your say 'The police, judiciary, the AG’s office, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and other civil services have all been bastardised.’

Not Confused: What a cynical ploy to try and win support from Chinese Malaysians by underhand methods such as this. Is there anyone in Malaysia (who is not directly benefiting in a big way from the NEP) who doesn’t know that the current NEP and its proposed successor are nothing like what was originally intended by the constitution and its architects?

Cala: CIMB chief Nazir Razak is not talking about anything new. When Dr Mahathir Mohamad decided to go big into business, what he cared most was the interest of his cronies, not the people. He appeared to be more concerned about holding on "to power and pursuing policies that essentially (were) good only for the privileged circle" (Wain, 2009, p. 346, para 3).

Indeed, the New Economic Policy has been given a new coat of paint (bastardised in Nazir Razak's more colourful words) by Mahathir.

Sarawakian:

Nazir, tell it to your brother. He's the PM and the only man who can make the necessary changes. And it's not only the economy that has been bastardised. The police, judiciary, the AG’s office, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and other civil services have all been bastardised - by Umno.

CheyTec: Nazir said this in front of a predominantly Chinese crowd in a MCA-backed event. Would he dare say it to an Umno crowd? As we can see from the recent media statements released by his big brother, the PM, they are trying to win back the Chinese votes, and I believe this is just another part of the strategy to do so.

I guess Apco is trying to earn its inflated contract paid by the Malaysian taxpayers with its concerted media strategy. Whether Nazir is good enough to be the CEO of CIMB is for another debate. He has indeed done very well so far.

Dingy: Speak this to the hostile Perkasa supporters, he'll be butchered.

Key Poh Ji: Hopefully the well-educated majority of Malays should have woken up after the political tsunami of March 8, 2008. The NEP is in fact not evil and bad intentioned, but it should have been implemented based on the social-economic policy of eradicating poverty. If so, Malaysia would be like present-day Singapore.

This CEO of CIMB is trying to please the Chinese. Would he dare to repeat the same speech in front of a bumiputera audience?

Tkc: To be sure, Nazir Razak has been quite consistent with regard to his opinion that the NEP needs reform. But the big question is whether his brother, Najib, has the political will to push through the reform - especially with Mahathir/Perkasa looking over his shoulders in addition to personal milestones around his neck.

Joe: What is Nazir Razak's point in telling a Chinese audience what he thinks about the NEP? The Chinese and the other non-bumiputera are victims of racial discrimination practised by the Umno government in the name of the NEP.

Nazir should address and direct his rebuke at the Umno government and at Umnoputras and the Malay conservative wing. They are the ones who are responsible for mutilating the NEP and for poisoning race relations and causing communal polarisation. They are the people who have selfishly taken advantage of the poor Malays to enrich themselves, their families and their cronies. They are the ones who deserve to be chastised for their opportunism, racism and injustice.

What Nazir said is nothing we don't know. The Umno government has made an utter mess of our political economy. I'd like Nazir to be up front and tell us what he thinks the government ought to do to correct the NEP distortions and deviations, and stop the abuses.

Merchant Banker: What is your brother, the PM, going to do about it? I guess both of you are fans of the Myers-Briggs behavioural theory (I learnt that from Harvard Business School) where you re-orientate your behaviour according to the situation: what your audience wants to hear.

Or has the family (the Razak brothers) decided that what you said will be the direction which the PM must go in order to avoid being demolished by Pakatan in the next GE?

Swipenter: Everyone knows about the bastardisation of the NEP and how it has morphed into a tool of racial discrimination and a means to enrich a few Umnoputras and non-Malay crony families.

Despite all the promises of reforms, we haven’t been able to move beyond words in creating an equal society based on needs rather than on race. Why? It is because of vested interests. Look at how Najib’s legs shake when Perkasa shouts. He also has no guts to discipline the right-wing Umnoputras. This is despite knowing how the NEP and the policies that come from it is killing the country slowly, and not so slowly nowadays.

NEP is the root cause of corruption, cronyism, nepotism and institutionalised racism in our country. That is why we need to start afresh and chuck everything out, including the kitchen sink. Umno/BN has failed the country and its people despite building a physically modern and progressive facade. Beneath its thin veneer, the whole country is rotten to the core.

The Malaysian: There are many poor Malays, Indians, Chinese, Orang Asli and others in our society who need help. Until we see real action, words do not move us, the ordinary folks who make up the ‘masyarakat’ of 1Malaysia.

Talk is cheap, it costs the CIMB CEO nothing, only his time. We want people like you and your brother to start showing some leadership, integrity and credibility. Otherwise, ‘masyarakat’ Malaysia is doomed.

The world has already judged us, as seen in the 81 percent drop in FDI last year.

KSN: This comment by Nazir is the truth. But he did not say who "bastardised" NEP's main objectives of eradicating poverty without regard to race and religion. A few cronies and family members were enriched by the NEP by leaving the poor from all communities poorer.

That being the case, why are some Malays, including Umno ministers, supporting Perkasa and its chief patron? Why are the Malay masses taking these abuses of our national resources silently? NEP discriminated within communities and among communities.

Patriot: Action speaks louder than words. Please do not just deliver speeches to please a certain target group that controls the SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), a vital stream of commerce and industry. Bring about change and support the NEM in its original form so that everyone benefits for the good of the country.

Let us not harbour feelings of losing out, or losing face, or losing control. Nonetheless, it was a bold speech.

Wong Chee Kong: The government may be in all sincerity wanting to implement the changes as stated in all these oral deliveries. But the actions that follow do not give much confidence to the people that they are said in sincerity.

In fact, most received such talks as part and parcel of a public relations exercise. Having been bitten over and over and over again all these years, it's not easy for the community that they are addressing not to be shy.

Anonymous: Congratulations to Nazir Razak for his hard-hitting speech. Yes, you are absolutely right, Nazir. In practically every sphere of Malaysian life, the NEP has been "bastardised". Only the rich and well-connected Malays have benefited under the pretext of NEP.

What about the poor Malays, as well as Sabahans and Sarawakians? Have they benefited in any way other than the ‘amanah saham’ (unit trust funds), which has been used as a sweetener to assuage the majority of the Malays? Hence NEM is the answer.

Of course, those who have benefited and continue to benefit from NEP would like NEP to continue. No wonder rent-seekers are aplenty, vying for contracts. And when they are not given, they vent their anger against the government, be it BN or Pakatan Rakyat. They simply cannot stomach that they have to compete with others.

Not Confused: I wonder if Ibrahim Ali will now come out and threaten Nazir for "playing with fire", confusing the rakyat and insulting the Agong.

Soapbox: Nazir, would you be CEO of CIMB if the system was not bastardised?

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