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Showing posts from September, 2012

The Malaysian Ideology, Pragmatism, Socialism and Populism

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir's recent comment saying that Malaysia "has no ideology" has generated a few debates and discussions on the Internet. Of course that statement is debatable. I can agree to some extent. You have to understand the context of his argument. I think what Dr Mahathir was trying to say is that the government does not subscribe to any fixed political ideology. Take for example the Communist China. In reality China is no longer a communist or socialist state, though they are often proud to claim theirs as "Chinese-style socialist". But in actuality it is pure capitalism. What separates them from the American capitalism is that in China it is a state-controlled economy, while in the US, private enterprise. Malaysia, on the other hand, though we have never officially or politically claimed ourselves to be a socialist state, key elements of socialism and populism existed in some of our economic structures and policies. As a matter