Independence Day for the peninsula and Sabah is fast approaching. (Sarawak celebrated its Independence Day on 22 July.)
The authorities in these two regions are gearing up for celebrations with marches, flag-waving crowds and VIP speeches.
No doubt, attaining self-rule was a huge step forward for the nation, a watershed event. But are we really able to exercise the right to self-rule?
We now live under the tyranny of the world’s 500 richest companies and some 5,000 billionaires who own them.
We put off programmes that will benefit the ordinary people of our country – like a living wage. We are afraid such programmes will prompt the global chains to invest in Thailand or Vietnam instead of Malaysia.
So we ask our people to bear with economic hardships. Household debt has reached critical levels for the low-income and middle-class households.
Yet, we are reluctant to rock the boat in case we drive away foreign investment.
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Government revenue as a proportion of gross national product (GDP) has shrunk from about 30% of GDP in the 1980s to 15% now. Why? Because we have reduced corporate taxes from 40% of profits to 24% currently.
So, we are in a race to the bottom with our Asean neighbours because we believe a ‘friendlier’ corporate tax structure will draw foreign investment. After all, the corporate tax rate in Vietnam and Thailand is 20% of profits. Singapore’s at 17% is even lower.
If the government had a higher revenue, it could implement many policies to benefit the lower-income group and middle class.
It could strengthen Malaysia’s public healthcare system, which is bursting at the seams.
It could provide a state pension for older adults who do not receive any other pension.
Public transport in all our cities could be subsidised.
Youths could receive free tertiary education instead of being saddled with crippling debt at the start of their careers.
But we cannot do all this, because we have to keep corporate taxes low in order to appear ‘investor-friendly’.
No wonder Malaysia has had a budget deficit for the past 25 years. As a result, we keep issuing new bonds to pay back the old one – and then we take on more new bonds to finance current deficits.
The federal government’s total debt now stands at over RM1.2tn – that’s RM1,220bn at the end of April 2024.
The government will issue about RM190bn of bonds this year. Half of it will be to cover previously issued bonds that are maturing this year. In addition, the RM1.2tn debt requires debt servicing of RM46bn per year.
This huge debt is a real dampener for any intention within the government to expand social protection for the people.
Are you aware that the average minimum wage in the US is $12 per hour? Based on an eight-hour workday and 26 workdays a month, that comes up to RM10,982 (assuming an exchange rate of RM4.40 to the dollar). This is 7.3 times more than Malaysia’s current minimum wage.
This is hugely significant because in the global capitalist system, production is for those with money – buying power. In our globalised system, production is geared much more towards the affluent population of the ‘developed’ countries than for the millions of working people in the ‘third world’.
That is the reality of the ‘market’ – producers will produce goods for those who can afford to buy them. Tough luck to those with low incomes. Nothing personal – it is the law of the market!
So, after over six decades of independence, we have an economy that produces raw materials and components that the largest global chains want. But it receives only a fraction of what those goods and services would cost if produced in the West.
Our working people receive, on a per capita basis, a seventh of what the working people of the developed countries receive. How different is this from the times when the mighty British East India Company reigned?
Yes, the gunboats are not so evident now. But they do not need gunboats in this era. Our ruling elites do the job for them, eagerly signing ‘free trade’ agreements that undermine our economic sovereignty and further tie the hands of the government.
Much of the wealth produced by the labour of the peoples in developing countries to be siphoned away by an exploitative economic system. And we ecstatically wave flags and shout “Merdeka”?
Sixty-nine years ago, an epochal gathering of leaders of developing nations was held in Bandung, Indonesia. Among those present were Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, China’s Zhou Enlai, Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito and Indonesia’s Soekarno.
Their vision was to attain independence so that the former colonies could become the masters of their own destinies and use the wealth they produce to uplift their people.
But that grand vision did not materialise. The coups instigated by the Western powers (Nkrumah in Ghana and Soekarno in Indonesia were ousted) were a key reason.
More crucially, this bloc did not have the capital or technological know-how to develop an autonomous manufacturing base.
Unlike in 1955, we now have the capital and enough scientists and technologically competent people to realise the Bandung vision.
But the real tragedy is that our current leaders have completely lost the plot and shamelessly crow about their success in enticing foreign investment into the country. Submission to the whims of the Forbes 500 companies and their billionaire owners is their ‘winning’ strategy!
This is precisely why thinking people in Malaysia should pause and ask ourselves – are we truly independent? Are we able to use the wealth of this country to benefit the ordinary people?
If the answer is no, then, after a bit of flag-waving on 31 August, we should start discussing long-term strategies to regain control of our economy and ensure that our people get a fairer share of the wealth they are producing.
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
