After the opposition and Mahathir, now even Anwar’s own party members are coming out to say that he sold the country’s sovereignty when he signed the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between Malaysia and the United States with Donald Trump at the ASEAN Summit last October.
Without going into details, let me just say that the press statement released on 13 November by Rafizi Ramli, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, and Wong Chen — members of Anwar’s own party — appears to confirm what both Perikatan’s Secretary-General Azmin Ali and Dr Mahathir Mohamad have been alleging: that the current government has surrendered Malaysia’s economic sovereignty to Washington.
As for me, I’ll take Azmin’s, Rafizi's and Mahathir’s words at face value — and agree that the trade agreement Anwar signed with Trump likely does not favour Malaysia. In fact, it wouldn't be surprised that it is likely a form of arm-twisting by Trump’s America.
The “Third World Boss” Mindset
On what do I base my assumption? On my understanding of who Donald Trump is.
When I look at Trump, I see a “third world boss.” And as anyone from the developing world knows, third world bosses have a distinct style of deal-making — they prey on those who need them more than they need them. They’ll size you up, figure out your desperation, and then offer you a deal so lopsided that you’d never call it “fair” — but you’ll take it anyway, because you have no other choice.
Trump loves to market his “Art of the Deal” as some kind of strategic brilliance. But from where I stand, it’s really just the same method every petty factory owner, contractor, or sweatshop boss in the third world uses to squeeze profit from the powerless.
First, they identify your dependence. Then, they manufacture your desperation — maybe by withholding your passport and pay, threatening your job, or cornering you into compliance. Once you’re sufficiently desperate, they present a take-it-or-leave-it offer, knowing full well you’ll take it. After that, they’ll keep pushing — pay you less, make you work more — and call their exploitation “genius.”
When Trump launched his global tariff war, he was essentially doing the same thing: creating desperation worldwide so that nations would come begging for deals. And now, having cornered many economies, he’s offering them agreements dressed up as partnerships — when in truth, they’re more like submission papers.
The Nature of Unfair Deals
When Malaysia gets a “deal” like that, our job isn’t to debate whether it’s fair, because no deal that is offered by a Third World Boss ever is. Ask any foreign worker in Malaysia — the terms offered by a third world boss to you if they believe you need them more than they need you, is always exploitative, always one-sided, and always testing the limits of your self respect and dignity.
But here’s the bitter truth: protesting these deals doesn’t always help.
Foreign workers in Malaysia who protest against their exploitative employers rarely find justice. More often, they find themselves with worse conditions, unpaid wages, or police reports filed against them. And just like those workers, if Malaysia were to loudly protest Trump’s “third world” trade deals, we’d probably just get worse ones — or worse, find ourselves “blacklisted” in some form of economic retaliation.
Accepting Reality, Playing Smart
We’d all like to believe that justice exists in this world — that some great moral force will punish the exploiters. But look around. The “third world bosses” in Malaysia who abuse and underpay foreign workers never got their comeuppance. Instead, they have gotten rich. No god, no cosmic justice has intervened in getting a better deal for any foreign worker in our country, in their dealings with a third world boss.
Likewise, Trump’s arm-twisting, tariff-driven Art of the Deal will make America richer, not fairer. It’s exploitation — but exploitation that works.
So, rather than behave like a “foolish foreign worker” who confronts his boss thinking that justice will come to his aid, Malaysia must act like the “smart foreign worker” who plays the game, not the emotion.
The smart worker doesn’t waste energy railing against unfairness. He studies his oppressor, figures out what he really wants, and maneuvers himself out of dependence — one step at a time.
The Path Forward
Some foreign workers in Malaysia have managed to rise above their exploitation — not by shouting about injustice, but by working strategically, saving wisely, and eventually freeing themselves from the grip of their third world bosses.
Malaysia must do the same.
Because whether it’s Trump’s America or Xi’s China — in this era, every major power is likely going to play the role of the third world boss and any small or middle sized country, will likely find themselves closer to the position of a foreign worker than an empowered and professional worker, who can set terms as to the terms of their own engagement .
People like how Mahathir or Wong Chen might suggest that we confront the likes of Trump, to get justice for ourselves, but they likely are just suggesting that because they are ignorant of how to deal with a Third World Boss. They are likely ignorant of it because in their experience, they have most probably stood on the same side of the third world bosses, never the opposite side.
If I am third world boss and you are a third world boss, who belong in the same group of third world bosses in the country, yes, I can talk to you in terms of fairness and justice, and expect you to treat me like you would treat yourself.
But if you are a third world boss and I am a foreign worker, who you deem to need you much more than you need me, then I will be a fool to think that you can be persuaded to treat me like you would treat yourself.
So rather than rue our situation, lament the injustice of it all and confront the global third world bosses that we have to engage in, it is perhaps better that we take stock of our situation, determine our aims and objectives and create a pathway forward for us, while accepting that in the present time, be it in trump America’s or China, we will have to engage with a third world boss, in one way or another.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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