Everybody, including the international press, is now keenly looking at PM Najib Abdul Razak’s visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The obvious narrative is Malaysia’s disappointment with the US following actions taken by US Justice Department (DOJ) to seize assets purportedly linked to 1MDB.

What better assurance can any country provide to Malaysia now if not PRC - a superpower on the rise with military muscles and financial prowess? I am sure Malaysians will hear more of PRC than any country from now on.

Malaysia loves to look at everywhere except within itself. We believe there is a simple and shortcut way to success – by looking and emulating. But we never admit to our own shortcomings and weaknesses. We never admit our sloppiness and laziness. We believe if we look at a successful country, we too will achieve success in no time.

At one time not long after independence, we looked to Great Britain. Everything is British - equipment, apparatuses, standards, measures, administration and government.

After a while, we grew tired of the British. Some smart Alec came along and asked us to look elsewhere.

So for years we looked ‘east’ to Japan and South Korea. We sent our students and government servants there for training, adopted their management style, and tried our best to inculcate their values and ethics. We thought this was the panacea of our ills.

Then we grew wary again. We can’t ignore the ‘greatness’ of the USA - its first black president and his visit to Malaysia after nearly half a century, the Hollywood, golf and glamorous living. For a while we thought we had arrived. We thought we could ride on the USA’s open society and great ‘democratic tradition’.

What a disappointment! We forget democracy cuts both ways. We forget the USA can’t handle kleptocracy, larceny, investigation, and prosecution like the way we do. We forget our friends in the US can’t get us out of trouble if laws are violated.

So we search and look again. What a friend we find in the PRC now - a friend willing to sell us its navy vessels for us to guard our territory in the South China Sea perhaps, buy our distressed energy assets, invest billions in our Bandar Malaysia, and finance our East Coast railroads.

PRC is of course Malaysia’s best friend today. Who else could it be? But after PRC, I wonder who shall be Malaysia’s best friend - the Arabs?

The reality is we have never look at ourselves. We have never admitted to the self-inflicted problems we do onto ourselves. We have never explored the resilience and the capability within us as a nation. What can the British, Japanese, South Koreans, Americans, and now the Chinese help us if we are unprofessional, fleeting and incompetent?

Why do we have to sell our jewels away? Why do we need China to construct the railroad for us? Yes, why? China today has the most number of high speed trains and longest kilometrage of railroads on earth. Did it get anyone to construct these for them?