We cannot afford to go the wrong way
To achieve the target of higher economic growth, it is essential that we free ourselves from the old growth-impeding distribution model, replacing the antiquated quota system with meritocracy.
Indeed the government should offer assistance to the economically weak, but that should not be drawn on racial lines.
Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily
PM Najib has announced a whole series of measures on bumiputra economic empowerment, which could have been the biggest ever policy he has introduced since his re-election.
A long list of measures which I believe not many will have the patience to go through in details. After all, if you are not a bumi, why bother about them?
The biggest regret in major government policies is “irrelevance.”
Which is sad. When can we actually become “1Malaysia”?
Indeed the bumis need to be “empowered” economically, but the same speaks for non-bumis as well. As a matter of fact, only if the country’s overall economy is empowered will the bumis be economically empowered. Otherwise, even non-bumi economy will not be empowered.
This is basic economics. Classical economists advocate progressive economic policies to fully harness a country’s capital and manpower, hence improve its overall competitiveness and enhance its wealth creation for the benefit of all.
I WAS REMINDED of the New Economic Model (NEM) launched by the newly appointed PM four years ago to replace the controversial NEP.
This NEM thing was drafted by the team led by banker cum former minister in the PM’s dept Amirsham Abdul Aziz with the objective of promoting economic development to catapult Malaysia into the league of high-income countries.
To achieve the target of higher economic growth, it is essential that we free ourselves from the old growth-impeding distribution model, replacing the antiquated quota system with meritocracy.
Indeed the government should offer assistance to the economically weak, but that should not be drawn on racial lines.
Back then the new PM Najib imparted an impression that he set his eyes far above Umno, while Amirsham was seen as a pragmatic and open-minded economist who saw no ethnicity but the nation and her people.
The government found the right direction back then. And Malaysians started to see hope.
But powerful backlash emerged from within Umno. Amirsham was quickly branded the “traitor of the Malays” by Perkasa. Under the pressure, the NEM was modified, and lost some of ifs erstwhile spirit and connotation along the way.
I AM NOT sure whether this NEM is still in existence four years on. What I know is that “bumiputra economic empowerment” is stealing the limelight right now.
Najib has put it very candidly that the bumi empowerment policy is a form of appreciation for the Malay voters’ undivided support of the BN government. Thanks to the strong support from the Malay and East Malaysian bumi voters, BN has managed to cling on to power, and they therefore deserve some rewards.
Of course, with the Umno general assembly just around the corner, Najib indeed needs to answer to millions of party members. Under the pressure from his party, he must come up with some kind of Malay agenda.
The same could also be some kind of retaliation for BN’s election setback and diminishing support from Chinese Malaysians.
There is no way Najib and his BN government could be kept in the dark over the country’s actual economic problems which no “bumi empowerment policies” could fix.
Our economic growth appears more sluggish than anticipated, and the original 5-6% official growth projection has been revised downward to 4.5-5%.
Meanwhile, our budgetary deficits have soared to levels where drastic measures to cut them down are essential. Public debts, too, are approaching the government-approved ceiling.
With dampened growth and escalating deficits and debts, coupled with poor global outlook, our economic future is anything but rosy.
Malaysia can no longer afford to keep bleeding this way, and political considerations must never be allowed to supersede economic ones.
I HAVE NOTICED the reaction of former minister in the PM’s department Zaid Ibrahim to this bumi empowerment policy.
He said, “Helping the Malays? Please stop it!”
Sure enough Zaid Ibrahim is himself a bumiputra. The difference is: he is a progressive and open-minded Malay intellectual who sees the key to the country’s problems.
He feels that the government’s policies to help the Malays over the decades have not brought the desired results, but have instead made things worse.
Many of the policies have helped only the Malays in power or within Umno, not ordinary Malays. Moreover, getting comfortable with government’s generous handouts, the Malays have long forgotten how to compete and move forward.
