MCS: the Malay Crutch Syndrome

So that means even if the Chinese had not come to Malaya the country would have still prospered. Malaya prospered because the country was rich and not because the Chinese came to Malaya to make the country rich.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

As I expected the magazines included a study of Malaysia’s record on race relations. It admitted that despite the affirmative action under the New Economic Policy (NEP), Malaysia’s economy performed better than most other developing countries. The races seem to be living in relative harmony. There were no serious racial clashes.

The affirmative action under the NEP seems to have reduced the disparity in wealth distribution between the indigenous Malays and the Chinese. There is mention of the bumiputra’s owning only 2% of the country’s wealth before NEP and their wealth has now increased to 19%. The disparity is still there but is much reduced.

That is basically what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today. What, in a nutshell, Dr Mahathir is saying is that in the past it used to be worse but now it is only bad so bad compared to worse means it is better.

Dr Mahathir said in the pre-NEP era Bumiputeras owned just 2% of the economic cake and now, although the NEP has failed to reach the target of 30%, it has still managed to help Bumiputeras own 19% of the economic cake. And 19% is an improvement over 2% so the NEP has succeeded even though it is still short of 30%.

First of all, in the pre-NEP era, the individual or private ownership by Bumiputeras was only 1% and not 2%. That figure of 2% included trust agencies such as MARA, SEDC, etc.

Secondly, by 1985, 15 years after the launch of the NEP, the Bumiputera ownership increased to 19%. However, the individual ownership in 1985 was only 3% while, if including trust agencies, it would be 19%. Hence 16% of that 19% is owned by the country or the nation and not by Bumiputera individuals.

Thirdly, that figure of 19% was the 1985 figure and over 30 years from 1985 to 2015 it stayed at 19% and never increased. This means since Tun Dr Mahathir took over as the Prime Minister back in 1981 right up to now, 34 years later, there has been no improvement.

So what the hell happened in those 34 years? Why has there been stagnation for the last 34 years? That figure of 19% that Dr Mahathir quoted was the figure back in 1985, 30 years ago.

So, either the NEP has failed or the government is lying to us and the figure is not 19% but far higher than that. And is that 19% that Dr Mahathir quoted just the individual ownership or does it include trust agencies?

If it does not include trust agencies then what is the figure with the trust agencies included? And if it does include trust agencies then how much of that 19% is individually owned and how much is owned by trust agencies?

Anyway, the NEP is not just about how much stocks, shares and landed assets the Bumiputeras own. It is also about giving the Bumiputeras an education.

So, how many Bumiputeras went to university back in 1965 compared to now, 2015, 50 years later? Give us the figures in terms of ratios: Bumiputeras to Bumiputeras and Bumiputeras to the total population.

Around five million Bumiputeras have received a higher or tertiary education since the NEP was launched. This would not have been possible without the help of the NEP. And, as the Chinese are so fond of repeating: we should teach the Malays how to fish instead of giving the Malays a fish.

Is this not teaching the Malays how to fish: by giving them an education so that they can make it in life?

We should not just keep talking about money and share of the economic cake when we talk about the NEP. The Chinese would laugh at the Malays and call them rent-seekers. The Chinese will say the Malays cannot succeed unless they are given crutches.

The Malays are not being given crutches. They are being given an opportunity to receive a proper and better education so that they can arm themselves with the right tools to succeed in life.

The Chinese also keep repeating that Malaysia would be nothing today if the Chinese had not come to Malaya to help develop the country. Malaysia would still be a jungle. The Malays would still be living in trees if not because of the Chinese, they keep reminding us.

The Malays have never lived in trees. They have always lived in houses. And the reason the Chinese came to Malaya from 1850 to 1920 was because Malaya was progressing. Malaya was rich in resources so the Chinese who were poor back in China wanted to exploit these resources, which they did and that is why they became rich.

About 100 years after 1850, the date when the Chinese first started coming to Malaya in huge numbers, around 30% of the British economy depended on Malaya. Yes, that’s right, 30% of Britain’s economy depended on Malaya around the end of WWII.

So that means even if the Chinese had not come to Malaya the country would have still prospered. Malaya prospered because the country was rich and not because the Chinese came to Malaya to make the country rich.

Let us get that one point clear.