Will Anwar Ibrahim end the NEP?

Kua Kia Soong

NOW that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s destiny as 8th prime minister draws potentially closer with the costly Port Dickson (PD) by-election, Malaysians wait with bated breath for him to reveal his vision for the country when he takes over from Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

So far, we have only heard his plans to “make PD great again”, promising development in the area as in any other constituency in an election.

If Anwar is only going to focus on the PD constituency, then the unforced resignation by the 14th general election (GE14) elected MP was indeed frivolous and a waste of taxpayers’ monies. On the back of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) unfulfilled election promises, we expect Anwar to address national issues that are central to reforming Malaysia, issues that the prime minister has not yet shown commitment.

An end to race-based policies

Will Anwar replace race-based policies such as the New Economic Policy with needs-based measures that truly benefit the lower-income and marginalised sectors?

And with more than 95% bumiputra composition in the civil and armed forces, will the prime minister-designate ensure that recruitment and promotion in these services are based on merit from now on?

Furthermore, does Anwar endorse Mahathir’s plan to privatise Khazanah to benefit bumiputra interests?

A commitment to equality

Apart from racial discrimination, will Anwar commit to implementing an Equality Act to ensure equality for all regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender and sexuality, and changing Suhakam into an equality and human rights commission? Will he ban child marriages and decriminalise consensual sex between adults?

A progressive and fair economic policy

Will he ensure that Petronas’s revenues are invested in a sovereign wealth fund as a pension fund for future generations and the oil-producing states?

Instead of more privatisation, will he ensure a strong and fairly distributed public-sector health, education, housing, transport services including highways?

Will Anwar address the increasingly serious gap in income inequality through progressive taxation on high-income earners, their wealth and property, and effective tax laws to ensure there are no tax loopholes for the super-rich, capital allowances and tax holidays for foreign firms and will a tax be imposed on all international financial transactions and hedge funds?

And does he agree with the prime minister’s plan for a new national car, Proton 2.0?

Start the process to bring back elected local councils now

Will Anwar begin the process of bringing back elected local government councils right away and not use financial constraints as an excuse for not returning this democratic right to Malaysians?

Repeal all detention-without-trial laws

Will Anwar abolish the death penalty and impose a moratorium on all executions; rescind all laws that violate international human rights such as detention without trial as soon as possible?

Zero tolerance for corruption

Will Anwar make it mandatory for all public officials to declare all their assets, including those of their spouses and children? An asset declaration should cover the public official’s assets and income, the assets and income of their spouses and dependent children, from all homes, valuables and financial portfolios, as well as liabilities, such as debts and mortgages; all sources of income from directorships and investments to consulting contracts; gifts and any potential conflicts of interest such as unpaid employment contracts.

Will Anwar stop the dubious practice of appointing peoples’ representatives as directors of federal and state corporations and also ensure that any public official charged with corruption be obligated to step down while their case is pending in the courts?

A far-sighted and fair education policy

Will we see equal opportunities afforded to all without any racial discrimination with regard to enrolment into all schools including tertiary educational institutions?

Besides the provision of national schools using Bahasa Malaysia, mother tongue schools for the various ethnic groups should be built in education precincts, designed with shared facilities to promote integration, ensure proportionate financial support and train adequate numbers of teachers for these schools.

Will Anwar ensure the immediate recognition of the Malaysian independent Chinese secondary schools’ Unified Examination Certificate since it was promised in the PH manifesto before GE14?

Defend workers’ rights and interests

What is Anwar’s policy regarding the rights of all workers to unionise and a progressive guaranteed living wage for all workers, including foreign workers?

Will Anwar ensure a guaranteed minimum wage of RM1,500 as promised in the PH manifesto instead of the RM1,050 that the new PH government has just announced?

Prioritise orang asal rights

Will Anwar make it a priority that we put the rights and livelihood of the orang asal at the top of the national agenda by recognising their rights over the land they have been occupying for centuries, prohibiting logging in orang asal land and ensuring all orang asal villages have adequate social facilities and services?

Will he ensure that all policies and laws comply with the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, especially their right to customary land?

Will Anwar set up a Ministry for indigenous peoples to show his commitment to prioritising the rights and livelihood of the orang asal?

Sustainable development

Does Anwar subscribe to sustainable development by ensuring that all local people are consulted before any development projects, that all permanent forest and wildlife reserves remain gazetted and renewable energy projects do not destroy forests or orang asal land?

It is high time that all Malaysian rivers were cleaned up and sewerage from hotels and townships is properly recycled and not dumped into the sea such as in PD, once our favourite beach on the west coast. This requires municipal, state and national authorities’ coordination and political will.

Cleaning the beach is easy, making our waters great again requires more effort.

We therefore await Saudara Anwar’s “Port Dickson Declaration” to show us his vision for the nation that takes us beyond that of the prime minister.

Unless he does this, the so-called “PD Move” will be recorded in Malaysian history as a frivolous exercise to test the patience of taxpayers and voters.

Kua Kia Soong is adviser to Suaram.