THE CICAK.com

PART V: The unheard story behind the New Economic Policy

In Part Five of our special six-part series, TAN SRI RAMON V. NAVARATNAM ponders the state of national unity and takes a careful look at why Malaysian society is becoming increasingly polarised. He also takes a stab at determining some ways we might be able to put our country back on track towards a true “Bangsa Malaysia.”

Root causes of polarisation

1. The decline in national unity is partly due to the lack of appreciation of the so-called social contract by all ethnic groups, both the Bumiputeras and the non-Bumiputeras.

2. There is some indifference or lack of understanding of the social contract because it has not been clearly spelled out, and it thus means different things to different ethnic groups.
Furthermore, some feel the Bumiputeras’ special privileges have been considerably abused since the NEP was introduced in 1970, at the expense of non-Malay taxpayers. The auditor-general has also reported that there has been a great deal of wastage of public funds.

3. Most non-Malays and even some Malays think the era of special privileges is long past, since it was originally envisaged for only 15 years in the Reid Commission report which formed the basis for the present federal constitution.

4. The social contract is seen by many to be outdated and somewhat irrelevant and inconsistent with the new era of international competition and globalisation.

5. As Gerakan Party President Dato’ Seri Lim Keng Yaik commented on the prime minister’s UMNO assembly debate in 2005: “If (some Bumiputeras) keep failing to achieve the quota and then ask for more, it will go on and on. We must analyse why the Bumiputera target (30 percent equity) has not been achieved.�

6. Tuan Haji Kutubul Zaman Bukhari, former President of the Bar Council, clearly pointed out in his paper to the National Unity Advisory Panel the following points:

“However, these Malay privileges are not absolute but balanced by legitimate interests of other communities as well. This is clear by the words used in Article 153 (1) which states that the Yang DiPertuan Agong shall safeguard the legitimate interests of other communities as well.

“Legitimate interests encompass legitimate stake, legitimate rights and legitimate expectations. As a citizen of a country, everyone is equal before the law and it is a legitimate expectation that every citizen must be equally treated.

“Hence, I am of the view that policies can be formulated to cover the legitimate interests of other communities as well, just as how the Government has formulated policies to provide for the special rights of the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak. In the circumstances, I am of the opinion that Article 153 per se is not discriminatory and hence does not affect national unity.�

But non-Bumiputeras, while accepting the need for Article 153, generally feel that this important article of the constitution has not been fairly implemented. Non-Bumiputeras generally believe that the “legitimate interests of the other communities� - i.e. the non-Bumiputeras and the natives and aborigines of Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsula Malaysia -have not been fairly and properly addressed.

Recommendations for national unity

What major measures can be adopted to move more purposefully towards building national unity and integration? I would submit the following recommendations for consideration, improvement, supplementation and adoption.

1. National integration between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak can be improved by giving much higher priority to developing the two eastern states. Specific measures can be adopted to reduce the inordinately high incidence of poverty in those states and to provide more basic infrastructure for development.

2. The lowest 30 percent of ALL Malaysians should be given greater priority to reduce their poverty and to improve their quality of life. This could be achieved by enhancing their access to basic human needs such as health, education, water, electricity, transport, and housing. We could call this emphasis the Human Rights or Basic Needs Approach.

3. The special privileges given to Bumiputeras in education as well as business licences, contracts, permits, etc. should be allocated to the most deserving and capable Bumiputeras.

4. The Chinese and Tamil languages could be offered in all national schools on a compulsory basis. This would reduce the polarisation we now see amongst Malaysian school children of all races. If the mother tongue languages continue to be offered as optional subjects, teaching professionals who are mainly Malays tend to be indifferent toward organising the teaching of Chinese and Tamil in national schools.

5. At the same time, more development funds could be provided to primary vernacular schools to reduce the sense of alienation and marginalisation that parents and students of such schools now feel.

On balance, the national school system and national unity will gradually strengthen, particularly at the secondary school level, where the dropout rates will also decline.

6. The present modified meritocracy system can be improved to give more priority to the disadvantaged students from the kampung, new villages and estates, the remote rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak, and the urban poor, to give them more weight for admission into institutions of higher learning.

Thus admission to public universities and colleges could be generally related to the racial composition in the country. Similarly, private universities and colleges which are mainly attended by Chinese students can become more multiracial if the government provides more scholarships to poor, bright Bumiputera students and even poor Chinese and Indians who would otherwise not be able to attend these more expensive private colleges and universities.

The underprivileged among the smaller minority communities, such as the orang asli, the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak, and even the Indians from the estates and the urban poor, need more focused attention to enhance their welfare and advancement in the interests of national unity.

7. The civil service staff could be made more multiracial to remove the present overwhelming dominance of Malays in public service. The assertion by some quarters that non-Malays do not want to join the public service does not hold water as there are large numbers of non-Malays who are unemployed.

Independent public service commissions could ensure that some form of quota system is used to recruit more non-Malays into the public service - including the police and the armed forces - to look after the legitimate interests of non-Malays.

8. There should be a high priority placed on restructuring the public sector and government-linked companies (GLCs) for an ethnically representative public service. This can play an important role in competitiveness, good governance, and in promoting national unity.

9. Similar proactive measures can be taken to increase the recruitment and retention of Bumiputeras in the private sector. Private companies can be provided with tax incentives to recruit more Bumiputera candidates. The government’s part is then to discourage Bumiputera graduates from wanting to work mainly among Malay-dominated organisations like GLCs.

The awarding of contracts to non-Bumiputeras can be made conditional on their recruitment of qualified Bumiputera candidates who are prepared to compete with others and to work hard. Government-selected Bumiputera candidates who are prepared to work in Chinese, Indian, or multinational companies should be given short courses in business principles and business values to orientate them in working diligently with other races in business. The perception that Bumiputeras are generally averse to going into personal business, as opposed to corporate business, must also be changed rapidly.

It is also necessary to ascertain why most Bumiputera businessmen fail to expand from small- and medium- businesses to big businesses without the support of continual government assistance and aid. Is it because they are not well-trained, are culturally unprepared, and come from agricultural backgrounds which are not suited to business values? Or is it because there is a tendency to avoid risk which is essential in doing business?

10. The government has to introduce full and unmodified meritocracy, once the Bumiputeras are academically and technically qualified and do not therefore need protection or “crutches� against international competition in a globalised world.

11. The 30 percent equity issue could be de-emphasised, since the strategic heights of the economy such as banking, insurance, the many large GLCs, ports, airports and huge privatised projects involving PLUS, Telekom, Tenaga, etc. are all under Malay ownership and control. So the question that is often asked now, especially by many non-Malays is: What more is required by the Bumiputera or Malay community and for how long more do they want to be protected?

12. The 30 percent equity issue should be applied to mainly strategic industries such as water, energy, and telecommunications. Otherwise, local and foreign investors will have to look to other countries where there are no such ownership restrictions to invest and to conduct business.

13. There is a growing problem of “credibility� and even a lack of “confidence� in official statistics. This is because of the inadequate public access to official data and poor transparency in the methodology and coverage of government statistics. The Statistics Department should therefore be made a statutory body which will be more independent, transparent and dependable.

14. It is vital to increase confidence in the country’s future; any loss of confidence by the private sector will cause the Malaysian economy to slow down and then there will be less to distribute from slower economic growth! National unity and integration today, by most accounts, has not improved and may even have declined over the years since the New Economic Policy was introduced in 1970. Indeed, many would argue that polarisation among the major races has increased since 1970 although the NEP has brought with it peace and stability.

15. A National Unity Index is necessary. One way to find out the real state of national unity and integration, and to investigate this perception of growing polarisation, would be to introduce national ethnic surveys to develop a National Unity Index. This index could be reviewed on a periodic basis and included in future national five-year plans.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of this essay…
–

Tan Sri Navaratnam was directly involved in the formulation of many major public policies during his distinguished career in the civil service, from the New Economic Policy in 1970 to the preparation of annual budgets and economic plans. He retired from the government in 1989.

Since then he has continued to serve in the National Economic Consultative Council and the National Economic Action Council working groups, as well as other non-governmental agencies like Transparency International Malaysia, of which he is president.

The articles he shares with theCICAK are from his latest book, Quo Vadis: Where to, Malaysia?. The book addresses these hard issues and provides solutions for the challenging management of our nation. Click here to learn more about him, and Where to, Malaysia?

He is on the judging panel for theCICAK’s “Write It!” Competition 2006.