A time for reflection towards better national development

New Straits Times

7 hours ago

AUGUST is an auspicious month not just for Malaysia whose National Day falls on Aug 31, of course.
Singapore just celebrated its 60th anniversary as an independent republic on Aug 9, and Indonesia commemorates its independence from Dutch rule every Aug 17.
Inevitably, the coincidence of the three countries' national days falling in August invites comparisons.
If social media posts are any meaningful indicator, this year seems to invite closer scrutiny by Malaysians of the paths their country and Singapore have taken since that fateful Aug 9 in 1965, when the island republic "separated" from Malaysia after a rather tumultuous two years.
Malaysians (and Singaporeans, too) will usually point out the obvious: that Singapore has done very well for itself in the last 60 years. That feat has won for Singapore well-deserved and universal praise and accolades.
Not just Malaysians but citizens of nearly every country with Singapore on their minds are bound to mull over — either silently or otherwise — if their own countries could become another Singapore.
Some Filipinos, for example, will justify the occasional lurch into authoritarianism by saying they want their country to be like Singapore: clean, disciplined and, above all, prosperous.
Singapore envy is perhaps more pronounced (and problematic) for Malaysians because of our common history and complicated relations.
When some Singaporeans let their guard down and perhaps compare their country very favourably to ours — such as when a Singapore-born comedienne did a few years back in the United States — they tend to elicit knowing nods from their compatriots (and some Malaysians, too).
On the other hand, when Indonesians cross the border into Malaysia, they will often swoon on social media about our country's tidiness and evident prosperity — perhaps confirming that country comparisons, like other comparisons, are unavoidably relative.
Malaysians of all backgrounds, in return, will admire, how almost the entire Indonesian archipelago, far-flung that it is, literally speaks one common language — Bahasa Indonesia — even in private homes.
Surely that is a most admirable feat of nation-building that Malaysians and even Singaporeans can only dream about.
There is certainly no telling how challenging the task of nation-building was and continues to be for Malaysia and more so, Indonesia, perhaps.
We are talking not just disparate populations but disparate regions, too, and the usual urban-rural cleavages that city-states such as Singapore never have to deal with.
It is usually harmless for citizens of different countries to want to compare their own country to others. To be sure, there will be instances where emulation of the good practices of another country may be possible and desirable.
But it is also instructive to acknowledge that each country, like each individual human, is different and comparing one with another only goes so far on the road to self-improvement.
Far better to embark on a journey of self-discovery — particularly in our Merdeka Month — to appreciate what is possible and what is not in our collective efforts to create a better Malaysia.