Same race but different countries

Upper left: The King’s Palace, Upper right: Petronas Towers, Lower left: The house and office of the Prime Minister at Putrajaya, Lower Right: A view from the Kuala Lumpur Tower

Before I left for Malaysia people were telling me that I shouldn’t be excited because Malaysia is just like the Philippines.

I don’t know what made them say that but after staying there for less than a week I want to tell them to their faces that they were wrong.

I have learned that the Philippines and Malaysia are definitely not equals! It’s sad to admit that we are already left behind. That’s why I was so amazed when I saw Malaysia – it’s so beautiful and I think I’m in love with it! I love the way I can feel their culture in every place that I see! After seeing this I realized that in the US, I didn’t feel the American culture in their malls, theme parks, casinos and buildings. (Well maybe except for the Alcatraz).

I also love their people because they are friendly and hospitable just like the Filipinos. They greet and say hi to us even if they don’t know us. When we went to the malls, salesladies say thank you and smile at us even if we didn’t buy anything which is very unlike here!

The Price for development
Our tour guide, Shirley, noted that in the Philippines people are either very rich or very poor. In Malaysia, people are somewhere in the middle - they are not very rich or very poor. We all noticed that Malaysians are middle-class citizens whose lives are what we call in our colloquial term as “steady”. Although I’m not really sure if this is a good thing or not, I think what’s important is they live through everyday. Their salaries are just enough to pay their bills and feed themselves and their families.

Freedom of the Press
What also struck me is the fact that there is no press freedom in Malaysia. They have a government office called the Department of Information that provides all the data that the press will publish. Meaning, the press cannot write something that the government did not provide. It is also against their law to write something that is against the government.

Opposition does not exist
Go up against the government and you will be jailed. That’s a basic law. There is no opposition in Malaysia that’s why there is no one who’s contesting the decisions of the government. Unlike here, politicians are opposing the administration because of their personal agendas. The law banning the opposition resulted in good things: there is no one opposing the government everytime they decide to put up or build new infrastructures. A man-made city called Putrajaya that houses all the government offices in the country is a strong evidence of this.

Good and effective governance
I admire the way they implement their rules. I admire it so much that I was scared of violating them because I don’t want to pay 300 Ringgit for littering. Malaysians have discipline and they are scared of disobeying their law which explains why they have become a successful country with such clean environment. In the Philippines, we violate our law everyday because the implementation is not strict. There, people obey and respect their law!

Form of government
Malaysia is practicing a parliamentary-federal form of government. They have a Prime Minister who is voted by the parliament and acts as the head of state; while for symbolic purposes, they have a King who is elected by the other monarchs of the other 13 states. The King acts as the head of government.

Is their form of government a formula for their success? I think so. Maybe Malaysian and Singaporean leaders are also right when they said the democracy will never work for Asia.

Filipinos…no more excuses!
Malaysia did it, now why can’t we make it to be progressive like them? What do they have that we don’t? Maybe it’s the discipline. We have the same race but Filipinos are way better than the Malaysians! We are even good looking compared to them. We can even speak better English and we have more talented and brainy people! That’s why we shouldn’t give out excuses for our laziness or disobedience! Shouldn’t we be ashamed of ourselves because they already left us behind – economically, politically and culturally?

If they can do it, we can be successful too! There shouldn’t be more excuses; we should act now if we don’t like Vietnam or East Timor to be above us! Remember that Filipinos are better than the other South East Asians! We could surpass them if only all of us will change!