Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak has outlined his party's five-point strategy to create a new breed of Malays - glocals or those who think globally and act locally.

His rhetoric is nothing but rehashed propaganda and we should be absolutely clear that such ideas have been parroted by Umno leaders and their apparatchik for a few years.

Yet there has been no progress on this agenda. Instead, Umno leaders want to extend the duration to achieve Vision 2020 to 2057.

Is Najib suggesting that the present generation of Malays and those of the last 50 years are 'damaged goods', and hence are the root of the problems that Malays now face?

Is he again forgetting that he and the current Umno leadership are 'damaged goods' as well, and that they are the ones who have debased the Malay cultural values with rampant corruption and abuses of power? Is Umno saying that its former president Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Vision 2020 policies and programmes are misguided?

Has the Abdullah government failed to fulfil the promises of that vision? Why has it delayed this by another 50 years, by launching a series of fantastic 'corridors of growth' throughout the length and breadth of our country? We have heard this before - it's not even that original.

Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is 68, and I are certainly not going to be around to bask in the glory of Najib's dreams. But I am fairly certain that, if this government does not change course right now, then Vision 2057 will become Vision 2107.

While most nations have abandoned long-range planning frameworks and are concentrating on tacking the challenges of globalisation and a rapidly changing economic environment within annual budgetary time frames, our leaders are still planning their policies with a 50-year perspective.

You cannot act locally if you are going to compete globally. Thinking globally is not enough, and acting locally in a globalised world is a sure route to losing out to regional competitors like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. We will not be able to face the competitive onslaught of the likes of China and India when our 'glocal' people are trained to operate in an environment insulated from the rest of the world due to our protectionist policies.

What 'glocal' means

Let's think for a moment about what 'glocal' means. The concept originated in the context of environmentalism to encourage people to show deep concern for the global problem of man-made degradation but to recognise that the arena for change for the average person is, in fact, quite local.

What does glocalisation have to do with our malaise? As a nation, we lag behind the rest of the region. Our economy is stagnating. Prices are rising. Our labour force is uncompetitive regionally and globally. Our universities are among the most mediocre in Asia. Our problems are profoundly and uniquely Malaysian problems. So, given the fact that the rest of world is leaving us far behind in virtually all economic and social indicators, how does a strategy of glocalisation help us today?

We need to dispense with the clichs and empty rhetoric and deal with reality. A single voyage into outer space on a Russian spacecraft by an 'astronaut' trained in Russia as part of a commercial deal does not constitute a Malaysian space programme.

Although it is certainly an achievement, we have to put things in perspective and cannot honestly sell to the people that this represents some breakthrough in the development of our technology and science.

We need Malays, and fellow Malaysians, who can understand and respond to the challenges of globalisation. We must have Malaysians with open minds, the capacity to compete in international markets; we need managers who are flexible and adaptable in a rapidly changing environment and we need to engage the best and most capable Malays, irrespective of their social or political affiliations and harness the talents and creative energies of all Malaysians. Most importantly, we need to practise good governance and uphold high ethical values.

Najib assumes that we can wave a magic wand and create a new generation of Malays - Ulul Al Bab (people with critical thinking abilities) - who are "adept at using their intellect and capable at thinking analytically to grow and prosper". These people, he suggests, will be "possessed of high moral values and good manners" and be "steeped in knowledge and understanding of religion and other disciplines". I would ask him where he expects to find these people since they are in short supply.

Our schools and universities are patently mediocre. Our best professors and teachers are leaving to seek freer academic environments to practise their craft. Our best students have no choice but to study abroad, if they can afford it - and most in fact cannot. Once they are abroad, and have tasted freedom and seen opportunities for advancement and enrichment that they fully realise are absent in Malaysia, it is unlikely that they will return home.

It is worth mentioning that the higher education minister seems to have a solid understanding of what Najib means by 'glocal'.

In virtually every international and regional ranking of institutions of higher education, Malaysian universities fared poorly, if they were ranked at all. So thinking globally but acting locally, the ministry decided to concoct its own domestic ranking system to tell us that everything is fine. In doing it has made our third-rate higher education system appear outstanding.

We urgently need to reform the entire educational system and also to immediately restore academic freedom and autonomy in our universities. Piecemeal changes are just not enough. The government must amend the Education Act and Universities and University Colleges Act. Unfortunately, there is no political will to do so.

Instead, the system as it exists, tends to produce 'Ahmad Al-Babs'. This is because Umno politicians are not interested in liberating the Malay mind for fear that they will lose their hegemonic control over the community. This begs the question, who is, in fact, closing the Malay mind? The answer is fairly obvious.

As for morality and manners which Najib rightly stresses, just look around. Our judiciary is tainted with allegations of corruption. Our ministers and public officials, including the Inspector-General of the Police and the Attorney-General are believed to be corrupt, and every few weeks a new scandal emerges that is quickly swept under the carpet by a sycophantic media (which functions at the behest the ruling political coalition).

Murder, sexual abuse, rape, and petty crimes are all on the rise. The Nurin murder case, the Sukhoi jet and submarine purchases, the patrol boat debacle, as well as irregularities in the defence ministry as identified by the Auditor-General are all unresolved stains on the government's reputation.

Attack on Anwar

In an unprovoked personal attack, Najib singled out PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, claiming that the latter has rejected the New Economic policy (NEP). He said Anwar believes that the NEP "enriches only a handful of Malays".

To deny this, as Najib continues to do, is to ignore the fact that there now exists a huge wealth gap between the Umno-sponsored Malays and those in the rural areas. Middle-class Malays who have chosen to speak up in the name of justice and equitable distribution against Umno kleptocracy have been marginalised and penalised.

It true, as Najib boasts, that there are more Malay accountants, architects, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, engineers and lawyers today. That much is obvious, as our population has increased. But the key measure of the NEP's performance is simply not a question of quantity.

Look at the earnings of middle-class Malay professionals. They are generally earning significantly lower salaries compared to their counterparts in Singapore or Hong Kong. This is a problem that we in PKR will change because we want to prevent the brain drain of the best Malay and Malaysian minds.

Anwar supported the NEP from his student days until today and has always maintained that the NEP has been beneficial to Malays. But we must have the conviction and courage to re-examine our affirmative action policies after 37 years of implementation.

At the same time, we must deal with the problems of relative poverty, healthcare delivery, and social development while we fight corruption and the blatant abuse of power. Otherwise principles of justice and equity are misnomers used by the powers that be for political ends.

We exist in a new world of globalisation, and must reformulate policies to ensure that we are on par with our regional neighbours in terms of increased per capita income and FDI inflows, and that we promote high growth with price stability.

The recent Unctad report showing an increase in FDI inflows to Malaysia provides another glaring example of how our government plays games with data and blows stories well out of proportion. The 52.8 percent increase in our FDI in 2006 (US$6 billion) which was advertised in the media as a great national triumph represents one-quarter of the level achieved by Singapore - a nation of just four million people - that attracted US$23 billion.

If one cares to examine Anwar's Malaysian Economic Agenda carefully, one can note that "the Malays and bumiputeras are ready for the new agenda, because this agenda continues to take an aggressive approach on affirmative action to uplift the welfare of the downtroddensurely the current system that ignores the plight of the poorest especially among the bumiputeras cannot be defended".

"The concern that the Malaysian Economic Agenda will infringe the rights of the bumiputera in terms of scholarships, business opportunities, etc has been raised by the rich not for the sake of the common Malaysians - workers, farmers and fishermen - but to defend their lucrative contracts, shares, Approved Permits, and licences, even small permits to bus operators and taxi drivers," it states.

Najib's attack on Anwar is baseless. Furthermore, it represents an act of desperation as much as it reflects a basic misunderstanding of the nation's current situation and the policies that will bring us to a better future and economic prosperity.

Our entire electoral system is seen to be fraudulent. It is for this reason that 100,000 concerned citizens are planning to march in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to petition the King over the people's wish for electoral reform to ensure free and fair elections. Yet, Najib publicly declared that be it in Kuala Berang, Pengkalan Pasir, Batu Talam, Machap or Ijok, the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition won fairly contested elections.

Overall, Najib's speech is a rallying cry to Umno leaders and their supporters. It was made with the next general election in clear view. It should be seen as a desperate attempt to garner support from a Malay electorate that has already expressed its view that a strong and vibrant opposition is an important and essential element of a truly functioning democracy.

Let's not be deluded by catchy slogans and broken promises. Our nation should be guided by leaders with greater integrity who inspire all Malaysians to work hard and to share a commitment to a truly united, democratic and multi-racial Malaysia.

DIN MERICAN is programme director of PKR.