The Malaysian Experience, Lessons for Pakistan

This wasn't my first trip abroad, however first one to another Muslim country and when I landed at Kuala Lumpur I felt I haven’t just arrived to a different place but also have travelled centuries ahead in time…

The trip to Kuala Lumpur was loaded with shock and awe. I couldn't help but comparing the difference between Pakistan, the country to which I belong, and Malaysia on uncountable dimensions. The public calm and civilized behavior, the sense of profound security (almost everyone carrying a tablet, a laptop or a high end smart phone and using comfortably in public places with no fear at all), the economic development already done & underway, the high end cars on the road (Lamborghini Aventador to top the list), the driving etiquettes of the drivers on the road, the political stability of 3 decades, various ethnic groups with a violent past but peacefully living today etc... In Malaysia you are given a death penalty for bearing a gun and dealing in narcotics in Malaysia specially if you are a foreigner and perhaps this is the reason there is peace and tranquility prevalent everywhere... theft is almost nonexistent in most parts of the city of Kuala Lumpur.

The past has been violent for Chinese and Malay just like we see different ethnic groups craving for blood of rival groups in Pakistan, perhaps in Malaysia it was even worse. But now Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Indian, Pakistan, Bangladeshi all live together peacefully... From a Pakistani perspective it seems nothing short of a miracle to me... The most interesting part of the story is, Chinese and Malay particularly bluntly express their own culture and ideological inclinations in public... for e.g. you can see Chinese women wearing shorts and revealing cloths whereas Malay Muslim women properly covered all over with a scarf on the top; and both minding their own business in public everywhere!!!

Being a Muslim i don't intend to encourage or justify the blunt exhibition of so called modernity (called so by Malay press) and liberal values by Chinese, but cannot also advocate suppression of such public behavior through coercion (although Salafi school of thought would disagree). From a pragmatic perspective, in Malaysia, a democratic country by nature cannot adopt a policy adopted by Saudi Monarchy... etc. but that’s not the point of discussion.

Dr. Mahathir Muhammad

The thing which as a Pakistani intrigued me was how the violence between different ethnic communities was eradicated. There my friends told me about the contribution of Mahathir Muhammad (salutes to you sir) in this regards; he prominently did two things

1. Improved the efficiency of the law enforcement agencies (which is still not as good, but a million times better then as compare to Pakistan) while amending the laws to eradicate drugs and arms ownership and
2. Started loads of mega project generating tons of employment to get public busy!!!...

It was the massive momentum and inertia developed during 22 years of Mahathir’s rule as a Prime Minister (reelected 5 times), till 2003 which carried Malaysia forward toward where it is today. My friends also speculate that Mahathir’s isn't in government now however has substantive influence still on the state of the affairs of the country...

So it is the leadership that we don't have? This might be a possibility, but i would also like to add the willingness of the public to change, into the list.

In Pakistan we look to others to change as they are who are perceived as mistaken, not us. blaming others is so rampant in society, I often feels that its part of our genes... from politicians to children playing on the street all bluntly and promptly blame others for making a mistake... watch the behavior of public on the roads of urban centers of Pakistan, everyone considers to have a God given right to use the road as he pleases, and when someone complains it’s his or someone else fault!!!!

Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital at Night

Allow me to clear one more time, it wasn’t really the urbanization of the country which impressed me but how it was used as a tool to bring peace!!! On the other side Modern Urbanization has its own draw backs, such as:

• it may lead to class warfare in the long run,
• make public materialistic,
• destroys one family life as you are hardly left with time to spent with family, community and on civil duties after jobs (often multiple shifts),
• increases the cost of living,
• instills a temptation to constantly increase standard of living,
• sucks resources from other areas toward development and maintenance of urban infra-structure,
• destroy cultural diversity in the name of international standards
• make everyone a replaceable part of the corporate machinery, and slave of capital (flow of capital dictates…)
• etc. 

Some of this is also true for Malaysia as well, however, urbanization along with strict law & order (particularly on drugs and gun ownership) have eventually stopped people from indulging into ethnic blood shed. If we have to choose the lesser of the two evils then eventually modern urbanization is the only option we have apparently, however it would be much better to adapt it in a way to eradicate or at least minimize the problems mentioned above. How? Lots of research with honesty of purpose is required to answer this question, but who will do it is another question… but an even bigger question is where to get someone like Mahathir Muhammad and the kind of team he had, in Pakistan? This unquestionably tempts me to read the biography of this key person, Mahathir, to learn how he managed to the top, what challenges he faced etc.

Mind it, it’s not the institutions or system that brings a positive change, it is the right individuals who create, maintain and runs such key institutions which in turn improves the state of the affairs of the country. It’s unfathomable, idiotic even to emphasize more on institutions, for example parliamentarian democratic system, which Malaysia also have, and give less precedence to the quality of people who would establish and operate that system. This is unfortunately propagated by Pakistani media to a painfully ridiculous extent.

The only sensible solution seems like an option of an extended care taker setup, backed by judiciary and army, who would get the minds of the public straight, make the existence of all corrupt feudal political parties irrelevant, and bring stability to the country in all aspects. Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan and Pervaiz Musharaf, the two rivals, seems to agree on this.

A free & fair election on the contrary is only hypothetical, as the losers will never accept the claim of ‘free & fair’ and will protest against the results. Imran Khan has already said so in his recent presser, the losing of PTI will eventually be considered as a sign that elections were anything by ‘free & fair’. This will eventually lead to more violence, and instability. In the worst case a replay of 71 kind of a scenario wouldn't be unlikely.

May Allah make things better for this country...


Author is an academic researcher, author, blogger, social entrepreneur, activist, mentor and tweets @javaidomar