KUALA LUMPUR – Former law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has named Malays’ special position in the country and “feudal” political culture as reasons for Malaysia’s drop in international competitiveness.
Commenting on the 2024 World Competitiveness Rankings released recently, Zaid said the special position of Malays has caused the community to be “generally not competitive relative to others”.
“When a group receives special treatment in getting jobs, education and economic opportunities, there is no compelling reason to push themselves and be highly competitive,” the lawyer said on X.
The special position of the Malays is constitutionally protected under Article 153. It also covers the natives of Sabah and Sarawak.
He also said Malays, as Muslims, tended to “devote more time to religious activities,” thus preferring religious class in schools “and less science and mathematics.”
Zaid also noted the popularity of religious teachers and TV shows on religion as indicators of this preference.
In contrast, he said, non-Muslims are more preoccupied with “worldly matters” and “organised activities that are competitive in nature.”
Taking aim at the local political culture, Zaid rued the common practice of “no-contests” in party and leadership elections.
“There is no desire to change, to generate new leaders and new ways of doing things. Leaders stay on forever.
“How does this culture encourage competitiveness in other facets of life? It has a severe debilitating effect on the populace as a whole. The sense of entitlement permeates the Malaysian universe.”
The global competitiveness rankings, produced by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), placed Malaysia 34th out of 67 countries in 2024.
This is a drop of seven places compared to its 27th spot in 2023. In 2022, Malaysia ranked 32nd; in 2021, 25th; and in 2020, 27th place.
For 2024, Malaysia fell behind neighbouring countries Indonesia, which rose to 27th from 34th in 2023, and Thailand which improved to 25th place from 30th.
IMD measures competitiveness in four main sectors – economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure, with feedback derived from statistical data and a perception survey with executives.
For Malaysia, 6,612 respondents answered an online survey between February and May this year. – June 19, 2024