In malaysiakini, we hear former UMNO leaders, namely Dr Mahathir, Tengku Razaleigh, Musa Hitam and Anwar Ibrahim commenting on the New Economic Policy (NEP).
Our favourite online news portal headlined the article Nation's ex-leaders want NEP abuses to stop.
However, of the four, only Anwar Ibrahim who had supported the NEP in his UMNO days, now considered the NEP obsolete and, presumably, to be rid of.
But Musa Hitam, who sounded angry because the accusations against abuses of the NEP had carried a racist hue, provided a more realistic prognosis.
He told us point blank that with or without the NEP, there will be groups who would still get more than what they deserve, and he's right. 9.2 million times right!
He said: “At the moment, everything is blamed on the NEP. Every non-Malay says the government bocor (leaks) here, bocor there, corruption... Malay-lah. It’s a racist sort of thing. But my point is, you mean to say that if there is no NEP, it would not happen?”
Let's face it - we all know that some Chinese and Indians and others (non-Malay) in Sarawak and Sabah have benefitted obscenely from the NEP as well. However, Musa Hitam stressed that questioning the NEP should not be seen as questioning the special rights of bumiputeras under the Federal Constitution.
After the May 13 riots in 1969, then de facto leader ;-) Tun Razak, having seized power from Tunku Abdul Rahman, conceived of the NEP and implemented it the following year when he was already PM, purportedly to reduce income disparity among different ethnic groups.
The reality of it of course was directed for the benefit of principally the Malays, who had in the 1969 general election punished UMNO severely. Then, even young UMNO firebrand Dr Mahathir lost his Kota Selatan seat in Alor Setar to a PAS bloke.
Among the NEP targets was the magic 30% bumiputera equity, which we all know today had long been surpassed. The NEP also had a shelf life of 20 years but the policy continued after 1990 under a different name - the New Development Policy – which would go on until 2000.
Then, not unpredictably, a new National Vision Policy was set to be implemented between 2001 and 2010. By the Ninth Malaysia Plan, PM AAB dropped all pretences and revived the (already achieved) NEP targets.
The two principal reasons that kaytee can think of as to why the NEP, sneeringly referred to by many Malaysians as the Never Ending Policy, is continued, are:
(1) Greed which feeds on itself and cannot be satisfied.
In Greek, or if you like Greed ;-) mythology, when the 1st woman Pandora opened a pithos (container jar), which was booby-trapped by Zeus to punish man, she released all the evils of mankind— greed, vanity, slander, envy, pining.
Our favourite online news portal headlined the article Nation's ex-leaders want NEP abuses to stop.
However, of the four, only Anwar Ibrahim who had supported the NEP in his UMNO days, now considered the NEP obsolete and, presumably, to be rid of.
But Musa Hitam, who sounded angry because the accusations against abuses of the NEP had carried a racist hue, provided a more realistic prognosis.
He told us point blank that with or without the NEP, there will be groups who would still get more than what they deserve, and he's right. 9.2 million times right!
He said: “At the moment, everything is blamed on the NEP. Every non-Malay says the government bocor (leaks) here, bocor there, corruption... Malay-lah. It’s a racist sort of thing. But my point is, you mean to say that if there is no NEP, it would not happen?”
Let's face it - we all know that some Chinese and Indians and others (non-Malay) in Sarawak and Sabah have benefitted obscenely from the NEP as well. However, Musa Hitam stressed that questioning the NEP should not be seen as questioning the special rights of bumiputeras under the Federal Constitution.
After the May 13 riots in 1969, then de facto leader ;-) Tun Razak, having seized power from Tunku Abdul Rahman, conceived of the NEP and implemented it the following year when he was already PM, purportedly to reduce income disparity among different ethnic groups.
The reality of it of course was directed for the benefit of principally the Malays, who had in the 1969 general election punished UMNO severely. Then, even young UMNO firebrand Dr Mahathir lost his Kota Selatan seat in Alor Setar to a PAS bloke.
Among the NEP targets was the magic 30% bumiputera equity, which we all know today had long been surpassed. The NEP also had a shelf life of 20 years but the policy continued after 1990 under a different name - the New Development Policy – which would go on until 2000.
Then, not unpredictably, a new National Vision Policy was set to be implemented between 2001 and 2010. By the Ninth Malaysia Plan, PM AAB dropped all pretences and revived the (already achieved) NEP targets.
The two principal reasons that kaytee can think of as to why the NEP, sneeringly referred to by many Malaysians as the Never Ending Policy, is continued, are:
(1) Greed which feeds on itself and cannot be satisfied.
In Greek, or if you like Greed ;-) mythology, when the 1st woman Pandora opened a pithos (container jar), which was booby-trapped by Zeus to punish man, she released all the evils of mankind— greed, vanity, slander, envy, pining.
The NEP is like Pandora’s pithos (or ‘box’, as it’s commonly referred to). I don’t believe one can ever close it again.
pithos - Wiki photo
And that’s what Tengku Razaleigh wisely admitted. While he acknowledged that the NEP has been widely abused, and that people are very much against it, he said one has to be realistic that the policy will remain for another 50 years or more, because the consequences of doing away with the NEP completely would prove too difficult for the country. I believe there is a large grain of truth in that.But Ku Li called for the economic policy to be refined. In that same vein Dr Mahathir wants the implementation to be transparent, for example, as who gets what.
Kaytee believes that the NEP should be asset-tested. For example, why should very rich Malays receive a 7% discount on houses, resulting in every poor Indian and Chinaman buying a house paying 107% to subsidize each of those fat cats?
The NEP should not be confined to only one ethnic group. If an Indian rubber tapper and his family need support through the NEP, as a Malaysian he should also be a beneficiary of the affirmative action policy.
If the NEP's aim has been truly to reduce income disparity among different ethnic groups, then I would say it has been an abysmal failure for the highly marginalised Indians.
(2) Though the NEP target of 30% equity for bumiputeras had long been achieved and well surpassed, the wealth has accumulated in only a few privileged hands. This won’t do for those (equally 'privileged' newcomers) who haven’t had their decent share of the booty.
You can see the same mentality in the government bureaucracy, and why a former Deputy IGP has remarked that if there was a genuine anti corruption campaign against the police force, 90% of the officers would be sacked. Those guys would probably have rationalised that 'if the big shots can do it, why can't we?'
Even in corruption, it’s still leadership by example. And this is undoubtedly one of the main stumbling blocks to genuine reform as those already obscenely rich still wants more ... and more ... and more ... It's called 'Greed'.
Corruption is very difficult to deal with unless you have the correct leadership and the will to do so, and the correct policies, and most vital of all, investigative and enforcement bodies which are above reproach, which has been why I believe the No 1 priority is a reliable police force and ACA.
Please see my previous post KTemoc's No 1 priority - Fight crime! to understand why I have targeted the No 1 man of the police force as the linchpin of any effort to clean up the current rotten state of the country.
the ratio of haves and have-nots is one of the highest in this region. isnt it a reflection a failure of the current NEP policy. no, only a select few of the bumis benefited from this NEP policy and they are invairably linked to the powers-that-be.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, the current PM is NOT the right person to lead to fight corruption. For that matter, the same applies to most, if not all, the cabinet Ministers.
ReplyDeletethe NEP is an admission that the Malays are very weak and cannot compete with the others. Now many years later these same weak protected pampered people ( an entire race my god !) have become even weaker than before the NEP.
ReplyDeletewhat more can we say ?
It is clear that NEP is a plan to destroy Malay. Just let NEP goes on, then you will notice all hell will broke lose, the majority lower class Malays are so dependent on it, and let greed and corruption rots the whole cultures. It is like a heroin to the bumiputra. They get "high" with the NEP and cannot live as normal people without it.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny that before NEP, Malay cultures actually on the right track. After NEP, beside those technical knowledge, Malay cultures are totally stagnant. It is funny that even under British colonisation, Malays cultures still get a breath to growth.
I couldn't agree more. Every government intitiative has its merits, at least on paper. Otherwise, those approving it will look dumb. However, when greed and corruption are thrown in the mix, all the money will go towards enriching the select few. And this is the real objective of an initiative. Yes, I'm being cynical here.
ReplyDeleteOn the declining state of economy, those in the power will probably think, 'Well, I don't care. All my savings and investments are in foreign countries. If the country goes bust, I'll pack up and leave.'
On the declining standard of education, those in the power will think, 'Let the population be ignorant and illiterate so that we can easily feed them with lies and manipulate them to serve our aims. We can always send our children to international schools or overseas for top level education.'
On the various corruption scandals engulfing the country, they will think, 'I have a large family and associates to look after. Besides, I know i won't be in public office for long. So for sake of my family and associates, we have to enrich ourselves as much as possible. Hell, this makes economic sense. I'd rather spend 6 hours a day for my family rather than for the public.'
I frequently read about pleas to AAB to take some firm actions. Well, save your energy. Instead, stand up and be counted in the coming GE.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI have deleted the last paragraph of what Anon of 2:27 PM, September 04, 2007 said, because while I understand it’s an emotional issue, we shouldn’t show disrespect to someone long gone, no matter how much we dislike that person.
ReplyDeleteAnon had written:
It is highly mischievous of someone like Musa's stature to suggest that even without the NEP, there will still be the same kind of problems which the NEP has created. While this may be true to some extent, the point is that the NEP has created more problems than it originally sought to correct. In other words, we are getting much worse than before, and the way things are going, we will eventually hit the point of NO RETURN where HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE - even with the NEP, because all those who benefit from it, including the likes of the Mahathir, Musa & Razaleigh - have become addicted to it and want it to continue despite their objections to it.
ANWAR IS THE ONLY ONE CORRECT IN SAYING ---SCRAP THE NEP!!!
It is the biggest evil ever to hit this country, and believe me, the Malays themselves will be the biggest suffers!!!!
I hope [ --- deleted ---] this Evil of Evils, the NEP!
Assets-testing the NEP would only create an entire new industry for corruption - to enable Malays who would otherwise be ineligible under such means-testing to continue enjoying "Ketuanan" privileges.
ReplyDeleteYou can't "fine-tune" such an incredibly flawed system.
Anyway, I agree, it will never repealed, it will never be mitigated.
At least until the economy degrades to the level of Zimbabwe.