Life on the global assembly line

Was in total shocked when i was done reading the article for the number of times Malaysia was mentioned in the article, having it related to ‘third world countries’ and cheap labors.Then I read the introduction of the authors and found out the article was written in the early eighties.

As far as I know, Malaysia has a rather healthy factory working condition and most definitely is nowhere near the condition of the countries we now labeled ‘third world’. Malaysia is politically stable, has a steady growth in economy and a relatively well distribution of wealth that most neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam envy. We have a former tallest building in the world, one of the top ranking airports in the world and free, accesible(but sometimes, distorted) education system.

Growing up as a child in Malaysia for me was no different(sometimes better) than most people my age here in the United States. I had full pleasure in dolling up my Barbie when i was younger, watching cartoons on Disney Channel and having Happy Meals on frequent occasion. My fortunate childhood, I have our former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to thank.

Tun Dr Mahathir, or Dr M, as we like to call him when he was in position of Prime Minister, had pro-foreign investments policy during his 20 some years of ‘reign’. During his time as PM, he encouraged foreign corporations investing in the Malaysian soil and set forth a bloom in the industrial business as well as economic growth in Malaysia. For all that is worth, we managed to emancipate oursleves from what the article had described, a cheap-labor-exploiting third world country, to what we are reffered to now, a developing country.

The town where i lived in ( for the last 18 years of my life) has an industrial ‘park’ nearby. There is a huge Western Digital factory next to the highway. During peak hours, the buses hired by the factory to ship factory workers to and from their work place would jam up the whole intersection and cause a massive jam. Factory workers in uniform, mostly women and mostly young, can be seen walking in masses to the low cost apartment nearby. Most of these workers are from poorer parts of the country seeking a higher income in the city, some for a husband. I personally know a few in the similar situation and the higher wage they acquire from this job fulfills not only neccesities but also brings luxuries to their family living in the poorer areas.        

What I’m trying to say is that however critical the authors of this article are on huge corporation from the ‘first world countries’ setting up factories and taking advantage of the lower wage level of the ‘third word countries’, it is up to the leaders of these countries to oversee the potential in these ‘foreign investements’ and turn them into their advantage. Yes, the corporations are guilty for reaping riches out from the poor but if this opportunity is well spent it could be beneficial for these supposed ‘third world contries’.