18.9% or 45%: Let’s move on
Friday, October 13th, 2006 | 7:44 am @ SK
Whether it’s a 18.9% as stated in the Government statistics or 45% as stated in the report on bumiputra corporate equity published by ASLI’s Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS), the resignation of its director Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, according to Penang state executive councillor Dr. Toh Kin Won, is a very refreshing departure from the cultural of compliance, or in another word, "ya-betul" phenomenon.
"His resignation was due to the unprincipled position taken by Asli president Datuk Mirzan Mahathir that the study done by CPPS was based on so-called ‘faulty assumption’ and hence its conclusions ‘faulty’ as well."Dr Lim disagreed and stood by his methodology. Being the honest scientist that he is, he took the honourable way of resigning, rather than meekly comply with the views of his president.
"His stand is a very refreshing departure from the culture of compliance and subservience that the ruling elites in our country attempt to cultivate,"
However, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak hopes the people will accept the Government’s official figure of 18.9 percent as not to cause public discontent which could hurt the feelings of certain races(?).
Meanwhile, ASLI’s president Mirzan Mahathir was reported as saying that it’s he and his colleague decision to back down on the report, without any intervention/pressure from anyone(?). He also agreed the resignation of Dr. Lim based on principle.
The reality is, let’s grow up and not to kid ourselves and face the brutal reality. How long the Umno is going to exploit the usage of NEP to enrich their cronies/politicians and let alone the poor Malay to become poorer?
Instead of calling the 45% figure of the equity participation of the Malay as rubbish(?), instead of anger, we Malaysians should rejoice over the achievement, which means we have much more wealthy Malays now.
Why can’t we just move on from here and help those who are poor and marginalised regardless of race rather than squabbling over who got the figures right?
Certainly, while I can’t see any visionaries out there, I saw monkeys everywhere, harping on those least opportunities they have to be perceived or to be seen as the hero, albeit a racial one.
We’re screwed.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:46 am
Dr.Lim is a great man who stood by his guns against the govenrment
equity policy. As a wise and intelectual scientist he resignation is the greatest lost to the nation and country. But never the less only from his resignation only can we know how serious is asli’s results and research. He did not commit or nor have any faulty consumption. The only fault he ever did was present his ingenius research to our very own government.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:01 am
indeed, we’re screwed!
October 13th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
We’re truly screwed!
The question I pose to my non-bumi friends are: If the boat is sinking, do you bail water, or do you bail out?
I’m bailing out. Malaysian politicians are like the big bullies in the kindergarden. They won’t listen to reason and they want your ice-cream.
October 13th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Here is the hero. Dr Lim Teck Ghee.
This is a testimony of Dr. Lim Teck Ghee when he earned his Ph.D on his study on Malay poverty. This is not a man indifferent or insensitive to the poor Malays.
His 2 researches:
( 1 ) Origins of a Colonial Economy: Land and Agriculture in Perak 1874-1897 (Penang, 1976), and
( 2 ) Peasants and Their Agricultural Economy in Colonial Malaya 1894-1941 (Kuala Lumpur, 1977).
There is a tribute for his winning the Harry J. Benda Prize in Southeast Asian Studies, 1979, when he was Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Policy Research of Universiti Sains Malaysia. It reads:
His scholarship is informed by a deep sensitivity to the problems of rural society in a rapidly changing world, and tempered by the rigors of social science. His work demonstrates an admirable ability to balance fact and interpretation, and an objectivity that resists transforming human beings into statistics and data.
In an October 4 interview with theSun, Dr Lim gave his observation — as a non-partisan scholar — why the poor Malays continue to be poor. Quote:
"There are many poor Malays and they continue to be poor. And we should prioritise this issue but continuing with the system of corporate equity distribution doesn’t help the poor Malays. Giving places in the elite schools, scholarships to middle-class and upper-class, the children of middle-class and upper-class Malays who have benefited from the NEP does not help the poor Malays.
So, what the centre (for Public Policy Studies) is advocating, and we’re not the only ones, is that we need to change our strategy of development which is race-based to one which is race-neutral and more class-based."
On my take …
Let us seek transparency. We will never know how big the Bumiputra equity is unless the authorities adopt a transparent policy by revealling its methodology, and define and quantify the Bumputra equity ownership in the GLCs, statutory bodies like Tabung Haji and MARA. Now is the right opportunity to seek for transparency while the window of opportunity is open.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
18%, 45% and counting…
By 100%, we’ll no longer be here, alive or otherwise.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
It saddens me that someone like yourself is asking why we cannot move away from racial politics. The fact of the matter is the UMNO would die without the NEP. In order to end racial politics, UMNO must voted out first. There is no other way.
From independence until May 13, 1969, UMNO actually was losing support among the Malay. NEP reversed that trend. Its losing support is why ultra in UMNO was so willing to cause the riot of May 13, 1969. The NEP was never ratified by Parliament and part of the rational for removing the independence of the judiary is so that constitutionality of the unlimited term of the NEP is never challenged.
36 years after May 13, 1969, UMNO still have nothing to offer without the NEP. Why? Because of its patronage political system and the increase in money politics makes it even more impossible.
No, to end the NEP, UMNO must be removed and no other way about it. So the truth is the only way to end the NEP is to have an alternative Malay party which there is none yet.
October 14th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
I strongly disagree with you here, SK. You can’t just move on/ignore important statistics like that. This is not just a ‘how many % of woman like athletic guys’ research. The figures from the studies should be used by the government to determine what the problem is or whether the problem is solved, else there is no point doing the study/research at all.
If the BN government agrees that it has reached 45% which means they have successfully implemented the NEP then they can move on to other issues such as progressing towards Wawasan 2020.
If the BN government insists that it is still 18.9% which means they still need to spend more efforts to implement the NEP then they should take more actions to tackle the problem, for example increasing income tax for non-bumiputera to 30% or make it compulsory 30% bumiputera shares even for sdn. bhd.
if you don’t agree with the BN government, you should vote wisely in the next GE.
October 16th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
I agree with Steve.
By now, I believe that all economic academics worth their salt favors ASLI’s 45% rather than the gomen18.9% because some of the gomen’s justification are ludicrous (the most prominent one being to judge a company’s worth based on its par value instead of its market capitalization).
I do not deny that certain segments of the bumis are poor. The most obscene example being police personnel that are living below poverty line in the Klang Valley. If the gomen is so keen on eradicating poverty, there should be a revision of the NEP to include other measuring parameters to gauge wealth distribution. In the entire debate of the 9th Malaysian plan, the ASLI report and the NEP, never once was the Gini Coefficient (to measure wealth distribution) mentioned. The gomen’s reluctance to openly debate, much less revise, the NEP suggests that the gomen has some ulterior sinister motive.
I can’t find any intra-race Gini coefficient on the internet, but according to http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/1715.cfm, Malaysia has one of the highest Gini coefficient in the region: (lower values signifies more equitable distribution)
Malaysia - 0.49
Indonesia - 0.32
Thailand - 0.41
Phillipines - 0.46
Vietnam - 0.36
Laos - 0.37
Singapore - ?
There are numerous studies correlating crime rates to the inequitable distribution of wealth. Are we surprised then when a policeman was caught recently to have been a snatch thief after working hours?
We need leaders with clear vision and no conflicting policies. Vote wisely.
October 16th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
I forgot to add:
China, with its seemingly unstoppable 10+% GDP annual growth rate, has a Gini coefficient of 0.465 in 2004 (http://en.ce.cn/Insight/200509/13/t20050913_4669147.shtml). China is already actively talking about policies and methods to narrow the rich-poor divide (check out China’s 5 year plan 2006-2010). Do our leaders and the rakyats have the foresight to acknowledge the adverse effect of a severely polarized society and carry out changes to address these issues?
Vote wisely.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
[…] Be it 18.9% or 45%, here comes something refreshing. […]
March 16th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Syabas Commander-in-chief! You are another person on the list of honest, progressive, and brave malaysians. Let this breed of people increase and Malaysia will be managed with greater sincerity for the welfare of its people irrespective of skin color and descent. No one should make excuses for government lies and deceit. This is not the kind of government we want. When the NEP was first established, the great divide in racial wealth distribution necessitated it. There is good practical reason. Wealth disparity between races can ruin any nation. But if that problem is already solved, its continuance has origins in sin - GREED. Consequence? Racial discontent will rear its ugly head again, AND worse, the high intra-race disparity will ruin the malay race all by itself, like what happened to greedy rich chinese in pre-communist china before. A race divided in itself cannot stand. Why don’t we learn from history that always repeats? It will be nobody’s fault but the race itself if rich malays continue being GREEDY and not narrowing the divide between rich malays and poor malays. Wawasan 2020 - help the poor irrespective of race - should be on its way now before good people vote against the government to give a chance for fairplay. Maybe BN has been around too long and should leave the dinner table, as they are gobbling up all our food. When politicians become arrogant - the country suffers - they think people who are not holding cabinet positions are stupid. And if they hide behind smokescreen, no one will know the truth. Truth is like a plant that will always grow towards the light. We need wise and humble politicians in our government. There are so few of them. Most ministers act like royalty when they are supposed to serve the people. There was even an education minister who upon being questioned why some government school equipment and building were faulty, said something like: The government is the "tuan rumah" of the faulty building and nobody has the right to question what the "tuan rumah" did with his own house. Something to that effect. How could this man rise to a position of Minister I don’t know. Doesn’t he understand that all government’s money belongs to the Rakyat and not by the government? The Rakyat vote for the government we want to handle our money fairly and correctly, with transparency! If the goverment now thinks it is "tuan rumah" we’ll be back in Monarchy days and we won’t be a democratic country . Then it is time to change government! Democracy is government by the people, for the people. Sad to observe that most of our cabinet Ministers are shallow judged by their arrogant and silly speeches, talking down to the Rakyat. Well, pride comes before a fall. Ask the French. Really hope things will change - a change in cabinet ministers’ attitude would be a good start.
Nor Itminan
July 21st, 2007 at 1:12 am
[…] Malays have not responded to the efforts made by the government and because of that, the disparity remains,” said Mahathir. […]