news feature

When Youth leaders from Umno, PAS and Keadilan share the same platform even on the innocuous issue of globalisation, expect fireworks to happen.

That would be the objective of the organisers of yesterday's 'Youth Forum on Globalisation and Sept 11 as Economic Challenges of Malaysia' held in the inner sanctum of Umno headquarters  Umno Youth exco Affendi Zahari; Keadilan Youth secretary Adlan Benan Omar; and Singapore's Think Centre member Anbarash, were invited to deliver a 20-minute speech each.

The programme was scheduled for 9am but it only started at 11.30am, after an unexpected opening speech by Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry secretary S Anusha.

The Tun Hussein Onn auditorium in PWTC was hardly one-third full before a large group of Keadilan supporters arrived at 10.15am.

War of words

Anbarash kicked start the session with an examination on Singapore-Malaysia relation and argued that the two countries shared the same mindset that economic development must come at the expense of democracy and human rights.

"But many foreign investors now have ethical considerations and not just economic aspects when they want to invest," he said.

He went on to say that the People's Action Party and the Barisan Nasional governments have close cooperation and thus the people should not be influenced by the war of words in media between the countries.

"The baggage in the past lies with the governments and the ministers. We, the people, should know that we have commonalities in more than one way and work among ourselves," he said.

This was followed by presentation from PAS' Dzulkifli. Speaking in a mixture of fluent Bahasa Melayu and English, Dzulkifli had impressed the crowd with his talent in language and his fiery remarks about the United States.

"Globalisation essentially means US as the only superpower gobbling up other smaller countries," he said.

Mahathir's sins

But he claimed that Malaysia had its own problem too, among other, over-dependence on foreign capital and corrupt practice which is prevalent among the leaders and their cronies.

"It is an unhealthy, imbalanced way of trading. We have made US our major trading partner and depend on semiconductor industry which is seasonal in nature."

When Asean Free Trade Area is implemented in 2005, he warned that the lifting of trade barriers in the name of globalisation will affect the poor the most.

Malaysia's economic challenge is the low budget allocated for research and development as well as 'crony capitalism' practised by the Umno-led government that had led to massive bailouts, which in return erodes Malaysia's competitiveness in international economy, he added.

To regain investors' confidence in the country which was compounded by the sacking and subsequent jailing of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, Dzulkifli said the government must be "coherent and consistent" in its policy.

"You can't say Malaysia is free of terrorism on one hand, but put genuine democratic dissidents under draconian laws and call them Muslim extremists on the other hand. This will send out wrong and confusing signals to other countries," he said.

Unfair trading rules

Dzulkifli's criticism of the unfairness in international market was echoed by Umno's Affendi later.

But Keadilan supporters, who made up of half the audience, booed Affendi when he spoke in English, not Bahasa Melayu. Conspicuously, there were no notable Umno supporters to back the speaker.

They demanded that he speak in the official language. When Affendi said he would start with English first, they shouted at him by different names, including 'Melayu celup' (unauthentic Malay).

Throughout Affendi's speech, there were jeering and mockery. The Youth leader did not lose cool over it but instead displayed his political wits.

"As a lawyer by training, I have sworn to tell the truth but truth is hardly the prerequisite that politicians need in abundance," he said.

He continued to lash out at US for imposing unfair trading rules that favoured themselves and said repeatedly that he agreed with Dzulkifli on that note.

The communication technologies which has flourished in the name of globalisation had brought dire results to countries like Malaysia too, said Affendi.

"At the touch of a button, the currency speculators could affect the lives of unsuspecting people miles away."

But he conceded that "there's nothing much we could do" except to ensure that Malaysia will continue to have its competitive edge over other neighbouring countries, especially in the wake of China as the next major economic power in the region.

Indoor rally

Then it was Keadilan's turn. The supporters immediately turned the forum into an indoor rally by holding up banners bearing party logo and slogans, and chanted "reformasi" — demonstrations have been increasingly rare since a blanket ban was imposed last year.

Adlan argued that Anwar during his tenure as the finance minister in early 1990s had done a lot of good for the country's economy.

For instance, Anwar was awarded the 'best finance minister' by the International Monetary Fund because he had imposed levies on "hot money" — short-term foreign investment and its profit — back in 1994 and helped the country to avoid the outflow of foreign capital, he said.

He added Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's solution to the 1997 financial crisis was an imitation of "Anwar's wisdom" and therefore the premier is just a "copycat".

The next 20 minutes went on and on about how good Anwar was and how bad Mahathir was, and this was received well by the Keadilan supporters, as evident in rounds of applause and laughter they gave in response to Adlan's speech.

At the end of the his speech, the forum chairperson made a passing remark, "Keadilan seems to have contributed very little to the discussion, unlike the input from Dr Dzulkilfli and Mr Affendi. We hope Mr Adlan will give more input at the question and answer session."

Cut short

But there was only 10 minutes for Q and A — the auditorium was already booked for another event.

And so the forum ended in a haste. After hearing questions, or rather comments from mostly Keadilan and PAS supporters, panelists were given less than two minutes to sum up on the subject.

Indeed, Singapore's Anbarash had only 10 seconds for his concluding remarks. While he was about to talk, a PWTC administrative officer came in and asked the organiser to stop the event immediately.

But aside from the bad time management, one would wonder: what is the objective of organising a forum?

Convergence of interests, healthy debate, exchange of ideas..., and the list goes on. But in practice, it is just not necessarily so.