YOURSAY ‘As a model of governance, it is proving to be a great success in Fiji.’

 

Dr M: NEP a proven success for Malaysia

 

FairMind : On what basis is the New Economic Policy (NEP) a big success? Benchmarked against what? If one compares with Singapore, South Korea and many other countries in Asia that have no NEP, certainly Malaysia pales in comparison.

 

No doubt the disparity of wealth between the Malays and other races has narrowed but the disparity of wealth between the rich and the poor especially among the rich and poor Malays as proven by the Gini index is one of the highest in Asia.

 

What was the cost of the NEP to Malaysia? The races are divided, absence of talents, rampant corruption, poor education standards and communication skills, over-abundant civil servants but low productivity, double standards in almost every field, low living standards, lack of civil liberties and a myriad of other social ills in society.

 

Dr Mahathir Mohamad and BN have no choice but to praise the NEP because they are both the implementers and main benefactors of NEP. If one looks independently, NEP is a big flop to the ordinary citizens especially to the poor Malays.

 

Vent : Mahathir is absolutely correct. The NEP is “a proven success” in producing an exceptional rentier culture unparalleled in the modern era comprising religious bigots, corrupt officials and politicians, government apologists, sub-standard contractors, failed entrepreneurs and a majority dependent on government help from business to education to house ownership.

 

This ‘help’ has even been extended to rapists, murderers and potential paedophiles! Yet Mahathir shamelessly compares the NEP to India’s affirmative action for the minority and South Africa’s policy to correct the abject dehumanisation of Apartheid! But he has some bragging rights. As a racist model of governance it is proving to be a great success in Fiji.

 

As for bumiputera wealth only standing at a paltry 19 percent now, this is a myth meant for the masses who don’t own a fraction of it after all!

 

Clearwater : Why does Mahathir single out only the black minority for general comparison? The USA is a very cosmopolitan society and absorbs immigrants from nearly every other country. Why not compare with the high achieving Asian Indian minority or Chinese minority or even the Latino minority? He is, as usual, selectively forgetful and biased.

 

Ah-hah : Has Mahathir given any thought to the many, many Orang Asli /Orang Asal who still suffer abject poverty? They must surely be the beneficiaries most deserving of any NEP benefits. Yet they not only received little or nothing, even their lands have been taken from them, many times via corrupt methods, as court rulings have shown.

 

Thinking citizen_1403620863 : The original aims of NEP were necessary for the country because of the structural disparities between the communities in Malaysia. However the implementation leaves much to be desired and leaves a bad taste in the mouths of other communities where they are progressively sidelined by the government in favour of their own families and cronies.

 

Had the resources been properly planned for the benefit of all Malaysian Malays as they claimed, the Northern states where rice farming is their staple income will be modernised by implementation of agricultural machinery, better seedlings, distribution methods and the farmers income increased substantially and Malaysia may be a nice rice exporters.

 

The existing education system keeps the country backward and the Malays are the majority that suffered from this error because there are majority of the population. Despite Umno and government-linked companies (GLCs) controlling a majority of the industries in Malaysia, they claim that bumiputera have less than 30 percent. You are joking!

 

Gunnerrun : I remember reading ‘1984' where the Big Brother dished out doctored statistics all along as part of its evil strategies to give a false impression of how well the society is doing and thus preventing revolt. I think the same is happening here but the numbers are made to look small, but with different intentions.

 

Ib : All Malaysians should speak up on whether they agree with Dr Mahathir. How can anyone claim to have an equitable society when villages that are home to the country' indigenous people are deprived of water and electricity? Bright students are consistently deprived of places in universities based on race.

 

And the country wants to build a high-speed rail to Singapore when the people of Kedah, Pahang and even Johor have no modern rail transport to get to Kuala Lumpur! And Sarawak and Sabah do not even have basic roads from the villages! This is the legacy of Dr Mahathir and he will have to live with these failures. And die a failure.

 

Smart Malays are leaving the country and only those smart Chinese and Indians with ailing parents are coming back riding on TalentCorp's incentives. And don't tell all this to Idris Jala because he thinks Pemandu has been successful in transforming the country! Like Mahathir, the failures deceive themselves.

 

David Dass : D M talks of percentage of wealth in the country. The truth is that few people care. Most Malaysians of whatever race are not interested in that statistic. All they want are good affordable homes, good education, jobs, a good health system and honest government. There have been achievements, but the NEP was not implemented fairly.

 

And there are still injustices and imbalances to be corrected. It is not about Malay and non-Malay. It is about the needy of all races.

 

Ruslan Bahari: Yes, Dr M. We have equal equity share now. No more poor Malays, all are rich. Share some of that weed, please.

 

All NEP was successful at has been in breeding a culture of dependency.

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