How many Malaysians honestly want Malaysia to be a better country?

A potential employer has to go through plenty of job applications for shortlisting and knowing that they are more likely to get capable workers from 50 Chinese applicants than 50 Malay applicants, they might as well just shortlist 50 Chinese.

AsamLaksa

I read with amusement of the latest Michael Chua trend in Malaysia Today. What is read is not about a “racist” Michael Chua but rather the huffing and puffing ignorance of the commentators.

Many commentators wish to live in a better Malaysia be it from a Malay or non-Malay point of view, but why such a narrow view? You see, the real crux is that you all have the same interest and believe it or not the way to achieve your vision of a better Malaysia even from your race-centric point of view requires the same solution. And this is where I find it amusing because instead of finding out the solution, many commentators just went comment-amok.

Are you ready for the solution? Are you really sure you want it? Hahahaha. But seriously, do you really really want to make Malaysia a better place to be? Sumpah betul?

Then get rid of the unending racial discriminatory policies of the Malaysian government. Simple. But do read on and let me tell my yarn before you turn rabid with indignation.

Why do we have discriminatory policies in the first place? It all comes down to levelling the playing field to give a disadvantaged group a leg up to prosper. Sounds great! The contentious issue is how do you do this in a fair manner to maximise the benefit. This is the million dollar question.

Post-Merdeka Malaysia, the majority race, the Malays were lagging far behind the urban dwellers, mainly the Chinese. Poverty eradication strategies were not easy to carry out because like it or not we all recognise the virtue of it but few would want to use their tax money on it.

The political solution was the NEP, one which would help the Malays – the majority who happened to be poor – and this would receive the political will that a needs-based poverty eradication scheme lacks. It sounds like a broad brush approach but it would work easily because you can easily identify the needy group and you can galvanise the resources needed for it. What went wrong was the removal of the safeguard for abuses – the review time table.

You see the NEP is a success story in alleviating poverty by targeting the largest poor group. But it should have been reviewed at the 20 year mark, not to abolish it but to tweak it to better target other needy groups and then set another review date. This way over time you expand the coverage to the most in need over time and cease supporting those who did well.

What problems has NEP caused? Well the problems that every commentator be it Malay or non-
Malays mentioned.

Not happy that Chinese businesses advertise for Chinese speakers only? Blame it on NEP. Businesses that practice diversity perform better while businesses that hire based on race do worse and this is backed up by research in the West. Diversity is a hot bed for innovation. Cities that are more diverse continue to grow while those that lack diversity stagnate or decline. You can see this for yourself in Malaysian cities and states. Be warned Penang would not grow if it is all Chinese too.

Thus it makes sense for Chinese businesses to hire workers from different backgrounds but they do not do this from requiring Chinese language speakers. Oh, come on, even I a Chinese born knows this is a racial discriminatory hiring system because it excludes a large swathe of the Malaysian population and many who read such requirements even if they could speak Chinese but are not of Chinese race will be put off expecting a very Chinese-centric work culture.

So, why does it pay for Chinese businesses to aim to hire only Chinese workers? Because NEP excludes a large swathe of capable Chinese workers from better opportunities that the Malays receive in terms of education, soft loans, property and government jobs. Thus the businesses are just tapping into this pool of capable Chinese workers. Due to the NEP, the Chinese workers need to get better qualifications to improve their chances of landing a job as competition intensifies. The Malays however get a pick of the choice in well paid government jobs and contracts that promise good prospect and what you tend to get is more of the less capable Malays left in the private job market.

Then after decades of this, now a potential employer has to go through plenty of job applications for shortlisting and knowing that they are more likely to get capable workers from 50 Chinese applicants than 50 Malay applicants, they might as well just shortlist 50 Chinese.

Ideally you should interview all 100 applicants but this is not practical in terms of time and cost. Simple rational racism that benefits employers but the capable Malays lose out.

Remember this only occurs after years of NEP to allow the concentration of skills in the job market to be distorted over time. Thus this Chinese speaking only need apply was alien to me when I was a teen but now I see it all the time and it is not about needing to trade with China because your low rung worker is unlikely to meet with a Chinese delegate.

Not happy when a Malay worker gets paid less than a Chinese worker in the same job and having same skills in a Chinese owned business? Blame it on NEP. The employer has more bargaining power where they can hire a Chinese worker which is more likely to be capable but instead chose to hire the Malay which is a gamble for them knowing that they are less likely to hire capable Malays from the job pool. From the Malay worker’s point of view, he/she accepts the lower pay because of lower bargaining power because the Malay worker is excluded from many jobs in other Chinese owned businesses as explained above.

These are economic forces which are rational but few ever wonder about. These are not the intended effect of the NEP but it is something not unexpected if you think about it.

I do not need to explain the downside of NEP from the non-Malay point of view because it is more direct such as racial quotas.

Now imagine Malaysia where NEP, racial quotas for education, government jobs, property and loans come to an end. How would the Malays fare? They would do great. Many Malays now are doing very well and the hard core poor have shifted to the Indians who are stuck in ghettos-like communities.

If the Malaysian government practices equal opportunity hiring, they could hire more capable workers from all races which is good for the taxpayers. The displaced Malays would then be forced to enter the private job pool which would then have a more balanced capability distribution among the races and thus the Chinese owned businesses would over time recognise this by changing hiring practices thus ending the widespread Chinese speaker only nonsense.

The pay of the Malay worker in the Chinese owned business would match with the others because the Malay worker would now have equal bargaining power and can leave to find another job in another company if the boss won’t match the pay. Overall the Malaysian economy would flourish as competitiveness returns and this wealth will trickle down to everyone regardless of race. Isn’t that better for everyone?

The NEP may not be fair but still a success. The question now is what are you going to do with the footing you have achieved? Now this is where the racial discriminatory policies need to come to an end to stem the negative unintended effects of it. I’m not saying end it now but to do it gradually bit by bit like China’s gradual switch from planned economy to free market.

A warning though, racial economic policies are bad for everyone as a whole but benefit a few. The few who benefit would lose out more if it ends and would fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo. The many who would have benefited from the end of this would only gain a little each (as the wealth is distributed over a larger pool) and thus are not really busting their behinds to end it so can’t be bothered with it but just make complaints once in a while.

You can see this fine example with Perkasa which is a tiny group who would lose a lot and would fight tooth and nail regardless that the Malays as a whole loses out. And this is why there is little political will to end NEP: those few who benefit would fight it screaming, scratching, hit below the belt, blindside, etc. and the majority who would have benefited from ending it can’t be bothered.

If the Malays as a whole want to be as rich as the Chinese, the NEP is holding them back. For many Chinese the NEP forced them to adapt in the post May 13 reality where they had to invest more in education to be competitive and thus still prosper in spite of NEP. This again is economic reality.

The best example is the Jews in the West who were discriminated for thousands of years yet they are very successful. The Jews were forbidden to own land so they moved into skills based work such as fashion, accountancy, finance, medical, etc. Entertainment businesses were seen as sinful and unproductive by conservative Christians so the Jews moved in.

Basically people need to live and will find all sorts of ways to make a living. It doesn’t come easy as many can attest but those that appreciate how hard their parents worked would in turn work as hard. So, yes, many Malaysian Chinese could proudly say that they are a success because they are Chinese because it is true. The race-based policies that discriminated against them did not cripple them but instead directed them towards more profitable areas, just like the Jewish banker who is a banker because he so happened to be from the community that is prevented from taking up many other professions.

Nevertheless there are plenty of casualties because discrimination is unforgiving to those that are not able to compete from various reasons such as health, social and educational background.

Thus the truth is there are many poor Malaysian Chinese and there are many poor American Jews, just you don’t see them because they are an embarrassment to their proud communities. Just ask Michael Chua – his mother would be embarrassed to seek help from others.

Every Malaysian loses out in racial discriminatory policies. The Melayu tuan is not really a tuan because they will never be able to catch up due to lack of innovation and competitiveness. Many non-Malays are not given the opportunity to contribute to Malaysia and you can see the brain drain.

As long as racial economic policies go on, you will always have a richer southern dot of a neighbour who benefits from it, so stop bitching about them and learn to get even.

So, I ask again, do you honestly want a better Malaysia? Well, now you know the solution.