Ruling Elite Of Malaysia

Malaysia is supposed to be a nation that practises parliamentary democracy and indeed holds general elections roughly every four years. But examine closer, and you will find it is actually similar to one merely paying lip service to a good cause. The same party with the same group of politicians, including fatherson dynasties has ruled the country since independence 51 years ago. The country has been fortunate, with a minority group having proved to be a valuable presence in the land despite constant resentment and discrimination by the majority. They haved greatly helped to build the nation to what it is today. The has and and

abundance of natural resources such as tin, petroleum and rubber been a great blessing too. The land is generally very fertile Malaysia has been quite successful in growing oil palm, pineapple exotic tropical fruits, to name a few.

Yet, the ruling class cannot be said to have succeeded in making the country a model democracy. Elections are permitted, but a level playing ground has never been guaranteed. The media is controlled by the ruling elite and opposition candidates are routinely labelled by those in power as chauvinists, while not being able to see their own true reflections as the real chauvinists. Powerful and emotional words are employed at every opportunity, words such as bangsa (race), agama (religion) and ketuanan (supremacy). Such imperfections as well as others not mentioned here have not caused the country to become a second Rwanda or Timor Leste thanks to the natural blessings of the land and a minority that has proved to be a people who preferred progress and prosperity over the temptation to cultivate mutual animosity or the right to demand democratic justice. However, lately, the continued imperfections of the ruling class have caused big ripples in the most recent elections and there has been a glimpse that the governing elite might be toppled. In the end those in power have derailed that hope by arresting or slapping criminal charges on the opposition. More serious than that episode is the reality that the ruling elite have been unable to tackle mounting problems such as rising violent crime,drug smuggling, corruption, a lopsided civil service, high unemployment among the unskilled young and the frighteningly huge presence of legal and illegal foreign workers in the country. These problems will in time become a ticking time-bomb that some time in the future will cause the ruling elite to be thrown out in a blinding cataclysmic flash but sadly a lot of the innocent will suffer too.