From left, Tan Seng Giaw (Kepong), Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang), partySG Lim Guan Eng, Tan Kok Wai (Cheras) and I with party members after Kok Wai lodged a police report against toll concessionaire Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd (Metramac) at the Cheras district police headquarters at about 1pm today. Kok Wai also wants action to be taken against Daim Zainuddin and Umno-linked businessmen Halim Saad and Anuar Othman.
Malays must learn to compete with the best and stop relying on government aid if the community wishes to do well in a liberalised economy, former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin said today.
“For us, the Bumiputeras, the only way is to compete,” he said at Universiti Tun Abdul Razak.
“If Malays want to succeed, we must compete with the best — and the best are the Chinese.”
Daim said the Malays should not fear failure, as it was through failure that the community would learn from past mistakes and be more resilient in dire times.
He said many Bumiputeras had it easy in the 1980s and 1990s but did not survive the Asian financial crisis as success had come too easily to them and they could not adapt.
“It’s better that you go through the process . . . you fail once in a while, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“If you fall, you stand up and fight. And you use your brain.”
Daim also explained that Malaysia had no choice but to open up its economy as the market here was “too small” to sustain long-term growth.
He pointed out it would be impossible for Malaysia to become a developed nation — as set out in Vision 2020 and the New Economic Model (NEM) — if the country did not adopt policies similar to those of developed nations.
While defending the legacy of the New Economic Policy (NEP), Daim said the policies that worked in the 1960s and 1970s were no longer compatible with the current needs of the nation.
“If we want to be a developed nation and still be based on policies in the old days, we are not going to succeed,” he said.
“So there must be changes to our policies to adapt to changing circumstances.”
However, Daim maintained there was a need to continue some form of pro-Bumiputera policies as the playing field was not yet level.
Citing the socio-economic history of Malaysia, he said the government still had to balance equity and efficiency but stressed that assistance should be doled out in a transparent manner to avoid rent-seeking.
Daim said the instruments used in the past to help Malay entrepreneurs — licensing, price margins preferences, government procurement and approved permits (APs) — were perhaps not sustainable, and called for a new approach.
He pointed out that such dependence on the public sector was “no longer tenable” as government finances were “not strong”.
“This agenda is an unfinished business and the government must strive towards finding a sustainable entrepreneurship model for Bumiputeras,” he said.
Daim added that any new model should be based on strong Islamic values as Islam encouraged strong commercial interest among its believers.
The world right now is in a complete spin. We are facing mounting problems and chaos in our own country as no one feels that they have enough: the rich want more power while everyone else just wants to survive. At the same time we have no idea what will happen next in the Middle East. All this upheaval is based on massive lies, deception, fear and greed.
When we are children we learn that to be good means never to tell a lie. We all struggle with this, are rarely able to stick to it, and invariably lie defending the fact that we lied: "I didn't do it, honest!"
If you are following any kind of religious or spiritual path, then telling the truth is usually up there with other ethical obligations. But is speaking the truth always the best thing to do, specifically when it may cause yourself and others suffering or psychological damage? Are we not also exhorted to be compassionate and wise?
As an example, there is a an old story of a monk who was meditating happily in the sun outside his cave when a beautiful but very distressed damsel came running up to him. "Help me," she cried. "There's a very bad man, a robber, who is trying to kill me. Please, let me hide in your cave." Without waiting for a reply, the girl ran into his cave and hid in the dark interior. The monk had not said a word and, although slightly perturbed, he continued to meditate. A few minutes later a wild-looking man with a patch on one eye came galloping up on a black horse. When he saw the monk, he stopped and yelled at him, "Have you seen a young woman? I must find her." Being a celibate, the monk quite calmly said to the robber, "What would I be doing with a woman?" To which the man galloped on.
The monk did not lie, nor did he honestly answer the question. However, by avoiding the truth he saved three lives: the girl's; his own, as the robber would have had to kill him for being a witness; and the robber's, who would have been killed as punishment.
Everything we think, say and do has an immediate effect on everyone around us. This means that our words and actions can lead to chaos and destruction as easily as they can lead to healing and friendship. So it would seem that sometimes avoiding the truth or maybe watering it down can be the more moral and compassionate act. A white lie can save a situation from getting badly out of hand.
With this awareness, we are able to discern between times when actions and words are either skillful or unskillful, where we are being a help or a hindrance. Skillful action brings out the best in each situation, such as harmlessness and generosity, while unskillful actions maintain and reinforce separation; they are basically harmful and self-centered. Their primary concern is protecting the "me."
The opportunities for skillful behavior are present in every moment, from dealing with someone complaining to making sure your kids get an equal amount of attention, from running a business meeting to having to negotiate a peace treaty, or from deciding when to be totally honest or fudge the truth.
In essence, truth is cool while lies are hot, and heat is anger and negativity. When we spread lies we spread heat that easily creates fire. Fire can burn down and destroy everything in its path.
But while there are bad lies that are destructive and self-centered, there are also good lies that serve to not cause harm. Discrimination is the key and meditation is the most immediate and effective way to develop this, as we see things as they truly are. When we are thoughtful and respectful then wisdom and compassion come naturally.
On Monday night's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart did another edition of his "I Give Up" series in regards to the recent news about GE not paying any federal income tax in 2010, even though they made $14.2 billion in profits.
While pundits have been saying that "parisitic" public employee unions are ruining the economy by making it harder for corporations to create jobs, GE not only paid zero taxes in 2010 but received a $3.2 billion tax benefit. If that wasn't enough to get Stewart to say "I give up," he also lamented that GE cut 1/5 of American jobs in last 9 years while boosting jobs overseas.
"I know the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are people," Stewart said. "But what they didn't realize is that those people are a**holes."
GE wasn't Stewart's only target. He also criticized Obama for saying he would stop corporations from profiting from outsourced labor when they pay no domestic taxes, but instead making GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt a chairman on his new economic council.
Stewart finally gave up after realizing Obama isn't going to be "hoping a** and taking change" as he had expected. But the domestic employees GE still has left, specifically 'NBC Nightly News,' would surely cover the story with vigor, right? Again, Stewart was sorely disappointed.
Watch the full clip below to see what NBC was reporting on instead of GE's tax news last Friday night, and decide for yourself which story was more important.
WATCH:
Affirmations changed my life, in the good kind of way, the kind of way that made my thoughts about myself and the world around me go from mostly negative to, well, way more positive than before.
There was a time when I would scoff at the idea of new and wonderful results in life coming from reciting positive affirmations to myself. I would chalk this sort of magical thinking up to some sort of myth, a myth made up by those types of people that walk around like glazed donuts, with an optimistic smile permanently wiped across their face coated in sugar sweetness that couldn't possibly be sincere.
It is said that the average person's thoughts are 80-percent negative. I was no exception, but I didn't ever stop to think that maybe this was a problem. It never occurred to me that my negative thoughts could be standing in the way of me getting everything I wanted out of life and possessing inner peace.
When I became a believer in the effectiveness of affirmations, I thought it was so miraculous that I deemed the healer who taught me how to use them a fairy. I made an appointment to see this fairy lady after watching a friend transform herself from pretty glum to a bright ray of sunshine over the course of the last year. I wanted whatever it was that she had. I wanted to glow, too. She told me what she'd been doing, and I dove in head first. I made an appointment the following week to start my own transformation process.
The first time I went to see Megan Gouldner in New York City, I walked into her space, and before I could even utter a complete sentence, I began unexpectedly and relentlessly sobbing for at least an hour of our two-hour appointment. Maybe I had more negative thoughts going on than the average person? Definitely more than I was aware of. How screwed up was I?
When the waterworks ceased and I had spilled out the most current negative thoughts that had been occupying my mind, Megan took me through a process to find my absolute most negative thought -- the underlying one in my subconscious that was most likely the culprit of all the others. We zeroed in on this thought, and the process to turn it around began. I learned that everyone has some sort of most negative thought about themselves beneath the surface. It may be "I'm invisible," "I don't matter," "I am wrong/bad," "I"m not good enough." It could be anything. I myself fell into the "I'm not good enough" category. I had always been a perfectionist and overachiever and had never figured that the reason I had this condition was because I never felt like I was good enough just the way I was. I was overcritical of myself and constantly driven to be more and do more. It was running me into the ground.
Megan and I spoke for quite a long time, and then she had me lie down and do what is called conscious connected breathing. This made connecting with my feelings an easier process. Using the breath along with the affirmations made the whole process more effective. When we finished our first session of the 10 recommended, she sent me out the door with two positive affirmations that countered my most negative thinking. I was instructed to write the affirmations down 10 times, morning and night. I was still doubtful that this would have any sort of an effect on me, but I decided that I needed to at least give it my best effort. I went home that night and wrote down my new affirmations. I did it halfheartedly and went to sleep, still not really believing. The next morning and evening I did the same, and by the fourth day I couldn't wait to wake up and put pen to paper and affirm to myself that I was good enough and that it was safe to be fully alive! I was actually starting to believe this and able to say them out loud, as well.
Over the course of our next nine sessions, we worked on whatever most negative thought I walked in with that week. Each time, I would leave with my new list of positive affirmations and go through the same process. Some took longer than others to really sink in, but surprisingly, it didn't take long for those around me to notice that something inside me had changed. I was very quiet about my decision to shift my mind from negative to positive, in fear of judgment from other people. It turned out that I didn't really even have to tell anyone what I was doing for them to notice. And the affirmations made me stop worrying what other people thought about me altogether. I felt like I had started to shine just like my friend. I felt good about who I was and unafraid to show myself to the world.
I was sad to end my sessions with Megan, but upon completion she'd prepared me to feel empowered to create my own affirmations whenever I felt the need. If I were dashing through the airport close to missing an important flight, I would cite over and over to myself that the universe supports me in all my endeavors. Of course it wanted me to make my flight! If I were feeling defeated, I would write down an affirmation stating that I'm strong enough for anything that comes my way. It became easier over time. I felt like I had been given the ability to reprogram my thinking and undo the false subconscious thoughts that had been building since I was born. I started looking at our universe as one big yes, as opposed to before, when I saw a lot of nos.
I am happy to say that today I am not a glazed donut, but I am an optimistic person who believes in my potential as a human being and has faith that I am always supported in life.
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