YOURSAY ‘In Malaysia, 20 percent of the bumiputera own 80 percent of the country's wealth.’
'So why do non-Muslims control the economy?'
Proarte: US President Barack Obama was talking about equal opportunity and non-discrimination. Why is there apartheid in our education system? Why are there Malay-only elite schools which are taxpayer funded?
Why is it that churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples and gurdwaras do not receive funding like mosques do? Why is there no 'pilgrimage tabung' to assist non-Muslims to visit their holy sites?
Why are Malays given the option of sitting for matrikulasi but non-Malays have a limited chance. Why are most non-Malays forced to sit for STPM which takes a year longer and clearly more difficult than matrikulasi?
Yet, the government has the mendacity to insist meritocracy applies despite a dual entry process to tertiary education and the government sector.
Why are all the vice-chancellors in our public universities Malays? Isn’t this blatant discrimination? Why are we categorised into bumiputera and non-bumiputera? Surely every citizen who is born in Malaysia is a 'son of the soil'?
‘Allah’ is now for Muslims only. Need I go on?
The point of Obama's speech is that discrimination is harmful to society's progress, let alone morally wrong.
Umno's modus operandi is to claim to represent the majority, which has a sizeable number of underprivileged, and abuse constitutional privileges (meant for upliftment for a limited period) to benefit an oligarchy that is evil and greedy beyond measure.
They have 'locked in' the Malay Muslims into a constitutional and societal 'strait-jacket' to keep the corrupt ruling Muslim class in perpetual power. Race and religion are abused to make the Malays paranoid, ignorant, suspicious and insecure.
Unfortunately the 'hudud' and 'Allah' issues have shown the Malay opposition too have succumbed to Umno's machinations.
These leaders have squandered the support of the Malay society, which is hoping for its intellectual and economic emancipation, by focusing instead on an atavistic view of Islamic governance practised by failed states. Their betrayal of Malays is conveniently placed at Allah's door.
Abasir: Proarte, you could not have been put any better - a neat precis of Malaysia's curse which, sooner rather than later, will destroy it from within. But by the time that happens, the ruling elites would have scampered away with their loot.
Anonymous_1397678952: There is a point that should concern Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali and those who support his logic. That point has been made over and over again by many commenters in this thread in Malaysiakini and elsewhere.
What has gone wrong with the billions of ringgit that have been spent by the government in pursuing the NEP (New Economic Policy) programme? What percentage of government money has been spent on the Malays as opposed to the non-Malays?
We all know that it is a lot. So what has gone wrong?
For a start, it seems absurd that almost 60 years after Independence we cannot get things right. Educational standards have plummeted and the English language has been lost as an asset we once had. Many of our graduates are unemployable.
Why do we do things that will damage our own people? Now we want hudud forms of punishment.
Just look at the discussion - a doctor actually says that doctors should not perform the amputations because criminals must feel the pain!
Ericlcc: I believe Pareto's 20:80 principle is applicable for the Malaysian economy. Here 20 percent of the bumiputera own 80 percent of the country's wealth and 80 percent of the non-bumiputera own 20 percent of country's wealth.
Herein lies the problem... the wealth gap among the bumiputera is getting unbridgeable. Only a small elite group (supposedly from Umno) are getting wealthier while the larger bumiputera majority are still languishing in poverty.
As for the non-bumiputera share of the 20 percent wealth, most likely skewed by the likes of Berjaya, Genting and others. The bulk of non-bumiputera are essentially eking out a decent living, day to day.
Kanasai: Are you sure that the economy is still controlled by non-Muslims? When sugar was under a non-Muslim, the price stayed for decades. Once the ownership was transferred to a Muslim, how many times has the price increased?
Everyone now complains that housing has become beyond the reach of middle income earners and do you know why? Who is subsiding the discount given to bumiputera?
Yes, the other non-bumi buyers. To prevent possible losses, the developer will jack up the price to cover any subsidies given to the bumiputera. Who to blame for runaway price increase?
If it is not those affirmative actions, I do not know what else. Adam Smith said that price is determined by invisible hands of the buyers and sellers. But in Malaysia, it is determined by Umno-BN’s visible hands that drive the cost of living skyward.
I wonder what will happen to Malaysia if someone invents a fusion engine and makes petroleum and Petronas history.
Joker: Are non-Muslims controlling the economy? The richest of the Chinese, Robert Kuok aka Sugar King, was booted out from the sugar business in Malaysia by Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.
Liew Kee Sin was kicked out of SP Setia, a company he founded. Southern Bank, MBf Finance, etc, all saw Chinese founders being taken over by Malay businesspeople.
The government only released information on how 'little' are businesses owned by the bumiputera, implying the rest are owned by Chinese Malaysians. But the government never did announce how much Chinese Malaysians actually owned.
It can’t because it will show a smaller share than the bumis. The lion's share of the business is owned by GLCs (government-linked companies) and government funds like EPF (Employees Provident Fund), Khazanah, PNB (Permodalan Nasional Bhd), Tabung Haji, LTAT (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera), etc, and even foreign funds.
Malaysia has always been led by Malays. Nowadays you have Malays in all top government posts, like the ministers and directors-general.
The question Perkasa should be asking is why, with such overwhelming Malay leadership, are the Malays still labelled poor and underperforming? Ask the government, not the hapless minorities.
ACR: Very simply a nation's economic worth is its GDP (there are three ways of measuring GDP and all should give the same figure). GDP is driven by factors of production i.e. human capital, physical capital, natural resources and entrepreneurship (innovation).
Whoever controls these factors of production control the economy. Of course, productivity is an important determinant of economic growth.
Given this understanding can we now assess Ibrahim's postulation - that bumis control 60 percent of the economy?
Non-bumis evidently do not control human capital and natural resources; physical capital (property perhaps, but no longer financial capital for which bumis are spoilt for choice); definitely entrepreneurship/innovation. So how did the 60 percent come about?
Where is Justice: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” - Albert Einstein. “Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.” - Euripides in ‘Bacchae’.
Based on the two above two quotes, why spend your time slaughtering Ibrahim?
Let World Bank determine who control economy
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