Coursework 4
Developing Malaysia into an advanced nation respected in the eyes of the world needs commitment from the people of various races. What are the forms of commitment needed and what are the actions needed to fulfill the commitment until the development are attained?
Development is highly complex both in terms of concept as well as in implementation. Scholars have provided various interpretations according to their own perspective. Some view it from the political angle, other, social or economic and many more, until the concept of development takes many forms. The citizens of Malaysia being different race, religion and descent, must be clear about this issue. This matter is all the more important because the people themselves took over the rule from the colonialists. Focus is given to the country’s main developmental policies before 13 May 1969, the New Economic Policy (NEP)that became the first long term plan known as Outline Perspective Plan 1 (OPP1), followed by the second long term plan (OPP2) and the third long term plan (OPP3). These philosophies and principles underlying development will hopefully enable all Malaysians to appreciate the direction or objective of the country’s development that has as its aim, national unity and racial integration. Besides that, the objective is also to raise the status of the citizens of Malaysia as a nation that is developed, progressive and harmonious as envisaged in Vision 2020.
National Development Objective
The general objective of development is mentioned that to provide a peaceful life to the citizens of various races. To achieve this objective, the role of government authorities as the ruling body becomes very wide. Among them would be the preparation of education facilities by constructing primary school, secondary schools, colleges and universities; communication and transportation facilities by constructing roads and highways; clinics and hospitals; water supply, electricity, technical assistance and other infrastructure facilities. These social facilities have each their own purposes, among which would be to produce a literate and intelligent society, to facilities the movement of people and goods from one place to another that would increase their value (added), either in knowledge or expertise (for people) and also price (for goods).
The welfare of the citizens is important. Social development is accompanied by social changes. The rate of literacy and intellectuality among the citizens increased. Citizens become more knowledgeable and skilful. The level of health of the citizens improves. Contagious diseases are controlled and treatment at minimum charge continues to be practised. So, the increasing pace in the country’s economic development, supported by other technical, supporting services, credit and supply by the government, further increase employment opportunities especially in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. Educated and skilled citizens resulting from the development of the nation’s system of education contribute their expertise in the labour market in management, services, professional and technical fields in both the private or government sectors, thus reducing the rate of unemployment.
In democratic countries like Malaysia, national development policies and aims do not pick and choose. This means that the policies enshrined in the national development plans are to be enjoyed by all Malaysian citizens. All of these are directed at providing and creating a peaceful life for the citizens. As a nation of many races, it must be remembered that a peaceful life is not limited only to what an individual or family member or ethnic group can enjoy from the fruits of development. In the Malaysian context, the idea of a harmonious life must also be extended to harmonious living in a community and nation. The competence of the government refining this issue, after a bitter experience(13 May 1969), has produced certain policies considered appropriate for enhancing further the development of any ethnic groups lagging behind to create a harmonious ambience for the country’s society. Policies complete with definite plans and programs are formed with great care, taking into account the historical backgrounds of all the ethnic groups in Malaysia.
National Development Policy
Before Independence, when the British ruled Malaya, there was no national development policy aimed at taking care of the welfare of the people under their rule. The colonialists at that time concentrated only on economic activities like rubber industry and tin mining in the Peninsula, petroleum and black pepper in Sarawak and Sabah. This was nothing unusual. Economic activities got worse with the colonialists’ open door policy of allowing foreign labour to carry out the economic activities thus create three obviously different types of economies based on race. The Chinese races monopolized tin mining, the Indians, the rubber estates and the Malays, agriculture. In contrast to that, plantation and agricultural sectors generally located in remote areas were deprived of these basic facilities and remained backward.
The colonialists’ policies and their economic system resulted into two differential development gaps between areas. The first is that between the urban and rural areas. In the rural sectors, the Malays lived by practicing a self-supporting or subsistence economic system by involving themselves in farming, paddy planting, vegetable gardening or fishing. The Indians in the plantation sectors lived in very poor conditions earning a meager pay. The Chinese, who endeavoured and worked in the mining sectors, which happened to become town centres indirectly, were fortunate and had the chance to enjoy the facilities provided by the British. Even though there were early efforts by the British to eradicate poverty among rural Malays by establishing RIDA (Rural Industrial Development Authority) in 1951, it was not actively promoted. This unbalanced development policy also gave birth to a Malaysian society, in which the ethnic groups can be identified through their economic activities.
The second development gap is the difference between geographical areas, between the East Coast and the West Coast. Due to its location, the East coast which is difficult to access and is not naturally rich in tin ore was left behind in the tide of development during that period. Besides that, the colonialists’ economic policy focused strictly on profit exploitation activities with little consideration for the citizens’ welfare had further enlarged the poverty gap between sectors, areas and ethnic groups. The result of all this is, efforts for racial unity among Malaysian citizens after independence faced a difficult beginning.
Finally, Tunku Abdul Rahman success negotiated with British for independence. After Malaysia independence, the Alliance government was try to develop the economy to benefit the country’s own citizens so as to narrow the differential development gap and subsequently to eradicate poverty. Based on the ‘esprit de corps’ means to sacrifice and compromise demonstrated by the three largest ethnic groups such as Malays, Chinese and Indians during the fight for independence continued after independence.
Government planning in achieving the above national development objective is set out in the national development policies themselves. The national development policies can be found in documents are known as the Five Year National Development Plan(NDP), released every five year. The NDP is to strengthen the economic and social development for the people of Malaysia.
So, Malaysia has gone through ten Five Year National Development Plans: * First Malayan Plan (1956-1960) * Second Malayan Plan (1961-1965) * First Malaysian Plan (1966-1970) * Second Malaysian Plan (1971-1975) * Third Malaysian Plan (1976-1980) * Fourth Malaysian Plan (1981-1985) * Fifth Malaysian Plan (1986-1990) * Sixth Malaysian Plan (1991-1995) * Seventh Malaysian Plan (1996-2000) * Eighth Malaysian Plan (2001-2005)
The above national development plan can divided into four main phases of development such as the New Economic Policy (NEP), Outline Perspective Plan 1 (OPP1), Outline Perspective Plan 2(OPP2) and Outline Perspective Plan 3(OPP3).Every phase had it own definite policies and focus or theme of development. Every policies and focus of development has it objective followed by implementation strategies to ensure the attainment of the objective. Whatever the theme or policy given, the ultimate objective is the same, that is to create national unity through socio-economic development.
NEP is the more popular and familiar. The two main objective of the NEP is to reduce and eradicate poverty regardless of ethnicity and restructure the society so as to eliminate community identification through economic sectors. Both objectives are aimed at integrating the multiracial society of Malaysia. This is to help the multiracial society of Malaysia can corporate together. Because that has some policy problem happen among the racial. Finally, the NEP succeeded in curbing racial violence from erupting again as it did in 1969. The philosophy of NEP, to create national unity and integration through development with fair distribution has apparently been fruitful. The NEP succeeded in generating national economic growth and also reduced the overall poverty rate among the people although there were still communities that could not afford to enjoy basic facilities.
But the OPP1 was not a phrase that was easily uttered or used in the 70s. OPP2 was the initial stage of the country’s stride toward being a developed country as envisaged in Vision 2020. The National Development Policy (NDP) implemented as OPP2 was oriented toward a balanced development. By balanced development is meant one that generates rapid socio-economic growth followed subsequently by income distribution.
OPP3 is the long term plan for another 10 years, starting 2001-2010 covers the Eighth and Ninth Malaysian Plan. OPP3 as a continuation of OPP2 is also the second phase in the nation’s framework to achieve Vision 2020 which began in 1991. Vision 2020 is a fight based on a slogan picked by the government to empower citizens to transform Malaysia into a development nation. The targeted developed nation standard is one patterned upon the country itself taking into account the diversity of races, religion, historical and cultural background, customs and eastern values. It is hoped that the Malaysian society will have strong moral and ethical values and live in an environment that is democratic, liberal and tolerant, caring, fair in economic distribution, progressive and prosperous, and be in full control of an economy, that is competitive, dynamic, active and resilient.
Nowadays, Malaysia set a new plan known as Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) is to development Malaysia into an advances nation. This plan highlights five thrusts for Malaysia to move forward economically, such as following: * To move the economy up the value chain * To raise the capacity for knowledge and innovation and to nurture a ‘first class mentality’ * To address socio-economic inequalities constructively and productively * To improve the standard and sustainability of quality of life * To strengthen institutional and implementation capacity
The national mission of Ninth Malaysia Plan
This mission is to achieving Vision 2020 and also developed our country, so that our racial and culture can be corporate together. We needs to progress that can be enjoyed by all, regardless of religion or ethnicity. We also need built a progressive and developed civilization that echoes the glorious age of Islam and other civilization, in line with the concept of Islam Hadhari. The government has drafted and will implement the National Mission like it aims to concentrate the country’s efforts on priority areas which will ultimately lead to achieving Vision 2020. These priority areas encompass the nation’s global competitiveness, human capital development, national integration, ethnic relations, distribution of income and wealth and quality of life. Our focus on these areas will enable us to attain better results and greater impact from our development efforts.
Based on Ninth Malaysia Plan, the Government will continue to implement measures to ensure that Malaysia remains a choice destination for ICT based investment. Malaysia will realize its potential by continuing to promote the development of the shares services and outsourcing industry. Local companies will be urged to develop outsourcing and other high value added activities. The Government will develop new fields such as the local digital content industry and bio-informatics. Specific attention will be given to promote the widespread use of ‘e-dagang’. Development of the Multimedia Super Corridor(MSC) will be focused on the development of corridor networks, encompassing the 3 existing cyber cities and 4 new cyber centres that will be developed, as well as enhancing facilities at Cyberjaya. To enhance access to financing sources, various funds and programmes will be developed while existing funds will be strengthened.
Besides that, biotechnology is also an important industry to development Malaysia. As it has the potential of generating new sources of wealth, the efforts will be increased in order to develop the biotechnology industry as a new driver of economic growth. Focus will given to the usage of biotechnology in agriculture, health care, industrial activities and bio-informatics. To support the development of this industry, we have to improve the investment regulatory framework, develop relevant infrastructure, improve access to funding, increase the rate of R&D commercialization, increased the number of skilled biotechnology workers and researchers.
Thus, this plan can help for developing Malaysia into an advanced nation until the developments are attained. This plan also help Malaysia socio-economic become good so that all the citizens can enjoy the peaceful life together.
In Malaysia, the citizens cannot have any racial discrimination, because this country is a various races country. They must respect each other and corporate together to development Malaysia. We can see that the Baba Nyonya. Baba Nyonya is the good example for change in the people concept of racial discrimination. It was happen for early Chinese traders to take Malay women of Peninsular Malay or Sumatera as wives or concubines. Consequently the Baba Nyonya possessed a synergistic mix of Sino-Malay cultural traits. The Nyonya’s clothing was identical to that of the native Malay’s like baju panjang(long dress), batik sarung(batik wrap-aroung skirt) and kerongsang(brooch). Beaded slippers called Kasut Manek were a hand-made made with much skill and patience like strung, beaded and sewn onto canvas with tiny faceted glass beads from Bohemia. The most popular food of Baba Nyonya such as Chicken Kapitan, a dry chicken curry and Inchi Kabin, a Nyonya version of fried chicken.
The government can promote the culture of Baba Nyonya for foreign country through the media, newspaper, magazine and others to attract them have more knowledge about our culture or come for travel. So, Malaysia will be success to development.
Not even that, Malaysia is also a popular of delicious food country. Malaysia cuisine is exotic with an exciting range of flavours and culinary styles offering the uninitiated an endless gastronomic adventure. It comprises three main groups such as Malay, Chinese and Indian with each having its own distinct style of cooking. Based on the Malay food, is often described as spicy and flavorful as it utilizes a melting pot of spices and herbs. Rice is the staple diet in any Malay meal. It is often served for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper too. Most meals are eaten by using their fingers and eating utensils are kept to a minimum. All dishes are served at the same time, accompanied by a refreshing drink. Fish is popular in Malay cooking, as with other seafood such as shrimps and cuttlefish. Beef and mutton are very popular choices but never pork as it is against their religious beliefs to eat pork. The other popular white meats are chicken. One of the most unique Malay dishes is the “roti jala” (lacy pancakes), which sometimes replaces the staple rice. Roti jala is an ideal accompaniment to any dish with lots of rich gravy and is often served during special occasions. The others popular Malay dishes like Nasi Dagang, Keropok Lekor, Ayam Goreng, Laksam, Pulut Lepa, Sata, Rendang, Ketupat Sotong, Satay and Akak.

Besides that, there are many traditional and special Chinese foods, according to the folk culture, districts, religion and festival. The most popular food in Chinese Society is Doufu. It is also main food in a faming family. The most famous food in world-wide is Dim Sum. It is a Guangdong Style snack which served as light meal. The other popular Chinese foods like Steamed Fish, Lobster, Dark Rice Vinegar with Ginger and Eggs in Tea. During the Chinese festival, the festival food such as Sweet-Stick Cake and Turnip Pastry in Lunar New Year, Glutinous Rice Tamale in Dragon Boat Festival, Moon Cake in Middle Autumn Festival, etc. and Steamed Buns to the Birthday person. This is show that the Chinese culture through the foods.

The Hindu vegetarian tradition is widespread in Indian, although many Hindus eat meat now. The Muslim tradition is most evident in the cooking of meats such as Mughlai food, kababs, rich Kormas (curries) and nargisi koftas (meatballs), the biryani, rogan josh, and preparation from the clay over or tandoor like tandoori rotis and tandoori chicken are all important contributions made by Muslim settlers in Indian. The other popular Indians Foods such as chapattis or rotis, paranthas, rice and an assortment of assessories like dals, friend vegetables, curries, curd, sandesh, rasamalai, gulab-jamuns, pachadi,dosa, idli and vada.

All of above foods is show that the three main group Malay, Chinese and Indians culture. This is to let all the citizens know about Malaysia’s culture. Besides that, for developing Malaysia, the government can promote the three main groups of culture foods to other country or foreign people, so they can enjoy the delicious foods and also know more about our Malaysian culture. The citizens can use their meals without any concept of racial, for example the Malay people can enjoy Chinese foods or Chinese people can enjoyed the Indians foods, etc. This is to break through the racial discrimination of citizens in Malaysia. Not only can improve the knowledge of the people for Malaysian culture, it also can make the economic growth into our country.
Conclusion, all the above is means that corporate the citizens into the community of nation. Thus, the citizens can enjoy the peaceful and harmony life. Besides that, the government should take action to improve the political and economic growth or to fulfill the commitment until the development is attained in Malaysia. So that can developing Malaysia into an advanced nation respected in the eyes of the world needs commitment from the people of various races.