You have described my county to a perfect P. The system of government above all else is a system of patronage, nepotism and cronyism. You have high level officers select people that are connected to them and place them in high level positions irregardless of intelligence, education or expertise. Only in Malaysia can you have a Infrastructure Minister who is a doctor, Woman's Affairs Minister who is a Man and A Finance Minister who has no experience in anything Finance related..... who was also Minister of Defense even though he has no experience in the military.
With over 50 years in power using every tool in the cookbook they have basically convinced themselves they have the answers to everything. With the same oligarchs in power that also control all the media and newspapers, the standard reporters in our county are meek and submissive. They do not ask questions that are out of the norm if they value their jobs. Newspapers have had their printing permits revoked for asking difficult questions. Their view is "I Say, You Listen". Might work well with the meek local media but when MH370 went missing and the world's media descended on these folks there were put in a spot they were not used too. "I Say You Listen" was no longer going to work with real reporters.
Malaysia is a Republicans dream. The politicians, the business oligarchs, and Religion are all joined in one massive web. Everything is connected. The media, the banks, the construction industry all the way to medical supplies for local hospitals and road tolls are all connected to the same people through the strict control of permits and no bid contracts. In turn during election time, these oligarchs flood the election vote with money and infrastructure for the ruling party by providing everything from helicopters to buses and printing and media ads. Almost impossible to vote them out as the Election Commission in run by the same folks. There have been so many certified evidence of speeches made of these politicians that in many countries it would be considered out right vote buying and even threats of revoking government aid to poor areas if the wrongs candidate wins. But nothing is done.
The ruling party find it difficult to win in urban areas mostly due to a more savvy crop of voters who know bullshit when they see it. So they have to depend on the rural voters. Mostly poor, less educated and dependent on government hand outs. When election comes, flood these rural districts with cash, promises of better road access, drinking water and electricity, a few gifts to the local families of rice, plastic water tanks to collect rain water (since the promises of piped water to the area made every 4 years seems to be magically forgotten after election time) and the hint that the ever important government aid will disappear if the opposition is voted in will get the rural folks to vote the "right" way.
But just to be safe, they are also experts at gerrymandering the election districts to fit their plan. More and more rural districts are subdivided and made into additional rural voting blocks to such an extent that the opposition block can win 80% of the popular vote but still loose the election. With more districts comes the need for more high ranking government positions. After all what hard working politician who won for his party in his district would refuse a ministerial position? We now have more ministers than there are positions. So what do we do? We create more positions. Now we have such noted posts as "Minister in the Prime Ministers Department" who now require his own entourage, VIP police escorts and overseas travel... first class of course with the best hotels. As a result Malaysia has the largest number of ministers of any SE Asian country and a bureaucracy that serves it has bloated to become the largest in Asia when taking into account of population. How big? All money paid through income tax by taxpayers in this country per year is not enough to pay for the salaries of the bureaucrats. That big. The Prime Ministers Department has a budget of more then double that of the White House and secret service. And we don't even have an Air Force One. However we did get a private airliner for the Prime Ministers wife and her "working" trips to various high fashion destinations. $10,000 Berkin handbags are all the rage.
I am now ranting. I will stop.
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