The Doctrine of the Freed Malay

By Sakmongkol

The government has announced the removal of the 30% rule on equity allocation. Earlier, it has also done away with the FICC and the rules associated with foreigners setting up businesses in Malaysia. This administration has started dismantling certain edifices of the NEP. Clearly, this new approach indicates a changing perception on managing this country's economy.

There is a term for this stand that refuses to accept things as they are. It is directly opposite to that of conservative thinking. Conservatism in the original sense means a stand taken to insist things to remain as they are. It stands for the business as usual approach. In political terms it means reliance on the state or government to perform the functions which are better accomplished by the free individual.

The opposite of this stand, which is being adopted by this current administration, is libertarianism. It represents an unwillingness to see things as they believe that things can be done and get better through the free individual. It relies on the voluntary cooperation of individuals each pursuing their own interest.

Let me be more direct. The NEP is a legislative instrument designed to achieve a number of economic objectives which should be carried out by free men. We accepted it as necessary because of certain debilitating factors in society especially so in Malay society, which occurred as a result of a number of reasons. The NEP therefore became a means to concentrate economic and political powers at one place. Such concentration was fraught with dangers but we accepted the arrangement as necessary as it was only meant to be temporary.

This is the political arrangement favoured by the Malay conservatives who regard themselves as loyal to the Malay cause. The term Malay conservatism is associated with an unquestioning readiness to rely primarily on the state rather than on private voluntary arrangements to achieve a set of objectives. In the name of welfare and equality for instance, these people favour policies of state intervention and paternalism against the pursuit of the idea of freedom. Those who oppose their views are easily castigated as traitors.

I have written in support of the removal of the rule on 30% equity participation. I have said it is the most undemocratic aspect of the NEP and the most abused. The rule has benefited only the elite, the selected few excluding the ordinary Malay. The common folks don't know anything about this rule. Because of that, I welcome its removal. As to the other aspects which were designed for capacity building turning the Malays into wealth generating agents, I am in full support.

Read more at: The Doctrine of the Freed Malay