone sick. It took me three years, several professional counselling sessions and countless marathons to overcome my depressive state.

My new year’s resolution for 2013, the year I turned 30, was to instead contribute towards the Malaysian society that I want. I started volunteering my time and portions of my meagre salary to soup kitchens and social enterprises, started to meet more like-minded Malaysians and participated in gatherings that promote an inclusive multi-ethnic, interfaith society.

This time around, I will be returning to Malaysia with a lighter heart. The lingering post-GE14 euphoria notwithstanding, the lessons I have learnt after my first return will arm me with the necessary resilience to face old rhetoric and new challenges.

This past month, and even in my few days here in Edinburgh, I met Malaysians who have studied and worked overseas claiming that they are now ready and willing to return home.

I applaud them, but I hope that my journey as documented here will serve as a reminder to all of us that change doesn’t come overnight. Nor does it come without us, ourselves, making the necessary changes within.

Despite a new government, there is still discrimination, xenophobia and injustice.

Cases in point: the recent “suggestion” by the Human Resources Minister to only allow local cooks in restaurants; the early morning arrest of Siti Kasim for allegedly “kidnapping” an adult woman, although she was acting as a lawyer for the woman when providing her with lodging; and the backlash against ministerial press statements in languages other than Bahasa Malaysia.

Despite a new government and more women in Cabinet, as state representatives and in politics than ever before, women are still objectified and vilified for our choices.

Strangers will still police what we wear. Colleagues will still question why Malay women do not wear the tudung, are not married, have not had children or are not having more children, and speak predominantly in English. And Internet trolls still call out our weight and body shapes.

Despite a new government formed by a coalition with two multiracial parties, there are still those who question a multi-ethnic open house held recently at the Prime Minister’s residence, calling it a Chinese New Year celebration rather than a Hari Raya open house.

There are still those who continue to divide, incite racial tensions and spread animosity.

Yet, I have learnt that regardless of who is in power, Malaysians can always be counted upon to surprise even the most cynical of us and come together, especially for a good cause.

Any call for help will be respon­ded to with enthusiasm, showing that indeed, our strength lies in our ability to come together while maintaining our diversity.

Rome was not built in a day. It is the same with Malaysia; it is still a work in progress. To those of us returning home, learn to contribute as well as embrace the eccentricities known only to us.

Let this New Malaysia be what we all hope for.

Lyana Khairuddin is a Chevening-Khazanah Scholar who pursued a Master of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. The views expressed here are entirely her own.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/columnists/naturally/2018/06/30/new-malaysia-springs-from-within-us-regardless-of-who-wins-elections-the-nation-is-at-its-best-when/

Nazri Aziz: BN 'as good as gone', time for it to dissolve

It is time for Barisan Nasional to dissolve, now that its Sarawak component parties have left the coalition, said Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz (pic).

The Padang Rengas MP told The Sun Daily that Barisan was "as good as gone" and said bold changes were needed.

13 June 2018

"It might be a good thing to dissolve BN now and have Umno go it alone in peninsular Malaysia," Nazri said.

He said there is no coming back for Barisan, especially after MCA, MIC and Gerakan were defeated on May 9.

"BN is no longer strong like it used to be, and in times like this, we must bravely make changes or take drastic steps, similar to what the late former premier Tun Abdul Razak Hussein did after the 1969 general election," Nazri said.

He said that when the Alliance Party lost the popular vote, Abdul Razak was spurred into action and formed Barisan by joining forces with Gerakan and the People's Progressive Party.

On Tuesday (June 12), Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) announced that they were pulling out from the former ruling coalition to form a new state-based pact.

BN entered the fray for the last general elections with 13 parties, but is now left with only four (and a half) parties. 

The remaining BN members are Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan, while MyPPP seems to be half-in, half-out.

BN was founded in 1973, after the 1969 general elections saw the then Alliance (of Umno, MCA and MIC) suffering many defeats to the Opposition, which then included DAP, Gerakan, (then) PPP and PAS. Shortly after those elections, the May 13 racial riots occurred.

The then prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein had the idea to bring national unity and stability by having Opposition parties such as Gerakan, PAS and PPP (now called MyPPP) join a grand coalition - Barisan Nasional.

But 45 years later, BN led by Razak's son, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, suffered its worst defeat ever.

Within a week after the elections, four parties in Sabah - Upko, LDP, PBS and PBRS - announced they were leaving BN.

The BN brand had become so unpopular that at one point, it was announced that Sabah Umno leaders such as Tan Sri Musa Aman were expected to leave and join PBS. Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan announced that PBS and Sabah STAR would form a new Sabah coalition, Gagasan Bersatu, to hold on to the Sabah state government.

As for MyPPP, a power struggle has been ongoing with its president M Kayveas announcing on May 19 that the party was exiting BN. However, the other supreme council members have disputed this, leaving MyPPP's status within BN in doubt.

Related stories:

Sarawak abandons Barisan Nasional ship

Sarawak BN parties had to rebrand themselves, fearing wipe-out at next state elections, says analyst

PBS leaves BN, Musa Aman to leave Umno and join PBS

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/06/13/nazri-aziz-bn-as-good-as-gone-time-for-it-to-dissolve/

China's debt-trap diplomacy: Inquirer columnist

In the commentary, the writer cautions about the inflow of aid from China.

Alito L. Malinao

MANILA (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - This is not the kind of invasion that Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio warns about, but a subtle and insidious mode of conquest that could undermine Philippine sovereignty in the long term.

A Chinese national flag hangs from a barrier in a car park in Beijing on Jan 18, 2018.PHOTO: AFP

In fact, with the way Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano is defending China whenever questions are raised on its blatant interference in Philippine affairs, we are now fast becoming a vassal state of China, like Laos and Cambodia.

To reports on the presence of Chinese naval vessels in our sovereign waters off Kalayaan Island, Cayetano was quick to react that the presence of such vessels, if true, "would not mean anything." He made the remark even before Beijing could deny the report.

Cayetano has also defended the government's action in allowing a research vessel operated by the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct research in Philippine Rise, formerly Benham Rise, which is recognised by the United Nations as part of the Philippines' continental shelf.

According to Cayetano, a law allows foreign research in Philippine territory so long as a Filipino scientist is aboard the research vessel and the findings of the study are shared internationally. But Carpio said there is no local statute that specifically covers such an arrangement.

Cayetano's stance could be the Duterte administration's way of expressing gratitude to Beijing for its financial assistance to the Philippines.

Consider what happened in Cambodia. At the close of the Asean Summit in 2014, Cambodian strongman Hun Sen refused to issue a joint communiqué that would have called for a stop to China's militarisation of the South China Sea.

Two years later, in October 2016, Cambodia was rewarded with China's commitment of economic aid worth more than US$600 million and some 31 cooperation agreements.

China is the largest source of development assistance and investment in both Cambodia and Laos. As of 2016, its foreign investments in Cambodia totaled nearly US$12 billion (S$15,688 billion), or close to 35 per cent of foreign direct investments in that country. In 2014, China's investments in Laos exceeded US$6 billion and its grants amounted to US$187 million.

In the Philippines, China has pledged to finance 12 projects worth a total of US$4.4 billion, including the US$3.01-billion south line of the North-South Railway and the US$374.03-million New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project in Quezon province.

It has also provided a P3.6-billion (S$92 million) grant for the construction of two Pasig River bridges and drug rehabilitation centers in Mindanao.

But here's the caveat: Like Laos and Cambodia, the Philippines could become beholden to Beijing, preventing the exercise of a truly independent foreign policy.

This is what Indian analyst Brahma Chellaney has described as China's "debt-trap diplomacy."

Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, said that through its US$ one trillion "One Belt, One Road" initiative, China is supporting infrastructure projects in strategically located developing countries, often by extending huge loans to their governments.

"As a result, some of these countries are becoming saddled with debt, leaving them even more firmly under China's thumb," he said, adding that what China is doing is "commercial and strategic penetration" in countries in need of loans for their development.

Chellaney said a country is ensnared in a debt trap when it is caught in a cycle of interest capitalisation or taking on new loans to pay off interest or principal repayments.

"When default occurs, the Chinese move in to gain control of the resources, corporations or installations," he said.

China's financial hold on Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines ensures a disunited Asean when it comes to China's aggression in the South China Sea, according to Chellaney.

He said countries that are well-managed reap the economic rewards from their projects. But rogue countries or leaders that take from China could become subservient to it.

This appears to be happening now in our country, with the Duterte administration having no qualms in defending China's incursions into our territorial islands and waters.

The writer is a former news editor of the Manila Standard, who teaches journalism at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. The Philippine Daily Inquirer is a member of The Straits Times media partner Asia News Network, an alliance of 23 news media.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/chinas-debt-trap-diplomacy-inquirer-columnist

Eight countries in danger of falling into China’s “debt trap”

Last year, with more than $1 billion in debt to China, Sri Lanka handed over a port to companies owned by the Chinese government. Now Djibouti, home to the US military’s main base in Africa, looks about tocede control of another key port to a Beijing-linked company, and the US is not happy about it.

March 07, 2018 Tim Fernholz

Foggy financing. (Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte)

Beijing “encourages dependency using opaque contracts, predatory loan practices, and corrupt deals that mire nations in debt and undercut their sovereignty, denying them their long-term, self-sustaining growth,” said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on March 6. “Chinese investment does have the potential to address Africa’s infrastructure gap, but its approach has led to mounting debt and few, if any, jobs in most countries,” he added.

Some call this “debt-trap diplomacy“: Offer the honey of cheap infrastructure loans, with the sting of default coming if smaller economies can’t generate enough free cash to pay their interest down. In Sri Lanka, acrimony remains around Hambatota and projects like “the world’s emptiest airport.”

China has characterized its “Belt and Road” initiative as a win-win for its aspirations to become a global trade leader and developing economies’ desire to fund transportation infrastructure. It has certainly filled the vacuum created by a shrinking American presence in global institutions. But as with Western internationalist projects, China is also facing accusations of imperialist behavior when its debt plans go wrong.

The Center for Global Development, a non-profit research organization, analyzed debt to China that will be incurred by nations participating in the current Belt and Road investment plan. Eight nations will find themselves vulnerable to above-average debt: Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.

The researchers note that they did not estimate how this debt would effect growth, and that they needed to assemble much of their data from media reports. But they still say their evidence should raise concerns about economic distress stemming from debt that would undermine development efforts altogether. In the past, China has responded to the debtors inconsistently and hasn’t followed best practices adopted by international lenders working with poor countries. Sometimes, the debt has been forgiven; other times, disputed territory or control of infrastructure has been demanded as recompense.

They argue that China should work to bring other countries into their investment programs to spread debt more equally, and adopt stricter standards and more transparency about how sustainable its support for developing economies really is. Some countries aren’t waiting on China to take action: Pakistan and Nepal turned down Chinese infrastructure loans last year in favor of other sources of funding.

https://qz.com/1223768/china-debt-trap-these-eight-countries-are-in-danger-of-debt-overloads-from-chinas-belt-and-road-plans/