Anwar: Dumping NEP key to regaining competitive edge
By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider
Malaysia must dump race-based affirmative action policies for a needs-based formula to stop the slide in its economic competitiveness, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said last night.
The Opposition Leader insisted that dropping the New Economic Policy (NEP), first drawn up in the 1970s, would be more effective in helping poor Bumiputeras, a constant call by his political foes in Umno as well as Malay rights groups.
“It needs to be dismantled because of the lost competitiveness,” he told a forum in London.
Anwar’s frequent criticism of the NEP has often drawn flak along with the accusation that he is selling out “his race”, a charge that he denies.
“We have to regain it and enrich the country and then distribute wealth through a more transparent affirmative action policy,” the PKR de facto leader said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is set to receive a New Economic Model (NEM) report that will offer alternatives to the current affirmative-action policies but he said public feedback is required before implementation.
The NEM comes on the back of moves last year to free certain sectors of the economy of Bumiputera quotas. These moves have raised concerns about Malays being marginalised.
But Anwar, speaking to a mix of 300 students and working Malaysians, argued that for the majority — and the majority of poor being Malay — a needs-based system would in fact benefit Malays more in comparison to other races.
