The reason for GLCs

We now know that the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is not just about health, it is more about the economy. More people will die because they have no money than those who will die because of the virus. So forgive me if we Malays defend the GLCs from the thieving hands of DAP and rakan-rakan yang sewaktu dengan mereka.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I have noticed a hot debate about the issue of GLCs and regarding politicians or wakil rakyat heading GLCs (or asking to head GLCs).

This is like discussing the colour of the dog collar instead of discussing the subject of cruelty to dogs, the more important matter.

Anyway, without going into a panjang-lebar thesis, let me very briefly touch on why GLCS were set up in the first place as trust agencies for the Malays.

Around the time of Merdeka, 70% of the nation’s wealth was owned by the foreigners and 30% by the Chinese (with a bit owned by the Indians). Malays just owned the land they worked on plus the cows, goats and chickens (with some owning sampans for fishing).

Ten years after Merdeka, the Chinese owned about 40% while the Malays owned just 1% (with the foreigners still owning the lion’s share).

And that was why the Malays were unhappy…hence May 13.

That was when the government decided to correct the imbalance by launching the New Economic Policy or NEP.

Ku Li declined to become the deputy prime minister in 1976 to concentrate on strategising the Bumiputera economic policy

But the NEP would only be able to increase the Malay share of the economic pie slightly. And that was proven 20 years later in 1990 when the Malay share increased to 3% (from 1%) while the Chinese share doubled to 60% (from 30%).

The clowns say that is not too bad. The Chinese share only doubled from 30% to 60% while the Malay share tripled from 1% to 3%.

The NEP target, however, was for the Malays to increase their share of the economic pie to 30%. So 3% was only 10% of 30%. Hence how to touch the 30% target?

That was the reason why the GLCs were set up (as trust agencies for the Malays). If including the GLCs, the Malay share of the economic pie would now be 20% instead of 3% (although lower than the 30% target).

So the government proudly claimed that the Malay share of the economic pie is now 20%, a bit short of the 30% target. Then Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ghafar Baba let the cat out of the bag or spilled the beans. He confessed that the Malay share is only 3% and not 20%. That 20% figure, which the government had been peddling, actually includes the wealth owned by the GLCs.

So for 20 years the government had been lying to us. They included what was owned by the GLCs as “Malay wealth”. So the 20% figure was a lie. It was actually only 3%.

Hence, to be able to claim that GLCs translate to Malays, the government had to make sure that the the GLCs were managed or headed by Malays, even if the Malays may not be as good as the Chinese in running businesses. If the government appointed the cleverer Chinese to manage or head the GLCs, then they can no longer claim that GLCs translate to Malays.

It was not just a con job. It was to keep the Malays happy so that May 13 Version 2 will not erupt. Let the Malays believe that they owned 20% of the economic pie and that the GLCs are Malay.

Tun Razak Hussein and Tun Hussein Onn masterminded Felda, Pernas, SEDCs, and many other GLCs as trust agencies for the Malays

A second reason is, many Malays — sons and daughters of farmers, fishermen and Felda settlers — were being sent to university. But after they graduate, how many would be able to get employment in foreign owned multinationals or Chinese owned companies? Most companies (even some Malay companies) prefer to employ Chinese and Indians.

So the GLCs would serve as a means to employ Malay graduates. And, in many instances, the capabilities of these Malay graduates are lower than those of the non-Malays, if you know what I mean.

So the good graduates get onto the “private” job market while the lesser ones get into the government or GLCs.

That is why Malaysia’s civil service is 1.6 million-strong while the GLCs are “bloated”.

Five million Malays have been educated under the NEP and after they graduate where to sumbat them if not the GLCs?

What if the government does not absorb these Malay graduates? Well, then you are going to have one or two million unemployed Malay graduates who balik kampung and become anti-government and join PAS and will bring down Umno and Barisan Nasional (back in 1970, not 48 years later in 2018).

So, Malays are very jealous and protective of GLCs, especially the politicians and wakil rakyat. GLCs are supposed to be Malay. That’s what the government has been telling the Malays for the last 50 or 60 years. And in the 22 months that the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan has been in charge, the raped and pillaged the GLCs.

Hence the Malays now want to make sure the GLCs never again fall into the hands of the Chinese. No, this is not racism. This is survival, survival of the Malay race.

We now know that the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is not just about health, it is more about the economy. More people will die because they have no money than those who will die because of the virus. So forgive me if we Malays defend the GLCs from the thieving hands of DAP and rakan-rakan yang sewaktu dengan mereka.