Wednesday, October 04, 2006
My observations about the NEP banter
Of late, more and more Malaysians have been talking about the National Economy Policy. The NEP impacts all spheres of Malaysian life and it is only right that all Malaysians who pay their fair share of taxes and has a stake in this country, be able to discuss the for-and-against argument for the continuation of this policy in a rational and sober manner. I do not wish to dwell on my thoughts about the tenability of the NEP this time but for the record, I believe it is time for Malaysia to seriously study the long-term impact this policy is having on her people. The government continues to insist that the NEP will remain in force until 2020 without effectively rebutting the increasingly well-thought out calls for the policy to be re-examined in light of the fast changing domestic and external environment.
The non-Malay critics of the NEP can easily be dismissed and ignored by UMNO by resorting to the excuse that Malays need to be protected and nurtured in isolation. Never mind that this argument is increasingly at odds with real life which projects a Darwinian world view where the fittest will survive.
But of late, interestingly enough, opponents of the way NEP is implemented are popping up within the Malay domain. Former UMNO strongman Anwar Ibrahim has slammed the way the NEP is being used to enrich the top end of UMNO leaders at the expense of the correcting the income imbalance amongst the Malays themselves. Recent developments hint that the wealth gap within the Malay community has widened considerably in recent years and compares unfavourably with the same divide within the non-Malay communities. Is the NEP a factor that gave birth to this unsavoury development? Another former captain of industry Datuk Khalid Ibrahim who is not an UMNO member, has warned that the continuation of the NEP in its current form, could jeopardize the long-term economic survival of Malays. Another non-governmental organization which purportedly looks after Malay interests called TERAS has also raised the issue of a substantial number of Malays in the country still living precariously amidst a fine balance between poverty and just making do. It is plausible that these parties are stating their views on this matter primarily because they detect a groundswell of dissatisfaction in their community.
What is interesting is that UMNO is no longer seen as the de-facto voice of the Malays, and this makes it harder for it to keep defending the NEP in its current form. This proclamation has already been weakened by the rise of PAS which has been gaining in political strength. Add to this equation, a rising class of Malay professionals enveloped with a world view not limited to our borders, which sees UMNO as a party of privileges and patronage, and you get an environment that is seeing the birth of diverse opinions within the Malays on the ground. It would seem that a de-linking of UMNO being synonymous with the Malay mood is slowly taking place. ¶ 1:36 PM
The non-Malay critics of the NEP can easily be dismissed and ignored by UMNO by resorting to the excuse that Malays need to be protected and nurtured in isolation. Never mind that this argument is increasingly at odds with real life which projects a Darwinian world view where the fittest will survive.
But of late, interestingly enough, opponents of the way NEP is implemented are popping up within the Malay domain. Former UMNO strongman Anwar Ibrahim has slammed the way the NEP is being used to enrich the top end of UMNO leaders at the expense of the correcting the income imbalance amongst the Malays themselves. Recent developments hint that the wealth gap within the Malay community has widened considerably in recent years and compares unfavourably with the same divide within the non-Malay communities. Is the NEP a factor that gave birth to this unsavoury development? Another former captain of industry Datuk Khalid Ibrahim who is not an UMNO member, has warned that the continuation of the NEP in its current form, could jeopardize the long-term economic survival of Malays. Another non-governmental organization which purportedly looks after Malay interests called TERAS has also raised the issue of a substantial number of Malays in the country still living precariously amidst a fine balance between poverty and just making do. It is plausible that these parties are stating their views on this matter primarily because they detect a groundswell of dissatisfaction in their community.
What is interesting is that UMNO is no longer seen as the de-facto voice of the Malays, and this makes it harder for it to keep defending the NEP in its current form. This proclamation has already been weakened by the rise of PAS which has been gaining in political strength. Add to this equation, a rising class of Malay professionals enveloped with a world view not limited to our borders, which sees UMNO as a party of privileges and patronage, and you get an environment that is seeing the birth of diverse opinions within the Malays on the ground. It would seem that a de-linking of UMNO being synonymous with the Malay mood is slowly taking place. ¶ 1:36 PM
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You're right - in this land Malay issues are best tackled by Malays themselves. but do you think there is a difference between the rhetoric of PAS and those of a more liberal economic bent?
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