At the state level and in Sarawak, the image of power sharing projected by mere physical presence of the various ethnic communities in the state cabinet is not reflected at the lower level of government such as in the state civil services, state statutory bodies, state-owned or controlled corporations and local authorities. They tend to be dominated by one ethnic /cultural group from the main component of the state ruling coalition.

For example, how many Ibans, Bidayuh, or Orang Ulu have been given the opportunities to head state government ministries, government departments, state statutory bodies and local authorities.

Sometimes, even a local authority that havs more Iban residents is led by an appointee from another community. In such a case, how can that particular person be 'sensitive' enough to the needs, aspirations and problems facing the other communities?

I have argued elsewhere, that the state of the economic development of ethnic minorities is closely tied to a number of factors, namely, their relationship to the centre of power, the state of their political unity, and the willingness and sincerity of the political leadership of the day to bring them into the mainstream of national development.

The case for which I argued extensively was the lack of development among the Dayak minority despite their substantial number in Sarawak. For example, the majority of the Ibans are still trapped in low-return agricultural activities, low-paying jobs, and lack access to education and business opportunities.

No follow through

The terms for distributing the benefits of economic growth, in order to restructure the Malaysian society, have been clearly spelt out by the NEP. If only its implementators followed through with the mechanism, the least that would have happened is that some form of economic benefits would surely have trickled down to the Ibans as well as other ethnic minorities.

The fact that the non-Malay ethnic minorities are also classified as bumiputera does not elevate them to a special status, unlike the Muslim-Malay bumiputera who enjoy special consideration in many aspects dealing with various facets of development, including access to education, scholarship, business and other opportunities made available during the period 1970-1990, when the Malaysian economic development experienced an unprecedented growth rate.

As a direct result of the NEP, many opportunities in government and businesses have been expanded and many 'newly rich' have emerged, but how many are from the communities such as the Dayak Iban, Dayak Bidayuh, Dayak Orang Ulu, Bajau, Murut, Orang Sungei, etc?

How many of these ethnic minorities sit as chief executive officers in large government-owned or controlled corporations and as heads of federal and state statutory bodies in comparison to others?

The government started on the right path with the introduction of the NEP, but it did not follow through in its implementation. This has resulted in the alienation and peripheralisation of many ethnic communities.

Playing politics

Therefore, although the initial goal of national integration may have been, to some extent, achieved in a limited way because there have been some interactions between the various ethnic communities in many situations and contexts, but whether that has led to the emergence of a Malaysian identity at the same time is very much doubtful.

The Malaysian identity cannot be forced out by any policy, but must flow from the hearts. Subscription to the Malaysian identity is more than just that. It must involve believing in and identifying with these characteristics.

The choice of consensual politics is not only consistent with the basic tenet of democracy, but extremely appropriate for a multi-ethnic and plural societies such as Malaysia. However, involving any particular group of ethnic minority in governance must be done with sincerity and not for the sake of image-building.

All ethnic groups may not be able to be brought into the highest level of governance - that is into the cabinet - but there are other lower levels of political appointments that can fulfill the same aim.

Very frequently, the objective of integrating ethnic minorities in all levels of government and in development is hampered because one or the combination of the following factors: (1) top government managers simply do not understand their roles and functions; (2) they went out of their way to reinterpret what they should have simply carried out; (3) their sentiment affects their better judgement; and (4) they play too much politics.

Sometimes, it is often easy to lay the blame for underdevelopment and the exclusion of one or more ethnic minorities on the political leadership. It is too convenient to blame 'the government' for Dayak socio-economic problem and exclusion from the mainstream development. But precisely which government at what level and which individuals from what agencies are responsible?

For example, the Dayaks have never being excluded from the state coalition, but their voices of discontent are heard from time to time - at times, these have been expressed even by former Dayak members of the federal and state cabinets who hurled various accusations against the state leadership. Who is at fault? Certainly the government! But which one? The federal? The state? The petty bureaucrats?

No guidelines

The objective of the NEP is clear. The target group is also precise. But as far as can be remembered, there has been no effort made to define how the Kadazandusun, Murut, Bajau, Dayak Iban, Dayak Bidayuh and Dayak Orang Ulu feature in the 30 percent NEP target.

In the absence of any guideline, it is too easy to leave out one or more ethnic group by allocating the bumiputera share of the economic pie to only one or two ehtnic minorities within the bumiputera category.

In line with the new government's promotion of a new culture of transparency and public accountability, it is timely that the state leadership take the initiative to table the state of economic development in Sarawak and in Sabah, specifically relating to how the various ethnic groups have progressed during the 1971-1990 period as a basis to help achieve a more ethnically equitable development.

It is clear that many ethnic minorities have not benefitted as much as they should have from the implementation of the NEP. The major part of the blame must fall on the state leadership for not being just in distributing the benefits of economic growth in line with the policy and objectives of the federal government to promote national integration in its effort to build a united Malaysian society.

Sarawak bumis - wither equality? Pt 1

JAYUM A JAWAN, Ph.D is attached to the Dept of Government and Civilisation Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia. The above article is based on a paper he presented in 1998 .