Root cause of our political, economic malaise

This is a portion of my interview with Mr. Kim Quek, a retired engineer at the age of 66 and author of Where to, Malaysia? A future with Anwar's Reformasi or back to Mahathirism? (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005)

Q: Can Umno still be reformed? If yes, how? If no, why not?

A: People who usually watch the telecast of Umno’s annual assembly would have noticed the assembly is now filled with people who are flabby, overweight and listless, which is in contrast to the scene in the 1960s or even the 1970s where the central delegates looked lean and fit and purposeful. These differing scenes tell the story of the transformation of Umno no more the nationalist fighters. Only the overfed leaders indulged by easy wealth, thanks to Mahathir’s largesse system of governance.

Can Umno change from a corrupt racist body to a positive force of nation-builders? The answer is: extremely difficult, though not impossible. The first step of reforms must be to ‘uninstall’ (to borrow a computer jargon) the deeply imbedded programme of racial ideology: racial privileges as a birth right; obsession with racial identities, racial comparisons and racial statistics; siege mentality that tends to conjure up mental scenarios of Malay vs Chinese or Malay vs other races. As racial hegemony has been the umbrella under which corruption and cronyism have grown and spread, so racial prejudices and discriminations must first be tackled ... (subscribe to malaysiakini to read more)

Where to, Malaysia?
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/42783

Wither the young Malays?
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/48985

After 22 years, let us vote for children’s future
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/27242