A Malaysian Economic Agenda for Penang
Din Merican, March 12, 2008
When the new Chief Minister of Penang, Sdr. Lim Guan Eng, said that the NEP/DEB has “ended” in Penang, his statement hit the front page of UMNO’s Bahasa Malaysia mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia (March 12, 2008), thereby giving room for UMNO nationalists to launch a vicious attack against the new coalition government.
The Utusan failed to highlight the reality that under Gerakan-UMNO rule for a number of decades, the Malays have been marginalized and remain poor and, except for parts of Balik Pulau, they no longer have land that they can call their own on the island itself. From a society with land, the Malays have been confined to pigeon hole type public flats. In short, the NEP/DEB ended in Penang a long time ago when UMNO failed the Penang Malays.
The NEP/DEB is an affirmative action policy which was introduced in 1970 to eradicate poverty and restructure the economy. Over the years, the UMNO-led BN government used this policy to create an entrenched system of political patronage which benefits a small section of the UMNO connected bumiputra community. It also led to the creation of an “ersatz Malay capitalism” based on patronage, cronyism and nepotism.
KeADILan’s position on the NEP/DEB is clearly stated in our manifesto (KeADILan Manifesto, 2008: A New Dawn for Malaysia): “…the National Economic Policy must be replaced with an economic agenda that seeks to assist and affirm all poor Malaysians, regardless of their race. In this way, in stead of rich elites abusing existing policies to make themselves even richer, Malays who make up the majority of Malaysia’s poor will be fully assisted along side with poor Orang Asli and Orang Asal, Ibans, Kadazan-Dusuns, Indians, Chinese, and so on.
…Affirmative action based on race such as espoused by the New Economic Policy, has been shown to be too vulnerable to abuse and a poor reflection of the reality facing all Malaysians. There are rich Malays, and poor Malays, rich Chinese and poor Chinese, rich Indians and poor Indians and so on”.
Our Economic Agenda’s central principle is that “the right opportunities must be made available to every single Malaysian—opportunities to learn, opportunities to make an honest living, and opportunities to achieve our dreams”. We will defend Article 153 and also the rights of all Malaysians as guaranteed under our constitution.
For the Utusan to play the racial card at this juncture after the severe loss incurred by the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional in the March 8 General Elections is indeed irresponsible and mischievous.—Din Merican
