Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

Getting left behind

Feb 05, 2011 Editorial

Guyana, Malaysia, Singapore and even Korea were once at the same level of development about fifty years ago. Their people lived in thatched houses and they imported almost every conceivable thing, including the food they ate. Of course they planted some things but the colonial masters caused the bulk of these to be exported. The planters might have been the local peasant but these were under the control of the colonial master.
Today, if one were to visit Malaysia, Singapore and Korea, and then visit Guyana one would never believe that they were all poor countries a few years ago. The fact is that each country chose a path of development that dictated its future. Guyanese were more concerned with pursuing an education that would see them working for the Mother Country, Great Britain.
The Asian counterparts were a bit more inward looking. They would have had their language problems. They would have also had their ethnic problems. However, they managed to resolve these and to move ahead to the point where they are considered First World countries while Guyana continues to languish as a struggling Third World country.
Documented evidence reveals that the leader of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, held serious discussions with his advisers and took decisions for the good of the country. He was not afraid to allow the ethnic majority, which did not represent the leadership of the country, to take control of crucial positions. In his memoire, From Third World to First, he spoke of being asked to leave the Federation of Malaysia and go it alone. He spoke of the dealing with the Malays who were the majority in the police force and in the army he inherited from Malaysia. He dealt with the possibilities of the Malays in the police force shooting Chinese who were the majorities. He spoke of the Ghurkas being neutral.
He spoke of creating a Singapore army, no matter how rudimentary to avoid a coup by some extremist Malays who thought that he should not have been granted independence. He got them all over time to be Singaporeans instead of individual ethnicities.
He hired skills where necessary instead of adopting the nepotism route. He insisted that any investor employ one Singaporean for every two of the people put in administrative position. Although Singapore had no natural resource that country is very rich. Then there is Malaysia. The leader at the time, Mahathir Mohamad, was reelected repeatedly; under his leadership Malaysia achieved one of the most prosperous economies in Southeast Asia, rising literacy rates, and increased life expectancies. An economic downturn in the late 1990s caused a ripple but things are back on track.
Malaysia has reached the stage where it could operate the largest plywood factory in this part of the world—Barama. Guyana, for its part, still fashions nothing, leaving the politicians to talk repeatedly about value added. We look at these examples and ask whether something is wrong with us.
For more than five decades we have been unable to deal with our ethnic problem with the result that there continues to be ethnic distrust. This distrust has stalled Guyana’s forward movement and from all appearances it will continue to do so for a very long time to come. We surely cannot seem to be sincere in our discussions with each other.
We level accusations and we refuse to be forward-looking. We constantly refer to incidents long past and re-open old wounds. In this the 21st Century we still hear about the merits and demerits of leaders of fifty years ago. We still hear about Burnham and Jagan.
Our industries collapse because of the distrust. We have destroyed cane fields, burnt bridges leading to the agricultural lands and all in the name of frustrating the people in power. We have refused to work assiduously because we tell ourselves that by so doing we would be helping the government. We fail to recognize that we are actually sounding our death knell. Right now we are exporting our skills, again because of the distrust. Guyana’s development is not assured.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Rutherford gets big payday from Gujarat Titans at IPL 2025 Mega Auction; Shepherd, Powell snapped up by RCB and KKR, respectively

Rutherford gets big payday from Gujarat Titans at IPL 2025 Mega...

Nov 26, 2024

  SportsMax – Guyanese hard-hitting left hander Sherfane Rutherford will get the opportunity to shine on T20 franchise cricket’s biggest stage once again after being picked up by the...
Read More
Roach and Seales star as West Indies close in on Antigua Test victory

Roach and Seales star as West Indies close in on...

Nov 26, 2024

Delroy Tyrrell continues to excel at Oneonta State University

Delroy Tyrrell continues to excel at Oneonta...

Nov 26, 2024

Ramdass Royals Crowned Champions of the Inaugural Windies Masters Cricket Extravaganza

Ramdass Royals Crowned Champions of the Inaugural...

Nov 26, 2024

KFC Guyana distance self from delayed payment of GFF Elite League prizes

KFC Guyana distance self from delayed payment of...

Nov 26, 2024

Ravens and Royals ready for epic Elite 16 final showdown

Ravens and Royals ready for epic Elite 16 final...

Nov 26, 2024

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]