For a society to be prosperous as a whole, there has to be stability, and stability only comes when people see a better life ahead and a reduction in poverty. This is especially true when poverty is associated with a racial or religious group or country (for example, the US).

The roots of our success as a nation lie in our political stability. While this should not come at the expense of democracy, transparency and freedom of expression, it should certainly have as its goal, the alleviation of poverty.

The fundamental and admirable goal of the NEP was the alleviation of poverty associated with the redistribution of wealth. Most socially liberal people like myself have always leaned in favour of redistribution of wealth.

The NEP should be true to its goal and focus specifically on addressing issues such as poverty in rural areas and unemployed graduates rather than shoring up struggling, uncompetitive and poorly-run businesses.

I have met very few people indeed that really object to the NEP being used to help lift the very poor from the kampungs out of poverty and into modern society. However, most people I know object to the NEP as a vehicle for the already well-off to get even richer.

Little is gained from that in terms of securing an ethnically and politically stable nation.