Book Description

Impressed with the economic performance of Malaysia, triggered an interest in examining how Malaysia (then under PM Mahathir) managed to pull out of the financial crisis of 1997, that gripped much of South East Asia. Years later, Malaysia managed to pull itself out of the financial crisis, and to be a rising Asian tiger. This early interest has turned into love and affection to a country with unique history, resources, and marvelous people. The deeper my research of Malaysia, the more my frustration grew with the lack of ability of a nation to move into a unique socio-economic position. That is, to equalize with Singapore, or compete at the global level with Korea. I chose 2020 to publish this body of work, because I was waiting to confirm my hypothesis that Malaysia will not manage to achieve Wawasan 2020 (vision 2020), which is to be amongst 1st world nations. Failing to achieve vision 2020 is no coincidence. Malaysia is stuck in the middle between cheap production countries such as Vietnam and Korea, and services-based economies such as Singapore. The first essay that follows the introduction is called The Phenomenon of Economic Inertia. The premise for this research paper is that Malaysia is suffering from a phenomenon of inertia, economically however, that it is incapable of pulling itself out of its current position like many developing nations) for number of reasons. With corruption being deeply rooted in the varying layers of society, and a leadership that failed to control corruption (as in the case of Singapore) and move the country into globally competitive position. This is what is meant by a “Phenomenon of Inertia” that is a conscious self-inflicted condition. The human factor in the hypothesis of “Phenomenon of Inertia” does comprise of society at large; people, leadership, and institutions. Managerial practices in Malaysia are still hierarchical and power based. Such hierarchy and power bases, are an evident participant in the inner-play of socio-economics of the Malaysian nation. The Malaysian current state of affairs (as of 2020) is self-inflicted condition. With the Malaysia education system being deeply flawed. This naturally led into the state of Malaysian lack of industrial competitiveness, which is not breaking through its global competitors. With so much to offer, Malaysia still has a great chance to make the leap forward to achieve its Wawasan to be realized in a later date, as long as it gets there. This will entirely depend on the will of the Malaysian people collectively.