My personal observation of South Korea during a 9-day visit, particularly Seoul, in contrast with my observation of the condition and situation in Malaysia.
At the outset of this discussion, it is imperative to recognise two distinct characteristic of South Korea as compared to Malaysia. The first distinction is that there exists a huge gap in the number of population. South Korea has double the Malaysian population which is about 50,000 million. Double the population means double, if not more, of everything that Malaysia have currently. Double the people's need, food consumption, and of course double domestic and industrial waste. This situation brings a set of new challenges to South Korea that Malaysia has never encountered before. To say that South Korea has been addressing these challenges gracefully would be an overstatement, but they in fact they has been handling it remarkably well.
Secondly, Malaysia's multiracial and multicultural community made us more vulnerable to civil strife, which has occurred in many resource-rich countries, as one group tried to seize the wealth for itself. South Korea consists of a homogenous society. Surely there are problems in the community but it is not as delicate as maintaining balance in a multiracial community.
After 400 years of foreign occupation followed by 50 years of independence, Malaysia has accomplished a remarkable stage of development. From an economist's perspective, Malaysia's success is attributed to what Malaysia learnt from its neighbour. Malaysia steered its direction by looking at the highly successful countries in the East particularly Japan, People's Republic of China and South Korea. After 25 years since Malaysia launched its "Look East Policy", the visit to South Korea proved that there is still much more to be learnt from South Korea.
Waste Management
One aspect merit for discussion here is how South Korea managed their landfill. Blessed with almost 50,000 million people, South Korea adopted a centralised landfill approach that can accommodate domestic and non toxic industrial waste until 2044. The 2065 hectares Sudokwon landfill has set a new benchmark in landfill management. Through conventional landfill management, the area became severely polluted that it would take almost a hundred years to restore the land to its original fertilize condition. In the case of Sudokwon, the land will is filled with waste and also treated at the same time. Through conducive and comprehensive treatment plus with effective management, the land will be transformed into a nature sanctuary for both human and animals.
The conventional waste management approaches taken by Malaysia will become obsolete and poses great pollution threat to Malaysia by the year in the years to come especially when the population become double like South Korea. In preparing for the future, Malaysia needs to find other alternatives immediately to address this issue. The Government of Malaysia is currently considering the proposal to build a large waste incinerator. The proposal itself received mixed response from the Malaysian. While some see the need to have the incinerator, there is also some fear for environmental reason and some object for political reason. The proposal now is still under consideration.
The idea to have a large centralised landfill that will become a nature sanctuary sounds exciting. Notwithstanding, looking at the separation of power between the federal government and state government in Malaysia as enshrined in the constitution, specifically the state's authority over land, the support of a strong political will is vital before the idea can be realised. It is unlikely that any state in Malaysia would "surrender" a large area of its territory to become "National Landfill Area" for the benefits of the nation. Any politician would know that, even to voice out this idea, is a political suicide as the issue is likely to be politicised heavily by the other party.
On the flip side, Malaysia must find an immediate solution to our swelling waste problem. "Sudokwon Landfill" seems to be the best plausible decision, for now. The plan is not to copy the whole idea of Sudokwon Landfill, but to improvise the approach and use the existing technology to suite the need of Malaysia.
Homogenous Community vs. Heterogeneous Community
The second aspect merit for discussion is the homogenous community of the South Koreans. Koreans are one ethnic family and speak one language. Unlike Malaysia where Islam is dominant, Korean culture includes a wide variety if religious elements that have shaped the people's way of thinking and behaviour. There are about 7 religions practised by the Koreans. From the information gathered through informal conversation with South Korean officials, religion is a personal matter. It is not something that the Korean willing to discuss at great length. It is safe to conclude that the homogeneity of Korean suppresses heterogeneity of the religion.
Such homogeneity has enabled Korean to be relatively free from ethnic problems and to maintain a firm solidarity with one another. This environment lubricates the efforts taken by the government to build their future, benefiting from their homogenous community, to come up with a national consensus. 55 years after the signing of armistice agreement, South Korean surged to become one of the power houses in the Eastern region through the outward-oriented economic development strategy, which used exports as the engine of growth. The success was attributed to the effectiveness of the government in administrating as well as communicating the policies to the people that allow the formation of national consensus.
Back at home, Malaysia arrives at a junction on how to come up with a national consensus while maintaining the unity of its multiracial people. Prior the 12th General Election 2008, this has never become a problem, or at least seen not as a problem. The unique unity of people from various race, religion and culture has been successfully maintained despite "hiccups" along the process.
There are segments in the community currently, pushing for the formation of a homogenous "Malaysian" entity. They are aiming for total assimilation with the end result is to become a homogenous-like community with racial unity and solidarity as the main thrust to move forward. The crystal ball of unity among Malaysian has become awfully murky as it was spattered with so many issues especially the delicate tussle between religions when it comes to family laws, and allegation of violation of human rights.
Homogenous community is not the sole key to success. The actual key is, for Malaysian to have national consensus and hold dearly towards the concept of common good. Malaysia is a country that is rich in natural resources and rich with values and culture. Unlike Malaysia, South Korea is not a rich country in terms of natural resources but they are rich with people's desire to further develop South Korea. The tagline "Dynamic Korea" sums it all. The South Korean are very dedicated in delivering results. They took pride in what ever they do. This school of thought need to be inculcated and imprinted into the Malaysian's mind. By combining the school of thought with the abundance of natural resource, Malaysia can reach a new unprecedented height of development.
