The NEP has been abused to help the rich
by Richard Teo
How long can the govt continue with its NEP policy? If the govt’s denial that ASLI’s report “of 30% bumiputra equity ownership had already been exceeded ” then it’s incumbent upon the govt to provide a clear official methodology as to how corporate equity is measured.
Earlier, the centre for public studies headed by Dr, Lim Teck Ghee had made a statement that its findings had established bumiputra equity ownership had exceeded 45%. In order to rebutt this findings by ASLI and to deny further credence to the findings that “corporate equity distribution was narrowly based, unrealistic and has resulted in an underestimation of the true volume and value of bumiputra equity”, the govt must reveal the official methodology to measure corporate equity. Based on its
calculation it must provide clear irrevocable proof that bumiputra’s equity has regressed to a lowly 18% in 2006.
At that time when the ASLI’s findings was published many UMNO leaders including the P.M called the report “baseless, inaccurate and irresponsible”. UMNO vice-President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin went even further and called it “rubbish”.
There was a beacon of hope to establish the truth when DPM Najib gave an assurance that the methodology used to calculate the Bumi’s corporate equity would be publicly revealed.That assurance was given almost six months ago and it appears quite likely that the DPM has reneged on his word.
NEP in its present form has been abused and lost its initial noble objectives of helping the poor and the needy instead of the rich of one single race. Instead of affirmative action based on poverty it was exclusively based on a policy of helping just one race irrespective of the wealth of that person.
Hence we have a situation where a rich bumiputra is entitled to purchase a high-end property at a discount. What kind of logic is it? If he can afford to buy a high-end property surely he don’t need a discount.
The NEP must embrace the concept that there are poor Malays Indians, Chinese, Ibans and Kadazans etc. If the NEP is to have any meaning it must help those in need irrespective of their race and not because they belong to a select community.
If there is any defect in ASLI’s report, it is its failure to pinpoint the recipients of the 45% of bumiputra equity.The revelation maybe academic but the truth is maybe only 10% of the bumis benefitted from the 45% corporate equity distributed by virtue of the NEP.
As long as the govt refuse to accept this reality the longer it will be for national reconciliation.The inequitable distribution of wealth can only mean that the poor and the needy will continue to be deprived of govt assistance while the rich will continue to benefit from this skewed affirmative policy.
//The revelation maybe academic but the truth is maybe only 10% of the bumis benefitted from the 45% corporate equity distributed by virtue of the NEP.//
I think the real truth is only 0.01% of the Malays (mainly UMMO hyenas) benefited from the great abuses of NEP!
NEP is sure a great and convenient vehicle to cheat and to abuse!
read sth like this many times before…
I never expect the governemt will reveal the methodology and I totally gave up hope when the DPM give assurance the that it will be publicly reveal.
I believe that the current PM and DPM talk more than showing us action. So whenever they say anything pleaseee… don’t be so naive and believe they will actually do so. They know that the methodology they using is baseless so do you all think they will still reveal it?
There is alot of flaws in the NEP which make it a very good tools for the rich bumiputras to become richer. Does it really help the needy one? I doubt so.
Then effort must be made to open the eyes of the rakyat, whether malay, non-malay or true bumi. All the facts must be made clear to all rakyat so they can decide what needs to be done.
Info must be disseminated not only via the internet (penetration is mainly in urban areas), but through other means and ceramahs.
Use any means available to get the truth out to the masses.
Evan show the houses of the MP’s before and after being in office for a few terms and compare with the lot of the rakyat.
Why are we so helpless?
We need to get real here. It is the way of the world, the rich will always, always gain more. Always has been and always will be. The situation here in Malaysia is no different than in the UK or US etc.
UMNO is rotten to the core!
To all other bumiputeras in Malaysia who has been cheated by UMNO corrupt leaders, the time has come for all of you to rise and hit UMNO where it hurts. Expose all the corrupt practice of present and past UMNO leaders.
Follow Anwar Ibrahim’s fight for equality for all Malaysians. Let Anwar start the revolution against UMNO. Anwar, where are you? You can do much better than current efforts. You’re already in gear but you’re not applying the right speed.
Rise Anwar, for the sake all Malaysians. Kick those corrupted UMNO leaders past and present out of the system. They are the ones who are killing the country.
Rise Anwar, you’re the chosen one right now!
YB Lim Kit Siang
It’s also DAP’s time to rise to the occassion and stop being so nice to Abduallah Badawi. DAP has not being so critical on his performance, especially YB.
You may help him to stir up a little bit here and there and probably forgotten about DAP’s objective to fight for equal justice for all Malaysians. Let Adullah handle his own problem in UMNO. When you stir too much in UMNO, they will blame for being racial. Talk about the bigger picture.
So far, there is no news of you and Anwar. Lim Kit Siang is DAP and Anwar Ibrahim is PKR. Without both of you, both these parties would crumble. There is still time for you and Anwar to work out something for democracy sake.
Long live the opposition front. Is there one right, now?
Yes, I agree too that Anwar is the only leader that can unite all Malaysians to bring down the UMO and its many cronies and hyenas!
Because of Anwar factor, the GE will be held earlier to prevent Anwar to become a candidate.
UMO sure is a “ball-less” bunch of crooks!
The truth is the target of 30% bumi equity is not the primary objective of the NEP but rather unspoken top objective is equal income distribution. The reason why its unspoken is because in reality, its literally impossible to achieve that with NEP without severe marginalization of a significant group of non-bumis, it would be unconscionable.
More importantly in reality its impossible. Think of this unspoken rule as a moving objective that as the goal get closer, the cost gets higher i.e., there is a decreasing marginal gain of the NEP policy. The worst thing is that when the NEP is removed everything will just fall back from whatever gain they have achieved i.e., when the NEP is removed, the natural thing is for the bumi wealth and income to fall severely before it can rise again.
That is why the real goal ultimately is not 30% bumi equity or equal income distribution but far and above those numbers. The cost would be so severe to the other minorities that it can only increase poverty among non-bumis but also non-mainstream bumis. In the end, what we have will be large structural unemployment and intractable underclass much like Europe structural unemployment and pemanent urban poor problems.
The NEP is a blunt instrument, suitable for preventing complete marginalization of the bumis which it had long done so at huge cost, but not to achieve a noble objective of income equality – something all countries struggle with not matter what the system is. To pursue such objective with something so blunt is no different than all the failed ideology of the past such as communism.
So the question “to migrate or not to migrate†depends on where (whether in the UK or US or home in Malaysia or even Nigeria) one, having regard to his skills, experience, circumstances and network, has the maximum opportunity to make lots of money. No money, no point lah anywhere! You think the rich and famous in Malaysia bothers what happens in Machap or Sabah? If you’ve got lots of money even Badawi wants to know you, that’s the truth. The urgency to make money is because the country like Titanic is sinking. Due to corruption, Malaysia will be swamped by half literate low skilled illegal and foreign workers while high skilled and educated workers leave the country. Outside investors will give us a pass thanks to NEP and erratic and xenophobic policies of gov’t. People are polarized and don’t need much of a fuse to blow up. Do your own thing and don’t concern with common well being. It is law of jungle here. Selfish? Think of the rest? Do the rest think for you? You want to become a Martyr? You want to fight for democracy in Malaysia? Not many of us are LKS. Is it worth the while or not to fight for the very people like in Machap who care a hoot about abuse of power by BN and would vote for it, or the Devil himself, if he brings food to the table, talk about race and religion on polling day?? You must assess who are the people you supposedly share the country with. If majority don’t care nuts for proper governance and democracy and live lives of corruption, why should you bother? Democracy one man one vote is a numbers game, if the majority thrive on corruption why should you fight and vote against a government steeped in it? Democracy is rule of mob. Life is short. Make Money. Get to know some BN ministers who need proxies for their contracts.
somebody should reveal photos of our minsters house(s) and car(s) to be posted on a blog for the whole world to see.
Zakaria was the first one but why stop there?
NEP will continue till 2057 and the then UMNO leaders will extend it by another 100 years. So what ?
UMNO has the majority in every field. If not in any field, UMNO will think of ways and means to ensure that majority – easiest through licensing ???????
So what ?
While Anwar may be the leader to get Malaysia off the path to destruction we should never empower any leader so much that the power becomes so concentrated as at present – ie the PM of Malaysia is effectively chosen by about 50 political war-lords.
In any society, the rich enjoy special perks as they have that power without government arrangements. For example you go into an expensive shop and the salesman/woman will fawn on you more if you look rich.
In Malaysia, the cronies get sweetheart deals from the government as a matter of obligation.
We will never achieve eradication of poverty in a million years as capacity building is non-existent but merely hand-outs.
http://malaysiawatch.blogspot.com/2006/04/widening-income-gap-no-surprises-with.html
Hence we have a situation where a rich bumiputra is entitled to purchase a high-end property at a discount. What kind of logic is it?
————————————————
Obviously nobody in that camp bothers about such logic, as long as the perks are there for their taking.
Don’t they feel any shame?
In the 38 years of implimentation, no one had bothered to set up a mechanism to exclude such perks for those that have already made it economically and doesn’t need such aid anymore.
Imagine a situation where a struggling-to-make-ends-meet Non-bumiputera having to contribute to the welfare of a bumiputera who is so much more better off than he is and one would obviously see the major defect of this policy.
And because such bumiputeras who keep stepping up to the front to grab their supposedly rightful perks, those bumiputeras that really need the aid gets sidelined.
The NEP without such a control mechanism will never achieve the intended targets. After 38 years of not meeing its goal would surely qualify it as a failed policy.
“Instead of affirmative action based on poverty it was exclusively based on a policy of helping just one race irrespective of the wealth of that person.†LKS
I am shocked at this misconceptualization of the Policy.
I respectfully submit that the NEP is not and has never been a policy based on anything but of “helping just one race†as this race which came to be referred to as ‘bumiputras’ or ‘sons of the soil’, was lagging behind the other races. (The definition of ‘bumiputra’ or ‘sons of the soil’ included the indigenous races of East Malaysia. It is a term which entered into popular use after the race riots of 1969).
This new economic policy was meant to address the dysfunctional aspect of a post-colonial Malaya and then Malaysia which though politically independent continued for another decade or so without addressing the issue of the identification of economic functions with race – a factor believed to lead to the race riots of 1969 which claimed hundreds of lives both Chinese, Indians and Malays. It was generally believed that the origin of the riots was grounded in socio-economic factors rather than political. The riots were a manifestation of something larger than just Malays responding to the electoral defeat they suffered at the polls as readers like Loh would like to have us believed – or the Chinese under the Opposition making political inroads into several states of the federation which were regarded as UMNO strongholds as readers like Loh would like to have us believed. He believes the riots were planned, organized and orchestrated by Malay ultras in UMNO.
I believe the NEP was an honest attempt at addressing some of the issues which gave rise to these riots. I could agree with LKS if he says that the policy is flawed because it makes no distinction between the poor among the Malays as a race and the poor among the other races. The preoccupation in the immediate post-1969 was to address the issue of the identification of race with economic functions which is a source of great instability. The riots of 1969 were a manifestation of that instability.
It is obvious that the NEP would work well in situations when the national economic pie is expanding because it is then possible to avoid the perception that the NEP is nothing more than a smoke screen for a policy which is morally wrong and indefensible – which is robbing Paul to pay Peter. Resentment from the other races in such situation is generally believed would be kept at a minimum. What happened during the recent Asian Financial crisis of the late 90s is proof that the expanding national economic pie analysis has its limitations.
Thirty years downstream, we see the inequities, unfairness and injustice a Policy like the NEP has. The NEp has succeeded in widening the Malay middle or the middle class among the Malays – a factor believed indispensable and rightly so, if the country were to have long term political stability. But with it also comes a new rich Malay upper class. We are today constantly reminded of the presence of this newly emerging rich Malay upper class whenever these individuals live out their obscene lifestyles. This generates a lot of resentment not only from the disadvantaged among the other races but also among the Malays themselves.
Perhaps what is wrong is there should have been a separate affirmative action programs to benefit the poor among the other races running parallel to the NEP. Perhaps the two could be made to merge at some predetermined time in the future. Perhaps this could still be made today into an ‘alternative’ to the UMNO’s NEP.
What say you?
As long as the absolute truth does not get to the ordinary people, nothing is going to change.
One cannot trust politicians with your future. You got to take control of your future.
To mendela:
Mendela, I think you are forgetting that Anwar as Education Minister initiated a move to shut down all Chinese schools…it’s useful to go back a little into history.
While his rhethoric these days is for a just, fair, equitable Malaysia…it wasn’t too long ago that he was a malay “ultra”.
Maybe it’s me, but I just can’t trust his intentions.
The only party that has truly fought for a Malaysian Malaysia is the DAP…it has made its mistakes, but it’s struggle has remained the same.
The Never Ending Problem will be here to continually haunt the non-malays whether they like it or not.
At least it is now biting into the malays as this same problem is now causing a larger economic gap between themselves. The poor malays remain poor and the rich malays are getting richer. It will come a day the poor malays will confront the rich malays.
Globally, the reducing FDI since 2004 year on year is evident that this problem is affecting the nation.
So what are you waiting for? Grap your pot of gold and leave the country.
///to achieve a noble objective of income equality – something all countries struggle with not matter what the system is.///–Bigjoe
I suppose all countries are concerned about huge income disparity, but it cannot be a noble objective to have income equality because society and economy will then stagnate. Pre-1979 days of China had achieved income equality, but the billion Chinese prefer the new era brought possible by Deng Xiao Ping.
The government is duty bound to care for the needy and the poor, to help them to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and housing. That could be done through social transfer, such as in paying subsidiaries to those who clear the means test, and it should not be a race test. To prevent having to continuously giving away fish, the government could teach them how to fish, as the saying goes. Malaysia is rich enough to carry out those noble functions of helping the poor irrespective of races.
But the leaders of rich Malaya were not concerned about metting the basic needs of the poor. The powers-that-be wanted the Malays to be the master race, either for the pride itself, or for trying to prove to Hitler, a born Austrian, that Malays are better that Austrian.
UMNO has 37 years now to plan how to make use of the monopoly of political power to make Malays the master race. When the power of Selangor state assembly hanged on the balance after May 10 1969, the MB at that time needed a coup, to gamble for his return to power. Having recovered from the shock, Tun Razak and gang seized the opportunity to oust Tunku from power though Tunku retained the title of PM until 1972. When Tunku came on TV soon after May 13 riots, he announced that Tun Razak was appointed the Director of National Operation, and the Director reports to him. Two days later, Tun Razak came on the TV to announce that he, as Director of Operation, reported to the King.
So, Tun Razak was the PM except in name.
The Chinese at that time considered Razak a racist. He proved it with the FELDA scheme. The main issue at the 1969 election campaign was article 153, where the non-Malays who were discriminated against by that article hoped that the government would repeal it after it has run the course of 15 years, in 1972. Obviously, the non-Malays were suffering at the hands of Alliance government. They were looking for a relief through the election.
Tun Razak having benefited from the race riots were happy to put the blame of the riots on the story that the Malays were economically backward. That served him well. It blamed Tunku for Malays’ ‘economic problems’ when that did not exist. That ‘excuse’ allowed him to continue his racist’s policies. To hurt Tunku further, Razak brought into government TDM whom Tunku considered the most dangerous character which would cause grave harm to the nation. (His 22 Years has created third class mentality with less than first class infrasturcture, and Bolehlanders are going to suffer for many generations to come.) To the non-Malays, the victims suddenly became the perpetrators. The Razak wisdom reads : when some Malays are poor, all the Malays needed help; and when some Chinese and Indians are not poor, all non-Malays are rich. So the government declared NEP and divided the society into Bumi and non-Bumi. Since then, through gerrymandering, UMNO was able to retain control, and at the same time sponsor some non-Malays to be MPs and State assemblymen to project the image of political muhibah.
NEP is an excuse to achieve UMNO’s racist objective. Since UMNO is concerned about being the most developed Islamic nation, taking care only to compare with muslim nations, UMNO leaders are happy to allow ordinary Malays and non-Malays pay all prices of the NEP so that they continue to rule and plunder the state.
The non-Malays do not have the votes to push out UMNO, apart from those practical voters who voted for BN anyway. The Malays are at least a class above non-Malays, even though they are second class compared to UMNOputras. That is a comfortable position to be in, and I guess that is being practical to maintain status quo. So, NEP will stay, and developed nations will thank Malaysia for supplying to them labours and brains that have been trained through manmade adverse conditions. Some Ah Qs were happy to say that they were well trained because of NEP. Ah Q lives on.
in the old days you have deterrent characters like dr. senivasagam, dr. tan chee koon and enen tan siew sin to curb umno’s ill intentions.
after 1969, umno is the only mouth piece, when it says malay poor, no one can challenge its ‘findings’
generally we all believe the malays are poor and we all like to help but first show us the accounts.
can rich malay raja’s, rich businessmen, land owners be put under poor category?
malay problems are malaysian problem, why it should be solved by umno only?
all malaysian have problems, it should be brought to the table to discuss and to find solutions.
people say indians are poor but i look around, the fat lawyers are indians, doctors, teachers, mamak coffee shop businessmen are a plenty indians… what poor? just because you said so?
chinese are rich? please visit some old shop houses to realise what is the meaning of poor.
show us which sections of the society are poor, show us true professional studies.
a country cannot succeed if we have selfish leaders who care for his own ethnic group and makes others their slaves or feel joy and satisfaction inside when other races suffer or lagging behind.
what i am seeing about our beloved country is, it is going southward, very fast, fast becoming a pariah state if the present state of affairs are not arrested soon.
i want to live in a happy country…not one that dictate what best religion for me.
cheers!
just repond to some brothers re-anwar,
we all make mistakes, umno made mistakes, mca made mistakes, mic made mistakes, dap mades mistakes, bush made mistakes, arafat made mistakes, tunku made misakes
mahathir made mistakes, pak lah made mistakes, and anwar also made mistakes…..but the question is whether they would or are capable of correcting mistakes.
anwar in his capacity as education minister had every right to ‘think’ of closing all chinese schools….. for the good of the country.
if closing of all chinese school, going to bring prosperity, harmony, unity and well being of all malaysian, why not, if all malaysian can be equals?
proposal is one thing, acting on it, is another…. if the matter is brought forward for all parties to discuss and deliberate in a professional and sincere ways, i think it would benefit all.
to build putrajaya just to satisfy the ego of one particular society is wrong at the off set.
the citizen would be happy if the all the prime ministers of malaysia come from umno if……….they put all malaysian at their hearts, the well being of all malaysian as their utmost priority and number one agenda.
no hitler, no mugabe, no taliban, PLEASE!
One backbencher puts the siphoning of funds from the NEP as “leakage”.
“Leakage” means that rich Bumis can get study loans, scholarships, discounts from house prices etc which are basically meant for their poor brethren.
During colonial times, such help are given strictly to the poor and our former colonial masters would broach no “leaking”!
Say what you want about them, they are far, far, more fair minded than any of the so-called “leaders” we have in Bolehland.
However, all is not lost yet. Make sure that not only will you cast your vote for the DAP at the next GE but garner as many others as possible do the same.
A vote for the DAP is a vote for the demise of the BN.
That’s the only way we can see any light at the end of the tunnel! Give it your best shot!
///The riots were a manifestation of something larger than just Malays responding to the electoral defeat they suffered at the polls as readers like Loh would like to have us believed.///-Undergrad2.
The riots started in Selangor when the position of the MB was on balance. The procession came out from the residence of the MB. People from as far away as Tanjong karang came to Gombak, and along the road at Sepatak burnt the cars on road side on the evening of May 13. These ‘spontaneity’ did not happen outside Selangor, at that time. To believe that the riots was a results of Malays having been wronged by the Chinese, there must be prrof that the Chinese caused Malays harms. How could that happen when Malays were in control of the government? And would any ‘poor familiies’ anywhere in the world decide to choose one day to act out the “aggrieved feelings” that there are rich people in other communities, and that was enough hatred to cause trouble. Yes, there were two lamborghini cars in 1969, so I was made to understand, there were also rolls royce in Selangor too.
The Razak government certainly did not want to take the MB of Selangor to task. He was an UMNO member. The easiest blame would be at Chinese, and since Chinese did not have political power, so blame them on economy. The foreigners were fewer in numbers but had collectively as much equity share capital as the Chinese and Indians. So, the blame should be on foreigners if that was what the ordinary Malays were up against. Obviously, they were not against the chinese. Indeed, it is the people in power that insist that Malays should be materialistic.
UMNO quoted that Malays had 1.43% of equity share of limited companies in 1970. Foreigners had 40+%. The total plantation acreage owned by foreigners were not higher that what Razak had used government funds to develop the FELDA scheme for the exclusively benefit of Malays. I am repeating the statement, the million plus acres of plantation at 1969 prices would have made Malays coprorate share exceed 20%. Yet, 37 years later, EPU figure still say that they had 18.9(?)%. That shows the sincerity of the government, and that itself should suggest that the issue is not economic, but ketuanan Melayu with economic as an excuse. I want people to see facts, and when I hear objection to opinion without cold statistics, I cannot help but believe that there is some ulterior motive behind.
The government has not been sincere in implementing NEP to dissociate job function with race since day one. The government services was heavily populated with Malays. That was the result of article 153. With NEP, promotion started to be based on race. The percentage of Malays in government service gets larger. That alone shows that NEP is a “Instead of affirmative action based on poverty it was exclusively based on a policy of helping just one race irrespective of the wealth of that person.†LKS
People can write essays on NEP, and can sing praises on the preambles to the policies. But the true intention were not in the preambles. The non-Malays government officials who had a hand in the preambles might have been thinking that the government services might have a chance to change for the better. There officers had created a good advertisement, for UMNO government, and no more.
The widening gap between the rich and poor is totally unacceptable, in particular when it is caused by exploited and failed policies and gross mismanagement.
Thanks to our leaders, our country is ill and not at her best to compete in the globalised and competitive world…….they probably would not give a shit about what’s happening and could sleep soundly at night.
Everyone’s life is affected in one way or another resulting in many looking for opportunity elsewhere, not just economic but also for safety and a piece of mind. This is the country’s greatest shame and failure……..unable to provide a fair, decent and comfortable environment to her own people.
Humanity is more than racial survival and it is the responsibility of all Malaysians to protect the ordinary bumi, the guardians of their unique culture and traditions, for their survival and for the benefit of generations to come.
J3 responce to Tai Lo Chin:
You said: “Democracy one man one vote is a numbers game, if the majority thrive on corruption why should you fight and vote against a government steeped in it? Democracy is rule of mob. Life is short. Make Money. Get to know some BN ministers who need proxies for their contracts.”
1. This is not a democracy of one man one vote – and the popular vote wins. We have a situation when the Elected Govt obtained a majority by sinister demarcation of the electorate.
2. Democracy is not the rule of the mob if the right system is in place.
3. There is such a thing as standing up against what you know is right, true and noble. Perhaps it is true that the majority (mob) is corrupt thats why they vote for a corrupt government. However that is a huge assumption, dont you think? Perhaps, the majority are given wrong information or misled into voting for the present government? Perhaps there are a great number of people who desires to see the ideals of justice, good governance, equality and transparency in the government. It would be too quick to jump into conclusion that “the majority are corrupt”.
4. Life is indeed short; What is one’s goal is something rather personal. To Make Money is just one goal subscribed to the exclusion of others – would be really silly. Why cant we Make Thing Right and still Make Money.
5. Herd Instinct. Cant beat them join them. The whole of your point is a discourse in defeatism. I wonder if any defeatist ever change the world or create any thing of value.
True, the political situation is really stinking. But if those who have the arms to fight are not fighting – where is the hope for those who cant fight for themselves?
We should never be defeated before we are at war. Unfortunately, not everyone is a “300”.
The irony is that UMNO is always telling that bloggers are liars. In fact they are the greatest liars. When . ASLI’s reported of more than 30% bumiputra equity ownership, they lied by telling that it is only 18% but until today are still hiding their methodology.
Coherently liars will never dare to be transparent because they had plenty to hide. It cannot be just a coincident that UMNO had a culture of non-transparency.
the BN corrupt cronies know damn well they are leeching off the NEP…
UMNO being the main abusers, with MCA & MIC and other (now rendered insignificant component parties, as seen in Sabah) all wagging their tails like dogs trying to feed off the scraps
at the rate and ease that they are plundering the country & people, no wonder they refuse to end the policy after its expiry!!
The malay also know that NEP benefit to some of them only, especially those with connection with umno.
So this shift their anger toward their own race.
You can ask the malay taxi drivers, the malay roadside vendors and they will tell you how angry they are towards the umno cronies.
Just imagine if without NEP, the malay will surely blame the other race and 513, or riot like in Indonesia and in Southern Thailand will happen here, the non bumi will be danger.
So if we look at the other side of NEP,whether we like it or not, the NEP help to shield us from any harm or danger from racial riot.
At least we chinese and other races can still earn a living in this land call Malay-sia.
Allow me to respond to some of the major issues raised by a resident reader here.
Loh says “The government has not been sincere in implementing NEP to dissociate job function with race since day one. The government services was heavily populated with Malays. That was the result of article 153.â€Â
A response to this assertion is not possible without looking at the historical context. The government like in many other countries in the developing world is the largest employer. Political control was and still is in the hands of the Malays regarded by the Brits at least if not by others as the indigenous race of colonial Malaya. The Brits looked to the Malays when dealing with issues of administration. Civil service positions were naturally filled by Malays and so were the military and the police which provided the backbone to any government. They were not the kind of employers anybody like a community with strong tradition in business and private enterprise would normally look towards for employment. It is not the result of any constitutional provision.
Loh says, “The riots started in Selangor when the position of the MB was on balance. The procession came out from the residence of the MB.â€Â
Racial disturbances, for want of a better word, had their origins elsewhere in peninsular Malaysia but came to be concentrated in Kuala Lumpur. Arguendo, the riots started in Selangor but there were the manifestation of a major dysfunction that was ripping the communities apart i.e. the symptom rather than the cause. A post mortem analysis revealed to us that in the initial stages, the riots showed the kind of spontaneity that could not be explained or dismissed by mere assertions that they were organized or bore the hallmarks of ‘organized’ riots. Historians have always referred since then to the event of May 13th as ‘riots’ and not by any other term. ‘Organized riots’ are contradiction in terms. Be that as it may, there was admittedly some evidence of the working of an invisible hand in the later stages of what came to be referred to as the May 13th riots. This is what Loh is constantly relying to support his thesis that the riots were organized. That is understandable if you are looking for justification for your political views. Irrespective of our own political affiliations, we should see it as what it is and not we would like it to be. To dismiss the riots as the work of politicians without more is to do injustice to the rest of us who are trying to understand and avoid a repetition. The root causes of such a tumultuous event lie elsewhere – in sociology rather than politics, in socio-economic factors. Having said that the major caveat here is I have no access to government documents that suggest one version and not the other.
Loh says, “The Razak government certainly did not want to take the MB of Selangor to task. He was an UMNO member. The easiest blame would be at Chinese, and since Chinese did not have political power, so blame them on economy.â€Â
The downside of any attempt at rationalization such as this is the tendency to brush aside the facts, downplay some and exaggerate others – even distort. Crying “Conspiracy!†at each turn may have its attraction to those seeking sensationalism. But as students of the truth our duties go beyond that. We owe it to future generation of Malaysians to see the riots as what they were and not what we want them to be. Politicians are not the best students of the truth for they are committed to a political agenda.
///Just imagine if without NEP, the malay will surely blame the other race and 513, or riot like in Indonesia and in Southern Thailand will happen here, the non bumi will be danger.///
UMNO has succeeded. It has used NEP to make the country what it is and people are still rejoicing at the fact that May 13 has not repeated. Why should we feel that Malays are really a crutch-dependant race; they are not. Since NEP, there is a total breakdown of contact between the three main races, beyond the skin-deep apparent courtesy shown among the people. But should UMNO need to blame people again, they will again target the non-Malays.
The trouble in South Thailand is because the Muslims there consider equal opportunity unequal, and they considered themselves entitled to preferential treatments!
pongsakling: You are a typical Chinese, your kind of mentality explains well why China with 98% Chinese race is a poor country most of the time.
We Chinese is a renowned hard-working with no less intelligence race, but history has shown that apart from a relatively few short intermittent periods of prosperity, China mostly were in a pathetic state. Probably we should divert a while from our ‘very-good&proud-earn-a-living art’ just to ponder what are the culprits of such pathetic state. Our die hard selfishness & short-sightedness will ensure us no matter how hard we work, we will not be able to attain the standard/quality of life of those races who are willing to share, able to understand the principles/rationales/causes & effects of each happening.
Hope you could allocate some of your cari makan time to find out, whether your future generations still be able to earn a living, if this wasteful NEP continues or our rich natural resources dry up.
Opposition parties have to work hard to tour around the places you intend to contest.
If you wait until election day, you are just like the BN. So, no differences at all.
Tour house to house to convey the message about all relevant issues – education, NEP, local council, police, public services, etc.
People do not want to change government but they might want big voice. DAP could never win any seats in Penang if the same strategy implemented like the one in Machap.
Umdergrad2 made a brave attempt to explain why government services should have dominant percentage of Malays. He has conveniently left out why that percentage did not come down after NEP was introduced, and that was my basis of the statement he quoted.
The riots started in Selangor was the sympton rather than the cause; that must be a most interesting medical explanation I have ever heard. I can claim that there were peace and love everywhere in the country, including in Penang when the opposition Gerakan took control of the State Assembly. There were no chance for adventure elsewhere except in Selangor, at that time.
We know that historian draw their conclusions based on available facts, and views do change. Undergrad2 is free to believe what he reads, and I do not distort history as he accuses me of.
///Just imagine if without NEP, the malay will surely blame the other race and 513, or riot like in Indonesia and in Southern Thailand will happen here, the non bumi will be danger.///
As a minority in Malaysia and Indonesia, work hard and smart is to survive. Those incapable Malay blame others for taking away their opportunities. But in Malaysia, NEP and bias policies only help in some ways the Malay to be rich. But they still could not excel academically and econimcally by themselves.
The government provides matriculation for them to enter local low ranking public universities.
All data are subjected to intrpretation and can be bias. Methodology of getting the data can be manupulated.
Walk around all the shopping mall around K.L./P.J., what is the differences between now and 30 years ago?
The super market has a small section or room dedicated for Halal food as compared with seliing openly in the past.
All or almost 90% of the restaurent or fast food stall are all Halal, non-Halal food almost extinct in the large mall.
7 out of 10 in the crowd are Bumi, as compared with about 90% 30 years ago.
In a market driven economy, consumer drive the direction and behavior of the service provider.. Guess who control the economy now, base on this observation?
NEP is robbing and marginalising non bumi. Many non bumi are still sleeping like those in Machap and the Indian community in this country.
Luckily non bumi could survive in this country by being self reliance and self feeding (doing business without government projects).
When Malaysia oil reserve finish in 17 years, you could see more “daytime robberies†are to happen in Malaysia. See here: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/17/north/17437227&sec=north
At that time, we are old and our children have grown up. But thanks God, they would not be in Malaysia at that time and I would be with them in Australia (a fair play country) that welcoming skilled and business immigrants.
Well, NEP actually is not that bad for non-malays after all.
For those talented non-malays, looks global if Malaysia does not welcome you. Be farsighted, be realistic and look beyond Malaysia, nobody in Malaysia appreciate your patriotism.
I have a cousin who just graduated from a USA university and immediately offered a job with US$5000, which is RM18000, almost equal our Pak Lah’s pay.
You see, your future is brighter every way you go if you are talented, why restrict yourself to Malaysia who does not welcome you! You will be rotten fast staying put here.
If we look at history, a country who did not cherish its talents sure will not going any way except doom. Sad to say Malaysia never learns from the history and repeating the same mistake again.
With the current rate of brain drain, one day the local talents will be dried up. No foreign company will want to invest in a country where they had difficulty hiring employees especially in high tech area.
Soon all those companies left behind are purely agriculture or which rely on Malaysia’s natural resources. Malaysia is going to nowhere if the existing policy is not changed. Vision 2020 is only remaining a dream, I can guarantee you with 99% confident.
Malaysia once is competing with Singapore for foreign investment but not anymore. Now with China, India, Thailand, even Vietnam catching up and opening up fast, Malaysia is competing with these countries for low wage manufacturing job.
With the NEP and other policy, soon Malaysia is losing a tougher war (Vietnam’s labour and land is even cheaper than Malaysia). This is why many MNC like Intel had moved their manufacturing site to Vietnam from Malaysia. This is fact and it is happening now, if the government does not do anything, that is it for Malaysia.
This is the con of NEP. But this NEP thing will never diminish the talented mind of non-malays. The more the discrimination, the more non-malays will look for other way to flourish.
If there is no opportunity for non-malays in Malaysia, they will look beyond Malaysia, believe me, as a non-malay, if you can survive the harsh discriminative condition in Malaysia, you can flourish and survive any places in this world.
As I said before, NEP is just like a drug for the malays, it can bring short term satisfaction to the malays. Everybody including malay knows that this drug is not good for long term but the malays got so addicted that they can not live without it anymore.
But on the other hand, for the non-malays, the NEP had caused some short term unhappiness but this will not harm them for the long term, they will study harder, work harder, and get better result, survive anyway in the global world.
The problem is the people hardly has any choice. If they vote for opposition the whole area will not have new roads, new schools, etc. The opposition will not be able to provide these goodies.
The bigger and long-term problem is, none of the oppositions seem to have any manifesto. What about the assurance that the opposition won’t end up being just another similar regime? There is no assurance on that.
So what are our choice? Voting parties with no clear objectives or vision, with insufficient funding, and may well deteriorate into another corrupt/racist regime? Or voting for a corrupted regime that at least has deep pockets? The average rakyat will opt for the latter as they prefer short-term stability and the ability to survive.
For an opposition party to succeed, it will need to come up with a manifesto that lay down its vision and policies – income distribution, tax, economy, environment, transport, education, etc. Opposition is not merely to criticise the government without proving that they can perform better. So far we’ve seen a lot of criticism made, but what are the alternative solutions? You need to gain the trust of the rakyat first by daring to tell them what you stand for. Having a manifesto is the first step. Be transparent. So that the rakyet knows that opposition parties are not bedfellows with different dreams, waiting to ditch one another when they achieve their victory. We have seen PKR, DAP, PAS ‘cooperating’ a lot in the past. But not many rakyat will buy that this cooperation will work.
PKR’s recent turmoil in fielding a candidate for Ijok has also proven that the party is a race based party contrary to what the image the party is trying to project.
Loh may want to read this statement carefully:
“I respectfully submit that the NEP is not and has never been a policy based on anything but of ‘helping just one race’…”
It is a policy meant to address some of the issues. Unfortunately, it has also been manipulated and abused by the powerful and the politically connected to enrich themselves, their families and their cronies, all under the umbrella of a policy which seeks originally to redress the economic imbalances which sadly were mostly along racial lines.
The NEP should not be looked upon as the panacea to everything that is dysfunctional about our society.
Richard Teoh is never more misguided when he writes “NEP in its present form …. lost its initial noble objectives of helping the poor and the needy..”
The NEP at its inception is meant to help the Malays irrespective of where they fall on the income curve. Racial discrimination since the 1970s has come to be institutionalized to help achieve the objectives under the NEP.
It is never meant to help the poor of all races. This does not mean that the poor among the other races do not deserve to be helped.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Do you blame the person who gives the apple just because some of us take two bites at the apple??
UMNO has succeeded – Loh.
Except for a very small percentage ( 5%), the country and her ordinary people suffered significantly with politics of race and religion, corruption, crime, brain drain and etc..
We should be competing with S’pore or other advanced countries with good income and high standard of living but now we are concerned we end up like Indonesia, Veitnam or Thailand.
Our leaders had failed the country…….damage control and recovery could take generations and our leaders could still sleep soundly at night.
Thank you Loh for the expose on 513 for the younger amongst us who have not lived in that period. Whatever the truth of events that Malaysian history has not faced up to, as yet, your recitation of what happened – and what likely to have happened leading to the institutionalizing of NEP – is, I believe, in accord with, and entirely credible in the heart and minds of some who are old enough and have lived through the tumultuous events of that dark chapter of our history. The spontaneity of inter-racial conflict followed, as is natural of these kinds of rioting, after the catalytic, orchestrated, and well-planned first wave of rampage. You have also been most circumspect and judicious to avoid commenting on the nature of connection, if any, between the MB, who “at that time needed a coup, to gamble for his return to power†and the obvious others, who, at that time also needed a coup to usurp power – that in turn leads to the unavoidable speculation of who might be the grand maestro/conductor of this “orchestraâ€Â, if the events were, as you credibly suggested, indeed orchestrated!
Undergrad,
You are quite mistaken in your view that that the N.E.P was not meant to help the poor of all races.Agreed, the initial N.E.P was for the purpose of addressing the economic imbalances among the races..However when the first term of NEP expired in the 90’s NEP was structured to help every race based on poverty and not on race. This was promised by Razak but somehow during Mahathir’s tenure the policy was hijacked to help only elite UMNO members.
“However, when the first term of NEP expired in the 90’s NEP was structured to help every race based on poverty and not on race.” Richrad Teo
I think you’re referring more to the rhetoric spewed by BN politicians that one gets to hear and read in the media.
The truth is that the NEP has always been focussed on the Malays as a class without consideration to income – Malays seen as a disadvantaged class. It was meant to be phased out over time because the intention was to level the playing field to allow for a fair competition between peoples at different phases of development.
Loh in his argument is being dogmatic.
That the NEP has helped mostly the rich is nothing surprising and known to all and sundry even the poorest of poor in kampungs of Kelantan. I don’t feel that those non-elite bumis do not understand the issue. I think its highly arrogant to think they don’t understand.
The truth is the NEP has ensured that most bumis benefited from government policies no matter how dispoportionate. The truth is that they could have done better with an alternative policy like anti-poverty and self-help programs. But the truth is irrelevant because they live in a representative politics. They will not vote for an alternative just because its POSSIBLE to be better but rather it must be clear that its will be better by a significant degree for them to risk them. Voters are not in the business of risk taking especially in our undemocratic and fractious society, the cost of risk taking by voters is high which is the real barrier for opposition to be an alternative.
The opposition can never offer a real alternative to the NEP because no other policy can be less risky for most bumiputra no matter what the upside is for them. They are just not in the business of taking more risk.
So the only way for an alternative to present itself is for the NEP to bring little benefit anymore which can only be done by macro deterioration of the country i.e., the can give the bumis more but if the country keep falling back, then it will be zero sum or less.
Its why I believe only when the NEP has runned its course i.e., the country no longer can afford it can it be removed. That cost will be slower economic growth OR/AND persistent high unemployment. It will be likely mostly the latter. Its why the policy is unconscienable because it guarantees intractable marginalization of significant group of Malaysian in the end.
Only when its clear to the bumiputras that the NEP is costing them by macro deterioration will they remove the policy.
What’s the penalty for hijacking!
Calling all witnesses who have seen UMNO hijacking the NEP to report at Peace Hill A.S.AP.!
Rewards in the form of curry rice and a bed as hard as rock!
The Chinese as a race also has many weak points; they lack the sense of community unity. Even among Chinese, they divide among themselves as clan associations, or surname associations. They may say they are of the same race, but when there is a conflict of interest, they will fight like hell among themselves. Don’t have to drag too far, DAP’s infighting is a good example.
Whoever in power would not easily give up the power; a hooked fish will struggle like hell to get out from the hook. History tells us that without gun powder revolution, a regime would not change.
What then could the Malaysian Chinese do? There is one race we could learn from; the Jews. In history, the Jews have been subjected to a very prejudiced, discriminated and harsh condition, yet at the end of the day, they have not only survived but prospered and returned to their original territory to rebuild the country. The WISDOM of TALMUD is something we could learn from. Both Jews and Chinese have long years of culture. Think about it!
Dear Kingkong
I bet you’re not yellow skin.
Yellow skin will never group under on roof. If they do, one C4 is not enough to kill all yellow skin. Scattered around, they need many C4.
Chinese strategy lah!
It’s easier to aim at a Kingkong but very hard to aim at smarter and more agile human being like The Chinese Man!
Dear Honourable Kingkong
BTW, we are in Tanah Melayu, Malaya, Malaysia. Can you spell out M.A.L.A.Y.A?
G’duy mate!
Dear MALAYSIANbukanMALAYSIAN,
G’duy to you too!
Weak point No:1 — still see people through color. “yellow skin†mentioned . I already said: “— WE could learn from — “
Weak point No: 2 – quickly put up a personal attack trying to disgrace a person who just wants to bring up a point for discussion by asking me whether I know how to spell M.A.L.A.Y.A.
Weak point No:3 – self glorifying – smarter and more agile human being like The Chinese Man. If WE are really that smart, today, WE don’t grumble all these unequal treatments here and there.
It is very important that WE have community unity; otherwise WE could be even subdivided and ruled even easier. WE are already small in number.
Fifty years ago, there was a saying that Chinese people were like a plate of loose sand; said by Chinese not other people. Today, perhaps Chinese in China have improved; Singapore Chinese have improved, Have WE Malaysian Chinese improved? I am skeptical!
Come WW3, the China will be the only Superpower.
US and Western countries technology will not win them the war.
After the initial battles where all countries are severely hurt and damaged, winning the war is solely dependence on the size of your army with basic and conventional weapons.
China has 30 millions full time soldiers and 300 millions in reserve! That’s why even US feared China…..the sleeping gaint has awaken!
Dear Kingkong
Colours are not important. Whether I am yellow or brown is not important.
The chinese are talking about political survival. Loose sand is difficult to trap.
We should be talking about uniting Malaysians not by race. When we talk about colours, every colour wants to look brighter. When we have uniformed colour, we all look the same. So when you raise the colour issue, think hard.
Dear Kingkong
China can be untied because chinese are majority in China.
Uniting chinese in malaysia still makes chinese a minority.
Its’s better to unite all Malaysians to go against the BN!
The issue here is exposing the BN corrupt practice.
No offence to you. Enjoy your evening and many evenings.
“They will not vote for an alternative just because its POSSIBLE to be better but rather it must be clear that its will be better by a significant degree for them to risk them. Voters are not in the business of risk taking especially in our undemocratic and fractious society, the cost of risk taking by voters is high which is the real barrier for opposition to be an alternative.†Bigjoe
Bigjoe has provided an interesting window for us to debate. Whilst his attempt to analyze a political situation through the use of economic concepts associated with ‘risk taking’ is innovative we should be aware of its limitations. Notwithstanding those limitations ‘political science’ and ‘economics’ are both social sciences and their concepts are not too dissimilar that they could not be used to solve problems common to both.
Politics is akin to risk taking and with all risk taking, it has a rate of return to investment. Asking the Malays to vote for parties like the DAP is, according to Bigjoe, like asking them to invest in securities which carry a lower rate of return but an increased exposure to risks. It does not make commercial sense.
With due to respect to others who may share such views, I’d have to disagree. Here is where the use of economic concepts in politics fail in their application.
I feel there is a middle ground which has not been explored. There is no need to view politics of the NEP as a zero sum game i.e. your loss is my gain and my gain is your loss. NEP could move to the next stage i.e. reflective more of the kind of politics of accommodation and compromise that we see elsewhere – a sort of middle ground, a transitional stage where only the poor and needy among Malays are the beneficiaries of this policy. Right now in the field of education, for example, the Policy does not distinguish the poor and the rich among the Malays giving rise to resentment not only from the point of view of poor Malays but from the poor among the other races.
Rather than view it as akin to asking the Malays to invest in risky securities with a lower rate of return which does not make commercial sense, it is more akin to asking a group of investors to invest in long term securities with a stable rate of return.
The DAP however would need to undergo a transformation of its public image – from being a Chinese party to a truly Malaysian party. We need to give a Malay face to the Party.
Mere assertions that it is not a Chinese party is not enough.
Dear MALAYSIANbukanMALAYSIAN,
Good Evening!
I did not bring up the color subject. You did. It is against my principle to judge a person by color.
Anyway, I am glad that you said that:†Colours are not important. Whether I am yellow or brown is not important.â€Â
Once upon a time, a long time ago we did have the Malaysian Malaysia, and that time we only had a simple name called Malaya. It has been screwed up by the last twenty two plus four years of regime as some of the commentators pointed out in their postings.
To reverse such situation is not easy especially by the election machinery which is anyway controlled by the regime who finds it too lucrative to give up.
The next best thing we could think of is how to survive as a community which has to be more closely knitted.
Lim Guan Eng fought for justice for an innocent Malay girl who ultimately betrayed him because after all she had to be with her community. He went to jail and sacrificed a lot, but in the end he was also not supported by his own party in the by election. Something must be very wrong, and perhaps Kit could enlighten us!
The Jewish way of managing their own community intrigues me in the sense that they are always a minority in their host countries and yet they are so powerful in economics and in political influences. It was spectacular when they returned to establish Israel; the type of support from the Jews of all over the world was fantastic. This boils down to the wisdom of Talmud.
As a minority, we need to learn that; the survival wisdom. Take a simple step first and don’t talk big. If we can’t even unite our own community people let alone the whole Malaysia. Like I say before, if DAP can’t even manage their own party well, how could they convince us that they have the ability to manage the whole country.
It will be forever playing the role as a watchdog. That is real.
Good night, Dear MALAYSIANbukanMALAYSIAN, take it easy, just a talk, have a good sleep!
Dear undergrad,
you were a small kid when the first NEP expired and the 2nd one begin.I am old enough to be your father and I have live through four P.M. I have followed what our leaders spewed and I am quite aware of the spirit of the NEP that was intended.I doubt you are aware of the chronology of the events that transpired after the initial NEP.
“I doubt you are aware of the chronology of the events that transpired after the initial NEP.”
I will have to give that to you, Richard. I was away overseas during that critical period including the leadership crisis of 1987 and 1990 when you claim the NEP ‘went through a restructuring’. With due respect to you, one does not have to be an eye witness to the riots of 1969 to understand it, or to understand what the NEP is all about.
You seem to be Loh’s contemporary who is sure that the riots were planned, organized and politically orchestrated by vested interests from within UMNO. In the immediate aftermath of the 1969 general elections when UMNO was reeling from the record loss of seats both at state and federal levels, forces were at work from behind the scene (but exactly what their roles were have never been determined) manipulating incidents to cause more riots when nerves were already raw and deaths have occurred. That is as close as I could go to saying that the riots were organized.
The NEP was the result of the riots. One aspect of the policy was to provide credit to bumiputra and bumiputra owned businesses, to encourage bumiputra participation in business. It was a period when bodies like MARA and UDA and the Ministry of Trade and Industry took on aggressive roles; and to add that the Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) under the initiative of BNM.
When did such statutory bodies have anything to do with Chinese and Indians?
The Jews are no better than other races in this world. Why do Europeans hate them so much during WW2?
Human being contribute nothing to this world except pollution and destruction of mother Earth.
Mother Earth does need human being for her survival. We need her for our survival.
I have to respond to undergrad2 as his interpretation of my point is wrong.
My analogy is not that the opposition is asking the Malay to invest in riskier securities for lower return. My argument is that the opposition is asking the bumiputras to invest in riskier securities for a much higher return BUT also possibly with losses. Its UMNO that is asking bumiputras to invest in lower risk securities with below market returns. The problem with investing in undermarket returns is that at the end of it you don’t get what you need. That is the problem with the NEP eventually it will never give most bumiputras what it needs at least not at great moral peril.
I also did not make the point that the NEP is a zero sum game. My point is that its a declining return investment. It actually may never become zero-sum game but at its best it will at least come close eventually. Its possible to prolong the process but its all a question of luck and we have been very very lucky and could possibly still be but all gamblers know that eventually luck runs out as in 1997.
Good morning to my firend KingKong
Looks like we share the same opinion afterall. Let YB Lim give us some answers.
It’s true that DAP needs to re-strategize!
Undergrad,
I suggest you do some investigative work on Tun Razak policy speeches when he amplified NEP in the context ” of an expanding pie” that every desrving citizen will benefit from it.Whether the spirit of the NEP was subsequently adhered to is another matter but it was the intention of the NEP to be equal and beneficial to all needy citizens.
Richard Teo,
What he meant by that is with political stability, every citizen (Malays, Chinese and Indians) gets to reap the benefits of this Policy aimed at leveling the playing field for the Malays. It is what he didn’t say that matters or failed to elaborate that matters. Razak was a shrewed and crafty politician – not to be taken at face value.
A good example of the NEP flaws, multi-billionaires of bumiputra are still getting 10% on properties and prefrential loan from the government. Is this so-called “level-playing field”.
These people are the unintended beneficiaries of the Policy. The flaw has to be corrected and corrected now.
Why are the powerful and the politically connected getting all the contracts? Why are rich kids getting scholarships when their parents could afford the cost of their tertiary education? This has nothing to do with the objectives of a policy like the NEP.
undergrad2 , now that you knew all these, what are going to do about it ?
Most of the policies in Malaysia are well written. It is the law enforcement that is in trouble.
Those multi-billionaires of Bumiputra must be cheating in the preferential loan application. In Australia, some people also try to fraud the social security system, but one has to get the means test, and if one gets caught, it is a very serious offence. Jail is the answer and disgrace in the public media would deter the cheater. Hence this form of cheating is minimized.
In Malaysia, corruption is too deep rooted. The independency of anti corruption and judiciary system is doubtful, so the system has been greatly abused.
When a C4 could be easily used to blow up a human being by connected high power authority, what else can we do about it? Can DAP or PKR help?
“undergrad2 , now that you knew all these, what are going to do about it ?”
Fight to re-take the government for the people from BN. The DAP/PKR electoral alliance would be one way to do that.
Actually, why be democratic / capitalist? Why not just do away with it and introduce communism? Everyone would have equal share. Much better than NEP which benefits only the well-connected and well-heeled.
Just a thought of ‘what-ifs’
No, Communism can be equally corrupted if there is no check and balance. Communism is good in clearing out the rubbish of the existing corrupted regime using gun powder revolution, but not good for sustaining growth by the incredible human creativity, and productivity. In other words, individualism is not fully developed to a fullest extent in a communist system.
The party heads, the committee members in a communist system are the ones who could rip off the fruits from the people under the name “for the country “. You still can’t have equal share. People all work like government servants, and government servants all over the world are usually not so competitive and productive.
Those days, workers who escaped from mainland China to Hong Kong were very much despised as a eight to five “ Tai Loke Chye “ which means lazy unproductive and un-competitive fellows.
Teng Xie Peng adopted Capitalist system to open up China which only then grows.
fargowin:
You are correct. Since Malayisia is marginalising non Malay, let work and pay taxes in other countries.
Keep your citizen while working in other countries so that you still could vote.
Indeed, this is the ugly truth! The rich in Malaysia is getting richer by the day and the poor, poorer. With the NEP, the gap between the poor and the rich is drifting to wider dimensions. Has the NEP achieved its objectives of eradicating poverty of the Bumiputeras? Definitely not! It has instead created an elite group who have sprung to riches overnight! The ordinary bumiputera would not have benefited from these government actions.
The only group who actually benefited are the elite Malays, the Tan Sri Putras, Dato Putras and Elite Putras, not the bumiputeras.
UMNO was formed on 11 May 1946.
13 May tragedy occurred on 13 May 1969 (2 days after 23rd anniversary of UMNO formation.
It is a co-incident? Think about it!
As a old Malay saying goes:
‘Benih yang baik kalau jatuh ke laut akan menjadi pulau, kalau jatuh di darat akan menjadi gunung’
So why blame the British?
Why need the NEP?
Does that implies the ‘benih’s are no good?