Malaysias record-breaking feats have played a major role in breaking the psychological barrier suffered by the locals in realising their full potential in the past, according to a prominent local intellectual.

Climbing Mt Everest or having the tallest building in the world is important because they are breaking the chain that tow us for so long, Institute of International and Strategic Studies (Isis) chairperson Dr Noordin Sopiee said.

Noordin was giving a talk entitled From Dead Duck to Tiger: Will Malaysia Become an Eagle? at the Monash Leading Ideas Forum series organised by the Monash University Malaysia in its branch campus in Petaling Jaya last night.

According to him, Malaysians were once psychologically crippled as a result of years of colonialism.

We were told by many that we were hopeless people and we believed it, he told the gathering of about 50 people, mostly alumnus and academics from the Australian university

Lord Acton said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. However, powerlessness also corrupts and absolute powerlessness, therefore, corrupts absolutely, Noordin said.

He related examples of how Malaysians used to be in awe of the many feats achieved by their colonial master, the British, and even the New Zealanders who became the first people to conquer Mt Everest.

Empowered people can do so many things, unempowered people can do very little, he stressed.

During the talk, Noordin noted how Malaysia rose from a backwater country in the past to a dynamic and vibrant economy.

Despite problems such as low growth rate, high income disparity and complex multi-ethnic society, Malaysias economic growth had exceeded the expectation of international economic experts, he said.

Secret to success

Noordin explained that among the secrets of Malaysias success are the values and ethics of its muli-racial population, the countrys economic pragmatism as well as its ability in sustaining a power-sharing concept.

We dont have a system where winners take all or losers lose all like in Africa, he said, adding that Malaysia practises a system where if you cant beat them, make them join you.

He described the system as the Johnson Principle where there are more political parties in government than outside the government.

According to Noordin, the principle was derived from former US President Lyndon B Johnson who said that its better to have them in the tent pissing out rather than have them outside the tent pissing in.

Therefore, parties which are good at pissing were brought in, he added in jest..

Noordin, a former News Straits Times group editor, is also a member of the National Economic Action Council. He also sits on the board of several companies and is the chairperson of Monash University Malaysia.