Perkasa demands ‘blue ocean strategy’ for Malays

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, The Malaysian Insider

Perkasa is putting pressure on the Najib administration to include affirmative action in the New Economic Model (NEM), in the form of a “blue ocean strategy” for Malays, to even out the economic disparity between them and other races.

The Malay rights group’s economic bureau chief, Dr Zubir Harun noted the Malays would still require help from the government under the NEM to ensure their success. Perkasa intends to send a list of proposed amendments and considerations for the NEM to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the end of this month.

“The problem is Malays are entering existing markets with little or no support from the government. Existing markets which are dominated by the Chinese are part of a red ocean strategy,” Zubir told The Malaysian Insider.

Perkasa was founded by independent Pasir Mas, MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali, to ensure that Malay rights are not sidelined in an NEM which promotes meritocracy and free markets. The NGO claims to have attracted thousands of members, though largely from Umno.

Zubir said it would be difficult and “unwise” for Malays to try and tap into a “domineering” market because they would not be able to command control, and that it would also disturb the balance of the country’s market system.

He did not provide an elaboration on how exactly would the country’s system be “disturbed.”

“If we compete using a red ocean strategy, Malays would not be able to defeat [the] dominance of other races. The system we have right now, where the Chinese control businesses, if we try and change this it might drastically disturb the economical system of Malaysia,” claimed Zubir.

He said Perkasa wanted the NEM to focus on “new markets”, untapped by Chinese so that Malays could claim and assert dominance in these new fields.

“We should venture into a business where there is no existing red ocean, a new market where Malays can assert their own dominance, and be masters of that particular field,” Zubir said.

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