Is Malaysia just another syarikat swasta?

Recently, i was talking to my good friend Norm about making some money by starting up a business here. We were both at one of the lowest point in our lives then because we were penniless, jobless among other things. Both de-motivated and depressed about our 'nasib' (luck), we barely had enough to pay for our teh tariks. Yes, it was bad.

Here, i have to apologize to all of you because my question to Norm was kinda dumb at this point. I must have been a 'katak bawah tempurung' (frog under a coconut shell - ignorant) to not know the answer to my own question.

I was looking at my water bill. Just staring at it when that stupid stupid question popped out of my silly mouth.

"Eh, our water is run by a private company ah? How come it says here 'sendirian berhad' (private limited)?"

Alamak, I knew it was a dumb question the moment that slimy question hawked itself out.

Norm said;

"Well, in Malaysia, everything is privatized, didn't you know? Water, power even sewerage my friend."

Fuh, i was glad he didn't go into his long speeches about what a badly managed government we have. You see, he tends to get riled up when we talk about these things.

Uh-oh.

"It is my personal belief that if we have more than one privatized service provider, it is fair because the consumer has options to choose from. However, in Malaysia, we give one company, or even worse, one individual the right to monopolize the utilities and infrastructure and get rich at the consumer's expense."

"Example is Puncak Niaga, a water monopoly, that makes one individual, Rozali Ismail, rich and put us consumers at his mercy. In Europe, utility companies like E.ON and others like it exist on a competitive basis unlike here in Malaysia. Malaysia has a one-sided view on privatization and normally the government's view tends to only benefit the cronies who actually get the concessions."

He's started dah...Here we go...

"Power, water and sewerage, highways, fixed line telcos and many more, are privatized monopolies. The reality is: We are being robbed! If everything is being privatized at OUR expense, why do we need a government? It's like we are giving people money to start a business. We should rule ourselves since we're paying for it anyways.

"We're really being short-changed because not only are we paying for everything, we are also told what we can or cannot do by the so-called government. In a true free-market economy, purchasing power rules but in Malaysia the consumers are at the mercy of the government."

Hmmm... interesting isn't it? Firstly, water, power and sewerage are necessities that we as people need. If not, would you drink the water from your local sungai/lombong? Would you really be able to survive with just your lilin or lampu minyak tanah? Most importantly, if you couldn't flush the toilet, where would you do your 'business'? The government should be managing this, not individuals or private companies, in my opinion. They said, "the reason why we privatized is to give better services to the consumers." Huh? What does that say about our government's level of service? Why not just increase the government's level of service?

I then jokingly suggested that we insert ourselves, become cronies and start something (like start a telco..yes,yes i was just dreaming away) so that we can finally pay for our own teh tariks.

"My advice for anyone with money is to venture outside Malaysia. If we had money to run a water, power, telco or even a highway concessionaire, they'll turn us down before we even start by rejecting our license to operate. Remember, ours is a heavily regulated economy.. but they can bend the rules or even close one eye when it comes to their cronies."

Sometimes i wonder why some segments from other races think that malays are 'privileged' because we get to tender for some licenses/contracts. Let me tell you, this ruling only benefits the cronies. The rest of us are in the same boat. We (malays, chinese and indians) should all realize this and demand some form of positive change or at least transparency from our government. None of us are benefiting from this, only 'the cronies' or 'the toilet papers' (used to wipe certain areas).

"For example: DiGi is a reputable telco provider with reputable shareholders from Norwegian Telecom, that had their 3G license rejected 2 years ago because of fear of competition when the market already had 2 major players.

"BUT! National conman Tajuddin Ramli started his cellular company Celcom back in the 80s with no license for the first 5 years and he wasn't shut down! And to make it worse? Celcom was a monopoly until 1995. Where's the logic? PakLah memang najis, but Mahathir made the country the mess it is today."

Do you think he has a point?

It was almost 6 months ago we had this conversation. Now we're both doing better. I've ventured into business, Norm's thinking of migrating somewhere. He thinks this country is beyond repair the way things are unraveling now ...but knowing him, I think he was just depressed.

As for me, I'm still here, trudging along. I have faith in this country. More than that, I have faith in the people. I think if we stick together, we can change things for the better. The hard part is getting off our asses and putting on our shoes. It's the first step that's the hardest. Thing is, never give up and never give in. We Malaysians should know that we deserve better because we do. Don't be intimidated or let our low self esteem trick us into thinking that this is the best we can do.

Let's get off our asses, put on our shoes and join the walk, people..

3pm, Saturday, 10 November 2007
Dataran Merdeka (walk to Istana Negara)
Preferably wear anything yellow.