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Mukhriz confirms Najib wants meritocracy for Malays

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 18, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s call for meritocracy over the weekend meant finding the best Malays in the country but not abolishing pro-Bumiputera policies despite liberalising the economy, says Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.

The prime minister was reported to have said that affirmative action under the New Economic Policy (NEP) is “here to stay” by a pro-Umno blogger who attended a closed-door session with the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) Junior Science College alumni.

Mukhriz, who is the alumni president, confirmed the blog report with The Malaysian Insider, saying yesterday that Najib’s message was “that we are getting rid of rent-seekers and helping Malays become more competitive instead.”

The report quoted Najib as saying that the NEP would not be abolished but that meritocracy would be implemented among Malays to find “the best amongst Malays.” Continue reading “Mukhriz confirms Najib wants meritocracy for Malays”

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Please walk the talk

— Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 30, 2011

SEPT 30 — One day soon, I hope a Malaysian leader will emerge who will say what he means and means what he says.

This leader will not tailor his message to his audience, be in love with symbolic acts and depend on image makeovers.

This leader will not be afraid of making unpopular but necessary decisions and policies for the country and will not allow family members or associates to plunder the country at will.

Prime Minister Najib Razak last night spoke at a gathering of Malay business and economic NGOs. He told them not to be too infatuated with protectionism. That was good but in the same speech he also reminded them that the government had reserved more than 40 per cent of the massive MRT project for Bumiputera companies.

That certainly sounds like protectionism to me, and molly-coddling a group of businessmen and creating unnatural business conditions for them. Continue reading “Please walk the talk”

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Bumi quotas to go eventually, says Najib

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 27, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressed today the need to eventually do away with Bumiputera quotas but said the government must continue to support the community’s best talent to ensure a more competitive business environment.

The prime minister pointed out that the New Economic Model (NEM) promotes affirmative action based more on meritocracy, saying “we must promote the right Bumiputera”.

He said offering quotas would promote complacency, hamper economic growth and bury Bumiputera talent.

“What we have done in the past is we have not promoted the right kind of people.

“We want to do away from (with) quotas but we must support them (Bumiputera entrepreneurs) in a way that would allow them to grow,” he told the Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2011 here this evening.

“If we give them quotas, what will happen is that they will rest on their laurels and eventually, they will not gain expertise,” he added.

Najib said the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity target “does not mean anything”, particularly if entrepreneurs decide to sell off their shares when prices soar, leaving little in the hands of the Bumiputeras. Continue reading “Bumi quotas to go eventually, says Najib”

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Beware of false prophets

— Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider

SEPT 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak certainly talks a good game. It is election season and he needs to win big so everything goes.

Today he talks about how Bumiputera quotas need to go, eventually. No one knows when this eventually will be because as we all know the Umno-hijacked New Economic Policy was extended under pressure from the Umno beneficiaries.

Najib is not the first Umno president to talk about removing quotas or taking away the crutches from Bumiputeras.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Badawi both mentioned this when they wanted to show Malaysians that they were enlightened leaders and when they were fishing for support from non-Malays before elections.

Needless to say all their “good intentions” never materialised. Once they got the votes, they promptly forgot about taking away the quotas and instead fortified the distortions in the system. Continue reading “Beware of false prophets”

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Bumis ‘typically’ sold government contracts for cars, houses, leaked study reveals

The Malaysian Insider
Sep 20, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — An unpublished Works Ministry study found that Bumiputera contractors as a rule sold their government contracts to buy luxury cars and houses apart from misusing payments received from the Treasury, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The cable, revealed by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, comes just after Putrajaya agreed to allocate RM8 billion worth of contracts in the country’s most expensive infrastructure project, the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which initially set strict rules for its contractors.

The US diplomatic cable quoted a Works Ministry source as saying the “Study on Bumiputera Contractor Leakage” was the result of feedback from various industry sources on failed and successful projects. The report was used by then-Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (picture) to castigate failing Bumiputera businessmen in February 2007.

“The current system of awarding lucrative government contracts to Bumis provides them with a strong economic incentive to simply act as agents, turning over as many projects as possible and taking a cut before handing each one off to a competent non-Bumi implementer.

“This ‘Bumi agent’ system is firmly entrenched in Malaysia. Any effort to make reforms is likely to be resisted not only by well-established Bumis, but also by the non-Bumi implementers who have built up a network of well-oiled agent partnership,” the US Embassy concluded in the report published by the Malaysia-Today news portal. Continue reading “Bumis ‘typically’ sold government contracts for cars, houses, leaked study reveals”

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The Economist says well done Najib but…

The Malaysian Insider
Sep 17, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — The influential international newspaper The Economist has praised Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his move to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) and other controversial security laws but points out that he will have to abolish “institutionalised ethnic discrimination” before he can assume the mantle of a radical reformer.

The extreme right-wing of Umno is expected to go along with the sweeping legislative changes as long as it does not touch on ethnic quotas and divisions, the newspaper said in an opinion published in its popular Banyan column yesterday.

“It is the system of ethnic quotas and divisions that is really holding the country back — if Mr Najib started to take an axe to all that, then absolutely nobody would question his credentials as a radical reformer,” the newspaper wrote. Continue reading “The Economist says well done Najib but…”

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After 54 years independence, Malaysia still sufferring in the middle income trap

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor

There is not much to celebrate after 54 years of independence, as Malaysia is still caught in a middle income trap, where 60% of our households are living below the poverty line of RM3000 per month.

In the past few weeks, PM Najib made some moves calculated to impress the people that the economy is resurging and well on the way to full recovery.

The first plan was to announce that FDIs (foreign direct investments) inflow was spectacular. He admitted that the FDI dropped to a low of US$1.5 billion in 2009 but in 2010 it had rebounded by over 500 per cent to US$9 billion. It looks impressive, but the increase was large only because it rebounded from a very low baseline.

However, the US$9 billion was minuscule compared to a FDI of US$38 billion in 2010 for Singapore, US$15 billion for Indonesia and US$105 billion for China.
Continue reading “After 54 years independence, Malaysia still sufferring in the middle income trap”

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The NEP and the downfall of Malays

Mariam Mokhtar
FreeMalaysiaToday
September 2, 2011

The NEP may have caused an increase in the wealth of the Malay urban middle class but on the whole, many Malays remain poor.

COMMENT

Dr Mahathir Mohamad came to the defence of the New Economic Policy (NEP) when economist Ramon Navaratnam and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim condemned the NEP for discouraging foreign investment and for promoting corruption.

However, Mahathir failed to note that the NEP, like many of the government’s other programs with catchy, meaningless acronyms are only publicity stunts which fail to address the underlying problems that face many Malaysians, principally the Malays.

He said: “There may be corruption involved in some cases but the charge is not warranted because in most cases, the benefits of NEP have been enjoyed by almost every Malay and bumiputera. In fact, indirectly and, in some cases, directly it has benefited the non-bumiputera as well.”

The former prime minister’s selective amnesia serves him well. The NEP’s short-term benefits may have impressed his Cabinet colleagues but in the long term, the NEP has disadvantaged all other Malaysians. Continue reading “The NEP and the downfall of Malays”

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Applying Prospect Theory To Ending Affirmative Action

By M. Bakri Musa

An insight of cognitive psychology (that sub-discipline dealing with mental processes like thinking and decision making) is that humans are far removed from the ideal of a rational self-interested Homo economicus (Economic man) when making decisions, contrary to the core assumption of traditional economics.

Two factors weigh heavily when we make decisions, given a set of alternatives. One, we are loss averse; that is, we magnify the value of a potential loss and minimize the potential gain even if the two are quantitatively the same. The other is that how those alternatives are framed very much influences our decision.

Although these insights refer to individual decision-making processes, nonetheless they can be extrapolated to the societal level, on how we collectively make decisions. This has relevance to the central wrenching issue dividing our Malay community today, on whether to continue or do away with affirmative action.
Continue reading “Applying Prospect Theory To Ending Affirmative Action”

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Bersih rally may point to unequal wealth distribution, says Financial Times

By Clara Chooi
July 14, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak should take heed of last Saturday’s mass protest as a possible show of public distaste on income disparity in Malaysia, aside from a push for electoral reform, the Financial Times has said.

The daily reported in a commentary on its popular Lex column that the prime minister may have to lift the issue of unequal wealth distribution as a priority for his administration, noting that since the Umno president took office, he had chosen instead to focus on boosting Malaysia’s gross national income per capita (GNI). Continue reading “Bersih rally may point to unequal wealth distribution, says Financial Times”

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Now Putrajaya hands LRT deal to UK firm ahead of Najib visit

By Shannon Teoh
June 20, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — A Finance Ministry committee has changed its mind by awarding the contract for the Kelana Jaya light rail transit (LRT) extension to a consortium led by British firm Colas, after controversially ordering a deal last week with another joint-venture.

But the committee’s latest decision continues to ignore the recommendation of LRT operator Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad for the contract to be awarded to a third company in the frame.

The Singapore Straits Times reported today that the joint-venture between Colas and CMC Engineering Sdn Bhd would be awarded the project, citing senior industry executives and government officials close to the tender as its source. Continue reading “Now Putrajaya hands LRT deal to UK firm ahead of Najib visit”

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Key resignation, resentment hits new national innovation initiative

By Lee Wei Lian
June 10, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Unik, the prime minister’s initiative tasked with restructuring the country’s public innovation ecosystem has hit a setback with the resignation of its technical advisor N Danaraj who was in charge of putting together the National Innovation Policy (NIP).

His resignation earlier this week could come as a blow to Unik due to the loss of experience as Danaraj has a masters degree in public administration from Harvard, a doctorate from Oxford and was also technical advisor to the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC), a senior fellow at Khazanah Nasional and a research fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

His departure, which sources say was due to various disagreements with Unik CEO Dr Kamaljit Singh over the NIP, comes as several innovation agencies have been privately expressing concern over the Unik chief’s leadership style.
Continue reading “Key resignation, resentment hits new national innovation initiative”

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Why needs-based affirmative action makes no sense

By Lee Hwok Aun
June 01, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 1 — We commonly hear these days that Malaysia should shift from a race-based affirmative action (AA) to needs-based affirmative action. Pakatan Rakyat started advocating this; Barisan Nasional followed.

The idea seems too nice, constructive, and harmonious to criticise. Both political alliances believe they have found a formula that can gain popular support and shift us away from the testy and rancorous debates over race-based AA and the New Economic Policy.

Unfortunately, needs-based affirmative action makes no sense, much as even I want to believe in it. The notion is, at best, imprecise and partial; at worst, incoherent and delusional. Continue reading “Why needs-based affirmative action makes no sense”

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NEP or meritocracy?

By Fazly M. Fauzy | June 01, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 1 — The New Economic Policy has often been described as biased to Bumiputeras in terms of education and economic rights given to them under the policy. Critics of the NEP believe that it is crippling Malaysia by rewarding those who they feel to be “undeserving” of these rights because it is not based on merit but instead on their preferential status as Bumiputeras.

I would contend, however, that while meritocracy is a noble ideal in that it rewards those who have truly earned their due but at the same time, it also unfairly undermines those who they have deemed unworthy due to their perceived lack of merit.
Continue reading “NEP or meritocracy?”

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Why I stay, but why my children should not

Ekompute
The Malaysian Insider
May 27, 2011

MAY 27 — When the New Economic Policy was first launched in 1971, I really thought that it would only be for 20 years, just as what the government had said. But anyway, who can argue against the NEP when its two-prong objectives are to:

1. eradicate poverty, irrespective of race;

2. restructure society so as to eliminate the identification of ethnicity with economic function.

However, as Yogi Berra says, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.”

If the two objectives had been pursued honestly and diligently, I think no one will object to the NEP, even if it runs perpetually.

However, the NEP has been turned into a political tool and interpreted to serve only those in power, such that even after double the time frame since its inception, the ordinary Malays are said to be still poor.

How can any wakil rakyat reconcile himself to this fact, that the people he claims to be fighting for are still living in poverty, while he himself, as a people’s representative, lives in a multi-million ringgit mansion? Continue reading “Why I stay, but why my children should not”

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Chua SoiLek should not have too inflated an ego about himself or MCA

It should be the front-page headline news of the MCA newspaper The Star today, but it was tucked away in page 4, regarded as less newsworthy than Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding (entire front page with pic and headline‘You look beautiful’), “PM – Innovate to compete: Relying on foreign labour a threat to economy, SMEs told” (p 2), “A sea tunnel, after two bridges – Penang’s proposed third link in the pipeline” and “Hostile witnesses an obstacle, says MACC panel” (p 3).

It finally appears in p 4 of Star “Party will give up posts – MCA presidential council backs Chua’s stand” beneath another Chua SoiLek story “Stop fanning racial flame, SoiLek warns opposition”.

This is what even journalists in MCA’s own newspaper, the Star, think of the newsworthiness and importance of Chua’s “shock announcement”.

Many Malaysians thought that MCA leaders are finally taking a political stand because they are moved by the latest World Bank report entitled “Malaysia Economic Monitor: Brain Drain” and adverse news headlines like “Malaysia’s brain drain getting worse, says World Bank” and “NEP, brain drain holding back Malaysia, says World Bank” which said among other things: Continue reading “Chua SoiLek should not have too inflated an ego about himself or MCA”

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Kit Siang: Soi Lek killing the people’s hope for change

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 29, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — Lim Kit Siang accused Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek today of destroying the people’s hopes by dictating that they had no choice but to accept the status quo in the present administration under Barisan Nasional (BN).

This, said the DAP adviser, was reflected in Dr Chua’s recent reminder to the Chinese community that their hopes should be based on the political realities in Malaysia.

Lim insisted that the MCA president had missed the point when he challenged PKR to abolish Malay privileges, pointing out that the opposition had never argued over the special position of the Malays as enshrined under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

The point of contention, said Lim, was the BN government’s “blatant abuse” of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and refusal to implement needs-based affirmative action policies.

“His (Dr Chua’s) theatrics interest no one. Article 153 is not an article of controversy… it does not arise. The point of controversy is that the NEP must go.

“Dr Chua is just trying to create something out of nothing so that the people are distracted from the focal issues.

“Now that the people have some hope that for the first time, they have a proper alternative, he is trying to quash that hope,” Lim told The Malaysian Insider today. Continue reading “Kit Siang: Soi Lek killing the people’s hope for change”

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NEP overwhelming Najib’s reforms, say reports

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
March 04, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — New York-based business newspapers took aim at the Najib administration’s reform policies today, claiming that a “phony war on affirmative action” has failed to overcome pessimism in the local market.

The Wall Street Journal said in an opinion article that the government’s failure to speed up economic reforms while racial tensions increase have slowed productivity as the country labours under the legacy of the New Economic Policy (NEP).

“The risk now is that political parties representing the three races will be steered by extremist groups that exacerbate conflict for their own gain,” the Wall Street Journal said today. Continue reading “NEP overwhelming Najib’s reforms, say reports”

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Najib has tough fight against NEP ‘cancer’, says report

By Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak is taking “an unprecedented gamble” by pledging to dilute the system of Malay patronage that has kept Umno in power, said a foreign report yesterday.

The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) — an Australia-based think tank — said that the large support for the status quo and Umno’s current vulnerability meant that “Najib will have a difficult task convincing his colleagues to ‘risk all’ for the sake of Malaysia’s long-term future.”

Its foreign policy research fellow Dr John Lee also questioned the prime minister’s capacity to introduce economic reforms as the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1970 has cultivated a “vast and deep network of rent-seeking and patronage.” While acknowledging that the New Economic Model (NEM) introduced by Najib last year was “enormously significant,” Lee said that the decades of pro-Bumiputera affirmative action was now a “millstone around the neck of the struggling Malaysian economy and the cancer behind the country’s growing structural problems.” Continue reading “Najib has tough fight against NEP ‘cancer’, says report”

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Perkasa hijacked NEM, says NEAC man

Aidila Razak | Feb 8, 11
Malaysiakini

Malay rights NGO Perkasa’s fierce objections to aspects of the first part of the New Economic Model (NEM) forced its second part to be watered down.

Revealing this today, National Economic Advisory Council member Zainal Aznam Mohd Yusof said Perkasa and other right wing groups were up in arms particularly over the NEM’s rejection of 30 percent bumiputera equity and the proposal of an equal opportunities commission.

“(These suggestions) were lambasted and strangled by right wing groups led by Perkasa. They wanted to burn part one (of the NEM).

“…Perkasa said we did not have roh Melayu (the Malay spirit),” he lamented.

Speaking at a forum organised by think-tank Institue of Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) in Kuala Lumpur, Zainal Aznam added that listening to the right wing groups meant that the cabinet had failed the test on reforms.

“This was the government’s litmus test and at this time, I have to say that there is no political will,” he said. Continue reading “Perkasa hijacked NEM, says NEAC man”