A whirlwind start to the year

January brought global crises, from the US focusing inward under Trump to the looming threat of tariffs. Meanwhile, in our backyard, there are calls for much-needed reforms.

IT’S already the end of January. It’s amazing how time has passed into the Lunar New Year and so much has happened in just one month, both at home and abroad.

Globally, the world is in crisis as US President Donald Trump makes his mark, focusing on his nation while telling all the others we must get our act together because there is no more an America that will help globally.

The long-hoped for ceasefire in Gaza is in place and we can only pray that the war-torn region will be allowed to rebuild in peace. The Palestinian people have endured unimaginable sufferings and atrocities.

Malaysia has already pledged funds to help with reconstruction. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the rebuilding of Gaza would involve people and private sector collaboration through the joint efforts of the Japanese and Malaysian governments.

Elsewhere, Trump’s repeated claim before he took office, that he could end in just 24 hours the war in Ukraine that Russia has waged, has fuelled fear across Europe that the vital supply of American weapons will be cut off.

The price of this Eastern European war that has dragged on for three years is blood and grief, but there could be a light at the end of the tunnel soon.

A combination of Trump’s hardline stance and a war-weary people could see Ukraine negotiating a ceasefire with Vladimir Putin soon.

Physical wars aside, the race for domination in artificial intelligence was blown wide open this week after the launch of a Chinese chatbot wiped US$1 trillion (RM4.3 trillion) from the Nasdaq Composite Index, as investors digested the implications of the latest AI model developed by DeepSeek.

Tech giants like Nvidia lost 17% of its market value with Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc losing around US$100bil (RM438bil) following the emergence of DeepSeek, a competitor to OpenAI, gatecrashed the AI boom by appearing to deliver the same performance with fewer resources.

For all Trump’s bluster on imposing punishing tariffs on China, this was a pincer movement, potentially the start of economic warfare between the two superpowers that could have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world.

Back home, there are concerns over the effect of potential US tariffs.

But for now our country is on the rebound, with a stronger ringgit and record foreign direct investments (FDI) in the first nine months of 2024 to the tune of a whopping RM255bil of approved investments.

The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) estimates that some 159,000 new jobs will be generated by these FDIs, but heading into the second month of 2025, FDIs cannot be the only gauge for us to be doing well.

The Prime Minister has indicated that he will institute reforms that have been long awaited.

So, this year, Malaysians look forward to reforms, whether it be the separation of powers of the Attorney General or the introduction of EPF for civil servants or a restructuring for subsidies for petrol. We await.

The recent rally by university students in Kuala Lumpur over a perceived bias towards the handling of high-profile corruption cases is a sign that the government cannot ignore, as is the recent criticism by the outgoing Chief Justice over attempts to undermine and supposedly interfere in the judiciary.

The subsequent outpouring of support for top judge Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat’s comments by the legal fraternity show a real concern for the country’s judicial independence.

The Prime Minister also needs to look into reforming the civil service.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), sustained rapid and inclusive economic growth has brought Malaysia close to the threshold of high-income status, but the country still has the highest number of civil servants relative to its population.

There’s no sugarcoating it. We have a bloated civil service. No doubt, this has always been the strategy of the previous governments in terms of a vote bank. This cannot be the case any longer.

The world is getting a lot more competitive, and Malaysia must pull up its socks to remain competitive.

We actually have all the ingredients today. The country is stable politically. We have no natural disasters. We have by and large, a strong and healthy productive workforce.

We have amazing natural resources, although the stone in the shoe is an unwieldy civil service that requires major surgery.

There is much talk that in two years or maybe even less, GE16 will be called. The rakyat will seek a reckoning of what has been done by the Madani administration.

We look to the long-called for reforms to take place, especially as the year is still a fresh one.

To all of our Chinese readers, may you have a prosperous Year of the Snake with good health, peace of mind and happiness always.