Letter
by Loh Meng Kow
PM AAB is reported to have said to the UMNO GA yesterday that since the list of richest individuals in the country was not led by Malays, NEP targets had still not been achieved. On record, the NEP objectives did not have the objective of making Malays the richest persons in the country. The PM’s statement shows that UMNO leaders can add to the list of NEP targets as it wishes, and hence NEP should read never ending policies.
Clearly the PM did not utter those words without having thought about the issues. NEP as implemented has always involved using government funds for the intended beneficiaries. When it was the intention of the government to create the richest Malay to head the list of richest individuals, now announced by the PM, the government adopts the policy to give public funds directly or indirectly to private individuals so that he/she can become the richest individual Malay in the country.
There were complaints that MITI issued a large number of APs to a few selected persons. The practice is now declared as correctly meeting the objectives in making Malays the richest individuals in the country. Since the son of the PM has now the potential to become the richest individual, no government effort should be spared to make him achieving the new NEP target. Accordingly, ACA should take note that Malays who are on the way to making the list of the richest individuals are immune to ACA regulations. For them, they were only performing the national service of meeting NEP targets should they be involved in activities categorized as corruption for the ordinary persons.
The role of modern governments lies in maintaining law and order, in creating an environment for social and economic advancement and in helping the needy meeting basic needs for living. The assistance for the poor through social transfer has always been based on needs rather than creed. In Malaya, for want of basic data, Malays who were considered to have the higher proportions that needed help when compared to other communities were designated as beneficiaries under article 153 of the constitution.
The implementation of Article 153 provided UMNO captive votes in general elections. The cause of May 13 in 1969 is still being debated. The official version was well known, and UMNO government claimed that to assuage the said sense of jealousy of Malays towards non-Malays, NEP was formulated with clear objectives of decoupling race with economic functions, and to eradicate poverty. NEP was to be implemented to uplift the economic capacity of the Malays.
TDM declared that NEP would have met its objective when the government was able to create a millionaire among the Malays. It was the first time he extended the objective of NEP to make Malays millionaire, and he legitimized the award of government contracts from public tender to negotiated contracts, and facilitated the use of public funds to enrich his cronies. PM AAB now extends the creation of Malay millionaires to become Malay billionaires, and also to lead in the list of the richest individuals in the country. Never has public funds been made to enrich so few at the expense of the general public. PM AAB’s declaration makes it national objective when public funds are placed in his son’s pocket.
It is clear to the whole world that NEP created unfair hardships to the non-Malays no matter how UMNO wanted to justify it. Unlike article 153 which was supposed to be reviewed after 15 years from 1957, NEP was to be implemented for 20 years from 1970. There was no provision for extension, and the only clearly stated quantitative target was that Malays were to achieve 30% of corporate ownership after 20 years.
Had the UMNO government kept to its promise, the government should have revealed the actual net-worth of Malay ownership in percentage term in 1990 when NEP had been implemented for 20 years. Other than a specific programme to bridge the gap for Malays to achieve the 30% target, all regulations originated from the implementation for NEP should have ceased. TDM conveniently changed the name of NEP to NDP while retaining all the NEP programmes. And worse, New Non-Malays enfeebling policies and regulations were introduced.
PM AAB pretended that he wanted to be a PM for all Malaysians, and called for Malays to forgo crutches. At the same time, he conveniently resurrected NEP and extended it to 2020, and his deputy suggested the continuation until 2057, for the present. PM and his deputy promised a year ago to reveal the methodology adopted by EPU, to challenge the results of ASLI’s finding that the 30% target had been achieved. His recent announcement makes ASLI’s finding irrelevant since NEP will continue, forever, whatever the actual results show.
Even though it is clear to the ordinary Malays that NEP has been exploited to enrich UMNOputras, they were grateful for the preferential treatment at the expense of non-Malays. Ordinary Malays appear to accept to pay a higher price for their motor vehicles when AP system which was exploited to enrich the well connected Malays, they appear happy that NEP is continued even though NEP has caused a decline to their standard of living and level of earnings. They accept that as a cost for enabling Malays to lead the list of the richest individuals in the country.
Clearly Malays harbour no sense of jealousy against the success of other individuals. How was it possible for UMNO to create the myth, and keep telling the lies for half a century?