Despite our pride in being more developed than some of our neighbors, Malaysia's state of philanthropy is in dire straits compared to them.

"Malaysia has been lagging behind, although we give a great deal as individuals," said Josie Fernandez, a promoter of the yet-to-be-registered Philanthropy Malaysia.

She said there is a sense of reluctance to research into governance issues, accountability, effectiveness of grant-making by government agencies and whether the grants are effectively utilised.

"Philanthropy is a wide area, but it is a science today and we have to recognise that. Countries in the region, such our own neighbors, have already done excellent studies," she added when met at the sidelines of a workshop on Asia-Pacific Philanthropy and Social Investment in Kuala Lumpur..

For example, she pointed out, in the Asia-Pacific Philanthropy Consortium, which includes about 25 countries, Malaysia is not even a member.

Social investments

Citing Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines as examples of countries whose state of civil societies and philanthropies were advanced, she said Malaysian businesses have yet to see beyond profit-making and investments other than monetary.

Social investment, as part of the corporate social responsibility, involves social as well as financial goals, the creation of sustainable community services, environmental protection and social development, as well as new business opportunities.

"Corporations here have yet to think and act beyond 'the charity model' to the 'social investment model," she added.

She said many donors and private foundations in Malaysia are happy to have given to a hungry person or an orphanage and sit back.

"How do we translate this into long-term efforts and sustaining those efforts?" she asked.

According to her, developed countries such as Japan and Singapore have taken serious efforts to build social investments into the services provided by their financial institutions.

"(Tokyo-based) Daiwa Securities sent us all their materials on corporate social responsibility because they believed they have a responsibility not just in Japan but to the whole region," she added.

Working alone

In Singapore, she said banks were setting up philanthropy services within their banking system as part of advising wealthy clients on where and what kind of social work they can support.

"The head of one bank's philanthropy services in Singapore said he was very surprised and happy to be contacted and said he would come to Malaysia to see how he can help philanthropy here.

"But when I called banks here, one major investment bank merely told me they're 'not interested' and banged down the telephone," she added.

Fernandez also recounted how one Malaysian philanthropist, among the richest in Asia, told her that they preferred to work alone.

"In a globalising society, how can anybody work alone?" she asked.

Fernandez said the fact that Malaysia was teeming with non-profit and non-governmental organisations (NGO) is no cause for celebration as it reflected the failure of the government to fulfill its social responsibilities.

This was reflected, she said, in the government's dependence on NGO workers to help in the tsunami crisis as well as the calls for NGO volunteers to carry out its HIV/Aids programmes.

"In Malaysia, we have many welfare NGOs. Does this reflect the government's failure to provide adequate social support for its citizens? Whenever I see a case of a child in need (of funds for a medical operation), I get angry.

"I feel it's the role of government to improve the quality of life of its citizens," she added.

The Sun daily's associate editor Rash Behari Bhattacharjee, who had also assisted in convening the workshop, spoke on the politics of patronage that ruled the NGO field.

"The structure and linkages of these NGOs reveal that they are not groups spontaneously coming out of communities but are structured and serve as the 'outreach' of political parties," he said when met.

"How many of these NGOs are really social development organisations?" asked Fernandez echoing Bhattacharjee's comments on the matter.