If it has failed, just discard it? (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)
So don’t try to tell me about what’s wrong with the NEP. I told the government that same thing back in 1985 and I suffered because of that. I paid a heavy price by getting blacklisted for pointing out the flaws in the implementation of the NEP. I became Umno’s number one enemy for coining the word Umnoputera and declaring these people a traitor to the Malay race who should be lined up and shot.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
One very crucial point that was raised by those who had participated in the New Economic Policy (NEP) debate (or rather quarrel) over the last one week is that the NEP has failed, it has been abused by those in power to enrich themselves, it is a racist and discriminatory policy, and hence it should be discarded because it does not work and it does not achieve the objective as was originally intended.
This is certainly one view and a view that must not be rejected because all views are valid and should be respected in a civil society like Malaysia. The argument of whether it is a right view or a wrong view does not come into play because right and wrong depend on your belief system. For example, the implementation of the Islamic Sharia law would be right to fundamentalist or orthodox Muslims and wrong to liberal Muslims or non-Muslims.
From 1974 to 1994, I lived in Terengganu and was active in the Kuala Terengganu Rotary Club. I was, in fact, its Secretary for about seven years. Note that the majority of our members were non-Malays because some Malays seem to have this impression that the Rotary Club is a secret Zionist organisation and another form of Freemasonry. Hence the Malay membership was rather low although the population of Terengganu is about 97% Malay.
As part of my Rotary work, our committee used to visit the rural schools in remote places such as Wakaf Tapai and Kuala Berang, which are predominantly agricultural areas where piped water and electricity are considered luxuries. (That was why I did good business selling petrol/diesel engine-driven water pumps, generators, kerosene lamps, and so on).
It is therefore no coincidence that cholera is an almost on-going problem (and amongst the highest in West Malaysia) and infant/childbirth deaths are considered biasa (normal). It is also the reason why people there (meaning Malays) do not practice family planning (even when the government distributes tens of millions of condoms free of charge). They need more children because these children die so often.
My personal project (which I paid for from my own pocket) was to distribute free Bata school shoes to the school children in those places (I have written about this before). This is because these children were so poor they walked around barefooted.
A few months later, I again visited these schools and discovered that these school children still walked to school barefooted. They would hang their shoes around their neck and put them on only when they entered the school compound. The reason for this, according to the headmaster I spoke to, was so that they did not wear out their very precious Bata shoes.
I then told the Bata retailer to give them two pairs of shoes each and inform them that we will replace them as soon as they wear out — so no need to hang these shoes around their neck and walk barefooted any more. (I don’t know whether it is because I am getting old and sentimental that I write this with tears dripping down my cheeks).
If you were to look at the Malays living in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar, Damansara, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam, and so on, then definitely the Malays do not need the NEP any longer. I have bumped into many Malaysian Malays shopping in Bicester Village (where even I cannot afford to shop but only go there to ‘look see’) and for sure they do not need the NEP (even the Chinese kalah in shopping).
If you want to see whether the NEP is no longer needed then don’t just look at the Malays in the big towns and cities. Go to the rural areas in the East Coast and East Malaysia and see how the Malays (and natives) there live. They certainly still need help.
Now, that does not mean the Chinese and Indians are all super-rich and that only the Malays or natives of East Malaysia are poor and destitute. There are many Chinese and Indians who are poor as well. Hence the NEP should cover these poor Chinese and Indians as well. That was what it was supposed to be but that is not what is happening.
That is my first bone of contention.
I agree with the argument that the NEP has been exploited and abused to make some people very rich. In fact, I was the one who raised this point almost 30 years ago back in 1985 and which resulted in me being blacklisted by the government because of that allegation.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah can confirm this because I made this allegation during a seminar in his Ministry, which he personally chaired. When I made that allegation there was a stunned silence in the hall until Ku Li clapped and then all the other participants in the seminar joined him to clap as well. Nevertheless, the government still blacklisted me and for many years thereafter I could not get any government contracts.
So don’t try to tell me about what’s wrong with the NEP. I told the government that same thing back in 1985 and I suffered because of that. I paid a heavy price by getting blacklisted for pointing out the flaws in the implementation of the NEP. I became Umno’s number one enemy for coining the word Umnoputera and declaring these people a traitor to the Malay race who should be lined up and shot.
But should the 95% needy be made to pay for the transgressions of the 5% corrupt? Is it fair to punish all Malays for the misdeeds of a handful of Malays?
That is my second bone of contention.
Many things do not work well in Malaysia, the NEP being one of them. It looks like our defence policy is also a failure judging by what happened in Lahat Datu recently. Do we then disband the army?
There are many complaints about the police force as well. Do we abolish the police force and allow everyone to carry guns and look after their own safety like in the Old Wild West or like in some parts of the Middle East today?
The election system is also flawed. Hitler managed to rule with only 30% of the votes and then took the world through a bloody war that saw the sacrifice of tens of millions of lives. Barisan Nasional will be able to form the next government even if it garners only 45% of the votes in the coming general election. Should we then abolish general elections?
We need to be more mature and realistic in evaluating things. We cannot always look at the small picture while ignoring the big picture. Some things work. Many things do not work.
Gambling is bad. Families break up because of gambling. But gambling is not banned or abolished. In fact, Singapore is exploiting gambling as a source of revenue. And Singapore is supposed to be one of the more sensible countries, even more sensible than Malaysia.
It is easy for those with money in their pockets to demand that the NEP be abolished. But when you walk to school barefooted, the NEP is the only thing you have to guarantee your future.
What we need is a better NEP, not the end of the NEP. And while Barisan Nasional has failed to offer us that better NEP, I do not see any alternative better NEP from Pakatan Rakyat either.
And that is my third bone of contention.
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失败了，就可以弃之不理？
所以不要尝试告诉我新经济政策（New Economic Policy ，NEP）的错。早在1985年我 就在政府面前提出而受了罪。我因提出落实NEP的缺点而被列入黑名单,进而付出了惨痛 的代价。我也因为想出了 ‘巫统太子’（Umnoputera）这个词和把有关人士宣布为马来民 族叛徒进而因该拖去枪毙而被巫统列为头号敌人。
原文：Raja Petra Kamarudin
在上个星期关于NEP的讨论（其实比较像是争吵）中其中一个重要论点是其政策的失败：政策被权力人士滥用了，政策是充满种族歧视与不公的。因此 NEP 应该被摒弃，因为 它是行不通的，而且也达不到它原来的目的。
我们不应该抗拒这个观点，因为在马来西亚这个文明的社会里，所有的观点都是有理和应 该被尊重的。观点的对错其实不应该是争论的中心点，因为对与错视乎于我们所相信的东 西。打个比方，保守或奉行原教主义的穆斯林会认为落实伊斯兰教法是正确的，然而对于 开放的穆斯林或非穆斯林则反之。
1974年到1994年期间我都住在登嘉楼。我很热衷的参与瓜拉登嘉楼扶轮社，我甚至还当 了七年的秘书。扶轮社的成员大多都是非穆斯林，因为一些穆斯林总认为扶轮社是个共济 会的化身，猶太圣会主義的秘密会社。正因此会社的穆斯林成员数都是偏低的，虽然说 97%的登嘉楼人口都是穆斯林。
我们扶轮社会员曾经去探访过偏远山区的乡间学校，如瓦卡塔派Wakaf Tapai和瓜拉贝朗 Kuala Berang。那些地方都是把自来水和电力当做奢侈品的落后农业区（我当时在那专 卖柴油发动水泵，发电机，煤油灯等，做了不少生意）
那里经常会发生霍乱（在西马为最高病率区之一），小儿与孕妇死亡是很正常的。这也是 为什么当地人（马来人）不会做生育规划（虽然政府派了数以百万计的免费保险套）。他 们需要更多的孩子，因为他们的孩子都死得早。
我当时的个人计划（从我自己口袋出的钱）是发放免费的Bata牌校鞋给当地的学童（我 之前曾经提过），因为他们穷得都是光脚走路的。
几个月后，我再度回去那些学校，发现那些学童们还是一样光着脚丫上学。他们会把鞋子围在他们的脖子上，直到踏进校园才穿上。学校校长告诉我，他们这样做是为了不要把那珍贵的Bata鞋给穿旧。
我告诉Bata供应商每个学生应发放两对鞋子，而且穿旧了就给他们换新的。他们不必再把鞋子围在脖子上光脚走路了。（不知道是不是我老了，多愁善感了，写到这里热泪满眶）
如果你提及的是住在敦伊士麦尔园Taman Tun Dr Ismail，孟沙Bangsar，白沙罗 Damansara，梳邦再也Subang Jaya，沙亚南Shah Alam等的地区的马来人，那当然他们不再需要NEP。我在比斯特名牌折扣购物村（Bicester Village，一个连我也血拼不起，只能去‘看看’的地方）碰到的马来人当然也铁定不需要NEP。（就连华人也输在血拼这个项目上了）
如果你真的想知道NEP是否应该继续,你不因该注重生活在大城市的马来人;你应该去看看西马东岸和东马乡间的马来人(和原住民),他们真的需要帮忙。
然而,这并不代表所有的华人和印度人都是富有的而马来人和土著都是赤贫的,有很多的华印仍然处于贫困中。NEP必须涵顾这些人贫穷的华人和印度人。这是NEP本来的目的,但这并没有实现。
这是我这篇文章的第一论点。
我赞同NEP是被某些人滥用以致富。事实上,我早在大约30年前,即1985年,曾向政府提出这一点,但换来的却是被政府打入黑名单中。
登姑拉扎利(Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah)能够证明我曾在他任职期间所主持的讲座会提起过。正当发表我的观点时,场内一片寂静,直到拉扎利为我鼓掌,从而带动所有参与者为我鼓掌。但是,政府仍然把我列入黑名单中,尔后我再也无法获取任何政府合同了。
所以不要尝试告诉我NEP的错。早在1985年我就在政府面前提出而受了罪。我因提出落实NEP的缺点而被列入黑名单,进而付出了惨痛的代价。我也因为想出了‘巫统太子’（Umnoputera）这个词和把有关人士宣布为马来民族的叛徒进而因该拖去枪毙而被巫统列为头号敌人。
问题是，那95%真正需要帮助的人是否应该为那5%贪污的人士所拖累？因为那一小撮犯错的马来人来惩罚所有马来人又公平吗？
这是我这篇文章的第二论点。
在马来西亚很多东西都是不完美的，NEP是其中一项。正如最近沙巴纳笃事件所披露我国国防上的失策，那我们是否因此而解散我们的军队呢？
又如我们的警队经常受到投诉，我们又是否因该解散警队而让马来西亚人民犹如旧西方牛仔时代（或现今一些中东地区）持枪自保呢？
选举制度其实也是很有问题的。希特勒当年只有30%的票选，可是他却发动了全球性的战争，杀害了数以千万计的人命。国阵在这次大选中只要获得45%的票选就能执政了，那我们是否就能废除投票制度呢？
我们必须更成熟且现实得评审事情。我们必须顾及大局而不是只看到一个小角。有些事情能过很完美的发生，但大多数是不能的。
赌博是不好的，有多少家庭就因为赌而家破人亡，但赌博就没有被禁止过。新加坡目前还利用赌博业来赚取收入。新加坡因该是一个很理性的国家，至少她比马来西亚还要理性。
对于那些口袋沉甸甸的人来讲，废除NEP或许很容易，但如果你是属于光着脚丫上课的一群，NEP将会是你未来的一个保障。
我们需要的是一个‘更好’的NEP而不是废除NEP。纵然国阵无法提供一个更好的NEP，我无法预见民联能够提供一个相对性更好的策略。
这是我这篇文章的第三论点。
