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Friday, October 22, 2004
Zosa: Mahathir’s legacy and our challenge
By Elbert Zosa
Biz Vantage
RISING PROUD. Kuala Lumpur’s airport is probably one of the most beautiful airports in the world. Its excellent aesthetics combined with efficient, modern functionality proudly proclaim Malaysia’s rising progress to incoming travellers. Its beautiful facade is unlike the older Singapore Changi airport, which is just a gray box when seen from the air. But inside, both airports are first-rate, well organized and effective in quickly moving passengers and cargo.
Arriving one night a couple of years ago, my excellent impression of the airport was even outshone by what I saw outside. During the long drive to center city KL, I was pleasantly surprised by the new wide multi-lane expressway with its streetlights ablaze.
I had visited KL two years before that, and I had also been impressed with what seemed like a new wide highway from the old international airport to KL. It seemed that Mahathir’s Malaysia had been properly paying attention to infrastructure as a means of improving quality of life and for economic development. The inevitable mental comparisons with our own country confirmed our much weaker performance. Not just on the highways.
We have built a new international airport in Manila. But it remains closed and unused after years of dispute and charges of corruption. Is this a symbol of our government’s level of effectiveness versus that of our Malay cousins?
DEEPER HOLE. Unfortunately, we are now in a deeper hole than we were several years ago, and moving up requires far greater effort, even pain. The challenge for the adult Filipino in positions of responsibility, specially for politicians and for PGMA, who have the highest leverage, is whether we will be able to compare ourselves favorably with our Asean cousins by the end of PGMA’s term. Or will we continue to decline? The first 100 days assessment indicates the need for great improvement.
Beyond economic statistics, which show that Malaysia’s per capita income has grown to more than three times that of the Philippines, net positive developments in Malaysia apparently justify the awesome respect that the Filipino business community accorded the former prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, a few weeks ago.
Malaysia has become a competitive country in many ways, although the rise of China has also threatened its manufacturing sector. Government functions in infrastructure, roads and transportation facilities and social services such as education of its multi-racial population appear to be doing well.
Like KL’s airport, the Petronas twin towers, the tallest in the world, also display Malaysia’s pride. The rise of Malaysia’s airlines reflects the country’s vitality with their high on-time performance along with cheap fares from the low-cost business model airline, Air Asia.
What may stand out with our own failure is that we have ravaged our forests with little to show for it, while Malaysia still exports wood from lush forests.
Our challenge is to leave a better country for our children. And this requires much work.
(elzosa@yahoo.com.)
(October 22, 2004 issue)
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