Goodbye 2007, hello 2008: Time to reflect about life in Malaysia
Art by CHUAN ZUI
By VINCENT LIEW
Time flies. And before you know it, it’s the end of 2007.
How old will you be next year, and what’s your resolution?
I would like to invite fellow readers of theCICAK to step on board with me on a time-traveling trip to the past.
I am a baby of the 1980s – the late 1980s to be exact – and I grew up watching Power Rangers on television. My high-tech toys at the time were a Game Boy and a Nintendo system. (I remember puffing into the folds of my game cartridges when they weren’t working).
Recently, I had a nostalgic moment when I dug up a Pandora’s box of old toys. Among old junk and treasures were my Power Ranger figurines and my fat grey Game Boy (yeap, the one that came out before the colored hand-held consoles. Now that’s vintage, baby!)
I smiled as I dug through the box to see what other gems I would discover.
I was thinking about being young again. And how nice that would be.
I wouldn’t be angry at the government. I wouldn’t care about human rights. I wouldn’t know what corruption was all about.
I would be naive, young and innocent.
Ask yourself this, would you want to be young again, a child again, without a care in the world again?
Well, I do.
In 1997, I was nine years old and in standard 3. It was then that I played hide-and-seek, police and thieves, and “Pepsi-Cola” in school.
I didn’t go to a Chinese primary school and therefore I spoke fluent English and broken Chinese, and had multiracial friends – Chinese, Malays and Indians – and they are still my friends today. I think I’m stuck with them for the rest of my life, and this is part of what makes me Malaysian. I was raised this way and I loved it.
When my friends and I were young, race did not matter. We were all the same, we are all Malaysians. But as we grew older, we learned about discrimination, we leaned about racism. We began to understand racist slurs and statements. How things change.
1997 was a very bad year for me and my family. It was the year in which the ASEAN region was badly affected by the economic crisis. My family was not spared. As a kid, I did not understand the severity of the situation. All I wanted was my Choki-choki chocolates and Nintendo games.
I was whiny and annoyed when my parents told me that they had no money to buy me a Tamiya car.
As the only child, I was spoilt and pampered. It was terrible.
The bad economy took its toll and my family moved to a smaller house due to financial difficulties. I saw wealthy stockbrokers go bankrupt, and knew one who had to sell his Mercedes-Benz. Everyone in every circle droned, “Economy is bad now lah.”
At the end of 1999, as I was about to finish my primary school education, the Y2K issue was huge! That, an Anwar Ibrahim who was behind bars for allegedly committing sodomy. Again, I was too young to care about all that.
Almost eight years have passed, and I’ve realized my mistakes. To be honest, I dislike the young me. That’s why I am here, sharing my thoughts with you.
I’m grown up now and consider myself an entrepreneur with lots of ideas in my head. I’m often angry at the high inflation rate and dissatisfied with the government.
I am sure I’m not alone. Just before 2007 ends, let us think about how much we have grown up, what we have done so far – for ourselves, for our family, for our friends, for our country.
Think about your first crush, you first infatuation, your first kiss, you first love, you first girl-, boy-friend, and your first break-up.
Also reflect on your mistakes, but do not harbor regrets. Think about the achievements that make you proud and what you would like to share with the world today.
–
VINCENT LIEW is a contributing writer for theCICAK.
Vincent Liew recently completed his A-Levels and is currently interning at MindValley and bumming around before university begins. He is also working on an entrepreneurship project. Visit his site.
CHUAN ZUI is a graphic artist for theCICAK.
Zui is almost an Otaku but hates big-chested anime characters. He is a twisted weirdo because of his islander kiasuness, a result of living his early childhood in Singapore. Zui is an artist of few words. Visit his site.
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Comment of the week
I defend my right as a Malaysian to talk about anything that concerns Malaysia.
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Gosh, this brings back so many memories…
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I’m glad that the article is doing it’s job.
That was what I wanted everybody to feel when I was writing it =D
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Nice article !!!
It really brought back the memories … All i wanted back then was my choki-Choki too
But now all i want is a better world to live in . I guess its that funny thing they call growing up .
However after reading your article it inspired me to blog on how much i’ve grown from my ‘Kanak-Kanak Ribena’ days . Which hopefully i’ll do it soon .
Till then keep up the good work !
Cheers ,
Malati
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I don’t know what you are mumbling about the inflation rate.
It is hoovering around 2.5% if I am not mistaken. You can compare that to the economic superpowers of US whose inflation rate is around 3% and China which is an astonishing 6 to 7%.
The economy is the strongest it has been in a long time (although a crash is imminent) and besides, if you are judging the economic health of a country based solely on the inflation rate, you probably need a few lessons in economics.
And of course you are dissatisfied with the government. It’s a pre-requisite as a blogger.
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Hi Vincent,
There’s a saying that “a dog can’t moo like a cow “, after reading your comment I thought you are an Economist but hey to my surprise you are an engineer.. But hey there’s still a possibility that an Engineer will be good in Economics. So I took an initiative to do my homework ( I am an Economics student)
Due to my research, I found a few great points.
The high inflation rate occurred in China and US is because of the type of Inflation that occurs in both of the country which is the “Demand Pull Inflation”
def: the more firms will employ people, the more people are employed, and the higher aggregate demand will become. This greater demand will make firms employ more people in order to output more. Due to capacity constraints, this increase in output will eventually become so small that the price of the good will rise.
Demand Pull inflation will decrease Unemployment Rate in the country, I wouldn’t say it’s a good thing, but according to the “Better Evil” theory, it would be called a healthy type of inflation.
Which will eventually improve the GDP rate of a country because a Decrease in an Unemployment Rate.
While as, the Inflation Rate in Malaysia unfortunately is not a Demand Pull Inflation but rather in Fact, another type of Inflation which is the “Cost Push Inflation”
Before the Economic Crisis, Malaysia’s Economy was having a great moment.
Malaysia experienced several years of rapid economic growth. This growth was accompanied by low rates of inflation, rising per capita income and reduction in the incidence of poverty. Malaysia achieved a real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 8.5 per cent between 1991-1997 with per capita income increasing two-fold, in terms of US dollars (USD). By 1997 and the incidence of poverty falling from 16.5 to 6.1 per cent.
At the time, Malaysia was a popular investment destination, and this was reflected in KLSE activity which was regularly the most active stock exchange in the world (with turnover exceeding even markets with far higher capitalization like the NYSE).
Which a High Rate of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) The firms, tend to deal with USD currency and Importing Goods from other country (Thailand and Indonesia). I am sure you remember that during that period of time, the campaign “Beli Barangan Buatan Malaysia” is still fresh in your mind. Cost Push Inflation is the reason behind this campaign.
When the Price of Raw/Semi Raw materials increased, Firms Have to reduce their employees or they will have a very bad time maintaining their business.
This is the reason behind a sudden Boom in Unemployment Rate in Malaysia. Where we can witness with the The unemployment rate that increased from 2.6 per cent in 1997 to 3.9 per cent in 1998. The total number retrenched was 19,000 workers in 1997 and 83,865 in 1998.
Towards the end of 1997, real GDP growth began to slow down and registered a negative growth beginning the first quarter of 1998
In my article I definitely didn’t judge Malaysia’s bad economy based on the Inflation rate.
But I judge it by an Unemployment Rate caused by the Inflation.
Did I miss something or is there anything you want to critic and prove me wrong MR ENGINEER?
I would admit that I am just a top scorer for Economics subject in My College which I still have HIGH chance to be wrong in Economics and I would love to get help from an ECONOMICAL INTELLIGENT ENGINEER like you.
Thanks Vincent for your comment. I am LOOKING FORWARD to your further comment. That’s If I think your comment is INTELLIGENT enough to be replied to =)
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Hey Vincent, we’re the same age… Your post certainly does bring back a lot of memories…
I didn’t remember 1997 as the the year of economic crisis, I remembered it as the year my dad went to college :). I missed him, and thinking back now, I am very proud of him!
My childhood revolved around music. I started lessons at 3, joined my school band in standard 4, and my secondary school band represented Malaysia in 2005. I remember most is music. I grew up with music.
Another feature of my youngster days is my dog. My family loves dogs. We’ve had one dog after another. My family is never complete without a dog…
Sorry if my comment is all about me. I just wanted to share a bit with you since you shared with all of us…
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First of all to Vincent Liew - I don’t believe you can gauge one’s knowledge by looking at his/her formal education. I studied Marketing, but if you wanna have some conversation about science or philosophy with me, i’m sure you won’t be bored :). So, whether an Engineer or Economist, to my eyes, it doesn’t make any significant difference - Knowledge is free.
But at the end of the day, Vincent Liew still has a good point over the other Vincent.
In order to have a healthy economy in the country, the inflation rate must have a strong balance with the wage (for labours). That means, if the prices for commodity goes up, then an increase in wage is essential to maintain the stability. But this is clearly not happening in Malaysia. Prices go up but the wage remain low.
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hi Meisze,
haha.. no worries about that.. after all it’s all nostalgic moments here… sometimes, being nostalgic is good..
sweet memories though
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Perhaps if your research wasn’t so biased I would gladly concede the point. After all, what do engineers know about Economics that an A-Level student doesn’t?
You are talking about unemployment rates in Malaysia in 1998!! How ridiculous is that?!? It took me all of 2 minutes on Google to find out that compared to the US and China, as of 2006 we have a much lower unemployment rate than them.
But that really isn’t the point.
I don’t care what type of inflation you are talking about. Heck what do simple engineers like me know? But the point is that you babbled on about our high inflation rate when it is not, then you babbled about our high unemployment rate when it is also not. And then you tried to dig your way out of trouble by reading up some stuff on the Internet and trying to bamboozle me with some economic jargon.
And then you talk about GDP per capita in 1998 again. Helloooo?!? What year is it now? Our GDP per capita again increases at a higher rate than the US, and while it is hard to keep up with China’s growth, in 2006 Malaysia’s GDP per capita increased by 23.71% compared to China’s 21.43%
Point is, you were wrong. I am not saying that we have a stronger economy than the US and China. I am saying you shouldn’t babble about things you are not familiar with because all these things - inflation, unemployment rates and GDP per capita; which you seem so keen to mention are just tiny factors in determining the overall health of the economy.
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While I am very glad that there are younger people than me here interested into turning a rather melancholy article about remembering the good old day into something that I’d read in the Wall Street Journal *snore*…..
What say we just remember the innocence of childhood for a while?
“Calvin”, go find Hobbes….
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oh thank you so much for the insight Vincent.
Yes, I think I am wrong. Thanks For pointing the mistakes out for me =)
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Ah, Gameboys… I remember the puffing into cartridges. My mom used to call it lung exercise because I did it so often. Tipu type cartridges-lah, what to do.
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How ironic…. we have 2 Vincents here, but one is a knowledgeable lad who makes sense of his opinions whereas another one is a moron who is hollow and merely acting smart. Well as an Economics graduate, i totally agree with Vincent Liew about his analysis in the factors which drive inflation. To another smart-@$$ vincent sorry but i really couldn’t comprehend what u were trying to say. U said that inflation, unemployment and GDP are not enough as determinants of the economy but u failed to enlighten us about other deteminants (if any) u deem are relevant. Substantiate ur claim! Don’t give us Mickey Mouse opinions!
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I am sorry if an Economic grad doesn’t understand simple data.
The fact is this:
Malaysia’s inflation rate is lower than the US and China.
Malaysia’s unemployment rate is also lower than US and China.
Finally, Malaysia’s GDP per capita growth rate has been higher than the US over the last few years, and higher than China in 2006.
But hey, I am not the Econs grad here. So you tell me whether our economy is better than US and China (which I doubt) or as I said, economic strength is also determined by many other factors.
I know jack shite about econs. That much is true. All I know is what I see from the historical data. But it seems none of you people who apparently have a educational background in this matter know much else either.
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Nintendo, Power Rangers, Pepsi-Cola, police and thieves(except we called it donkey feather).
whoa man all these really brings me back into time..
1997 was also the year we had the Haze prob..
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Thanks tzewin for the kind words..
Let us just show some love and have some nostalgic moment in this comment area, I wrote the article for everybody who read it to think back and reminiscence the moments of that time.
Let’s don’t make it to an economic discussion…
To Vincent: I may did some mistake there, thank you so much.. for correcting =)
To TzeWin: once again… thank you so much for ur kind words… *huggs* -I’m straight-
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Vincent, the problem with u is…. u always answer A for question B. I never challenged ur point that our inflation and unemployment rate is lower than those of us or china, or did I? I merely argued that u should dig deep and substantiate your claims with some solid facts or points. It wasn’t even a question of economics. I did give credit to another Vincent’s opinion but that’s NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
OK. So u wanna talk Economics. We’ll talk Economics, then. U argued that our GDP growth is higher than US. I won’t contest that. But i also wonder who would make a hype about it. Developing countries’ GDP growth is always higher than those of developed countries, so what is the fuss here? Vietnam’s GDP growth is higher than us, are u suggesting that Vietnamese are wealthier than us?
U maybe correct that GDP, unemployment and inflation rate are not sufficient to gauge the performance of an economy. Which is why u should give us some examples. U don’t have to be an economist to tell ur 2 cts worth. Any logical claims will be acceptable by the ppl. However commenting other ppl’s article but failed to generate ur own ideas only shows ur shallowness. If u haven’t any idea of what other determinants of economic performance, then u shouldn’t have commented that there are other determinants (which u can’t elaborate further) at the first place!!
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i have very vague ideas about economics but what i do have a definite on is this..
the other vincent (not vincent liew) sounds like a pompous ass. if you are going to argue and be critical of another’s opinion on economics, try having a little humility instead of being sarcastic here and there and finally ending it all with “I know jack shite about econs”.. if you know jack shite then shut the hell up and stop spreading your “jack shite”.
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Well I read the article (nostalgic if anything).
Then I read the comments.
Wow. What happened?
In any case the purpose for the article notwithstanding, seems the economic issues are taking precedent.
Would’nt mind as long as long as it was healthy. And obviously its turning nasty at this point.
In any case I believe economic growth or prosperity should translate into better quality of life overall for the people. Whether it is high or not would be moot as long as a country has many problems associated with it. Of course we should always analyze the economic conditions to make sure it keeps improving.
Well to everyone involved either tone the heat down a notch and start discussing objectively or if you guys persist in being this passionate about it, why dont you guys just “take it outside”.
By the way, blowing on the cartidges? I thought I was the only one doing that stuff. Except I was blowing through my nose…..
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hello all,
I am not an expert in any field.
Just out of curiosity, why don’t you guys discuss with current data (i.e. ‘05 - ‘07)? Do you guys know any legitimate website which provides these data (inflation, unemployment, FDI, CPI etc)
I came across an article in the newspaper saying despite a good GDP number, our employment edges up. Is this a sign to be worried about?
In Malaysia, do you compute core inflation (exclude food & energy)?
Many thanks!
Regards,
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Well said topbon, looks like some folks just want to dangle their qualifications in front of all. Well let it be said that most of the biggest and sucessful cooperations in the country were built by men who didnt have any qualification in economics or even a proper education. Guess some folks just have the skill to turn a few cent into billion dollar empires with hardwork and true grit. While others no matter how well educated may not be able to do so. So lets not get all to worked up over paper qualifications! Is the country doing well? Well take a look around and compare. Figures aside, look at our towns and cities with those of other nations. For example if you look at USA, almost every major town and city is well developed and every state has economies that can compete with other nations. Look at Japan or even India. you will find that every state is growing . Now look at Malaysia….the only city that is showing any form of development is KL. Ipoh once the richest town in Malaysia has fallen behind. Georgetown, Kangar, Melaka etc all do not show any form of development for a country that boasts so much. How could this possibly be? If things are as great as they should be then shouldnt every state develope at almost the same rate? Why do we need to spend billions on corridors?
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‘97 Std 3
‘99 Std 6? You PTS kah? lol
Vince, u’re not alone. A lot of ppl oso had innocent early life where everyone’s happy n united. I was also like that.
As I grew up, I became aware of what you found out about reality too, but did I regret my old life? Not a bit.
In life, you will always meet challenges, and as you grow older, there will be more and more tougher challenges coming at you. It’s all about how you respond to it. You can choose to rant and self-pity about it all the way until you’ve earned a PR status in US/UK/Aust/Japan/etc, or you may want to stay in this cursed land and change it with your hands. Either way, there is no wrong decision. I remembered watching Coach Carter (Samuel L Jackson), he used to say something like this: “A part of growing up is to make choicess and take responsibility of it.”
Though for your case, the decision looks kinda predictable, at least through my eyes.
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Nice share from vincent, regarding to your article, I think you still have a lot of space for imporvement. Let me check others article from you.
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well hisham, nobody is trying to “dangle his/her qualification” like what u suggested. tzewin merely opined that as an econs grad he appreciated what vincent had written from economics perspective. and ur comment that “most of the biggest and sucessful cooperations in the country were built by men who didnt have any qualification in economics or even a proper education”, as true as it may be, is irrelevant and not the argument point here. a businessman is a businessman, and an economist is an economist. Uncle Lim was never an economist, neither is Dato Zeti a businessman. so what is exactly ur point?
u do have ur point with regards to the development disparity of the states in msia. but to cite US as example is a bit unfair to msia. US is so huge that even a single state is larger than the whole msia. so in terms of resources and human capita, and the high allocation from the federal government’s accumulated fortune over years, we r already losing out. california’s gdp alone has exceeded ours many times. and of cos, u would agree with me, that theirs is a mature democracy with high transparency and efficiency, something which we have a long way to go. but i have to agree with u that msia should have been much more developed, especially those “other states” beside kl. i guess this all boils down to the execution ability of the respective state governments. dun forget that we have a moron menteri besar who self declared his state as developed state without any endorsement from any organization, but failed to look at the starving rakyat who have to resort to all sorts of crime to get their stomachs filled.
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