August 31, 2010
Post-Dr M, we are all racists
by Neil Khor@http://www.malaysiakini.com
Dr Mahathir Mohamad stressed that Malaysians are more divided than ever. Never assuming any culpability himself, he blames the situation on governmental mismanagement allowing for the rise of the opposition and the resultant voices criticising the NEP.
In short, overnight, after some twenty-two glorious years of unity and peaceful nation building, we have, all of us, become racists!
The crux of the matter has less to do with nation-building and all to do with protecting the interests of the status quo. The wealthiest Chinese in the country did not become rich during the tenure of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi or Najib Abdul Razak. Of course, the CEO of SP Setia did well out of the NEP.
But it was not during the time of Abdul Razak Hussein’s NEP but rather Mahathir’s NEP, the ones infused with “free market” ideology and small government. Malaysia’s merchant aristocrats are, all of them, the children of Mahathir.
In a most cynical and cruel twist of logic, Mahathir conflated race and class, stressing that any let-up on the NEP-like race-based affirmative action is “the rich non-bumis taking whatever little wealth the poor bumiputeras have”. He gave two examples, the construction sector and higher education.
But as usual he did not tell the whole story. Mahathir said that the bumiputeras did not have the capacity to carry out the government contracts awarded to them and most would sub-contract out the work. The ultimate beneficiaries were the Chinese.
But why did his government not take measures to monitor and tighten the implementation process? Why did the government not nurture bumiputera developers, provide training and skills-upgrading for class F contractors?
In Abdul Razak’s time, the government built affordable housing but Mahathir privatised this integral function of government and dubbed them “low-cost housing”. All was done in the name of efficiency.
We are expected to put our trust in private developers, whose main duty is to make money to build affordable housing?
Mahathir also trimmed the civil service and the Works Ministry played a monitoring role instead of actually building roads and houses! Of course, the unintended consequences is that today this same agency has very little “capacity” to build, monitor and implement national projects.
The Mahathir government did not tackle corruption as seriously as his predecessor Hussein Onn and allowed developers to do what they liked. Whilst Mahathir asked us to “Look East”, he looked so far east that his policies resemble those of the US. His government “freed” the private sector and clipped the wings of local governments to regulate development.
The travails of the rentier class
Over time, these policies reduced the National Development Policy (NDP) into a worthless academic exercise. As for the bumiputera contractor, Mahathir’s NEP created a class specialising in getting governmental contracts for the sole purpose of sub-contracting them out for a quick profit. Mahathir’s NEP generated wealth for UMNO Malays, but it also swelled the ranks of the rentier class.
If one thinks it is easy to be in the rentier business, think again. There are so many political pitfalls, so much greasing of palms and egos to placate. So, after years of “closing one eye”, we have an entire class of rentier-contractors who are not really interested in building bumiputera capacity to do anything except get the next governmental contract.
If the analysis put forward is faulty, can Mahathir please explain why bumiputera capacity to carry out construction work still an issue in 2010?
If, as Mahathir himself admitted, the sub-contracting happens because the bumiputeras have no capacity to carry out the contracts given, how can he expect the private sector to give contracts to the very same firms he acknowledges as “not having the capacity to carry out the projects”?
Plus, some of the giant construction companies who benefit from huge governmental contracts are truly “Malaysian” in the composition of its board of directors. These firms have investors like the Employee Provident Fund as well as international investors. They also have a comprehensive work process from design to actual construction. There is no need to sub-contract any work out.
Did not Mahathir’s government advocate efficiency? Did he not say that Malaysian firms needed to be more competitive? Did his government not advocate a free market ideology? The profits from these firms swelled the coffers of the government as well as retired civil servants and other governmental luminaries enriching the elites.
Higher education not the panacea
In higher education, the scenario is the same if not worse. In 1992, there were not more than six public
He should leave Najib to get on with his PM duties
universities, including ITM. Now there are 22 and at least a hundred degree-awarding institutions of higher education. Education was supposed to allow the bumiputeras to catch up. Instead, we have a lot of graduates burdened by student loans and doing jobs that do not need a degree anyway.
Meanwhile, those who have the means to go to foreign universities either do not return home at all or are working for multinationals.
In short, higher education has not been the panacea for race advancement that Mahathir had hoped for.
He also liberalised the sector, allowing for the devaluation of the degree, whilst affirmative action in academia has resulted in mediocrity. Mahathir knows this and that is why he seldom borrows any ideas or statistics from any Malaysian academic or locally-researched work.
One thing that Mahathir said is correct. No country should practice 100% free market enterprise. The government has a duty not only to grow the economy but to make sure that development is sustainable, does not harm the environment and most importantly, is equitable.
Meritocracy more about fairness
Mahathir should also point out that meritocracy is not all about grades but more so about fairness. Obviously if a person has no access to a proper library, he or she should be given a helping hand.
However, the assistance should not be based on ethnicity. The NEM’s objective of helping every Malaysian in the lower 40% of the income bracket regardless of race is laudable.
Affirmative action, studies worldwide have shown, is good for a while but in the long term the benefits diminish and the psychological scars damage the community or ethnic group it aims to help.
The framers of the NEP were not overly optimistic, they were realistic. If Mahathir had followed through with the policies of Abdul Razak and Hussein Onn, we may not have developed so rapidly but we would have been a far more equitable country today.
Moving forward, the government must live up to its responsibilities to protect the rights of every citizen. If the Malays are worried, the government need not side with the far right to assuage them.
It must instead demonstrate that it will protect the interests of the Malays and other Malaysians by getting competent people to head governmental agencies, come down hard on corruption and devise policies that will help build the community’s capacity to participate meaningfully in the national economy.
Affirmative action should be continued in perpetuity so long as there are poor and marginalised Malaysians, but it must never only benefit one ethnic group.
The prime minister must find the courage and the tenacity to return to the policies of his father and break with the unsustainable “free market” enterprise associated with Mahathir’s 22 years at the helm.
Mahathir’s NEP created merchant aristocrats and some very wealthy bumiputeras. It is time that the Najib government made amends to the rest of us.
NEIL KHOR has recently completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He is co-author of ‘Non-Sectarian Politics in Malaysia: The Case of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia’ (2008).
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
“Malaysia’s merchant aristocrats are, all of them, the children of Mahathir”.–Neil Khor
That includes his own children and relatives of Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah. I am sure my friend and Dr. M’s nephew, Dato Ahmad Mustapha Hassan will agree with me. Just read Dato Ahmad’s “The Unmaking of Malaysia”, which gives an insider story of Mahathirism (crony capitalism). Mongkut Bean, your reaction please.–Din Merican
Ayoyo how about Anwar’s cronies? They benefited tremendously during Che Det’s era as well!! Hahahaha! Kabooomm!!!
“The prime minister must find the courage and the tenacity to return to the policies of his father and break with the unsustainable “free market” enterprise associated with Mahathir’s 22 years at the helm. Mahathir’s NEP created merchant aristocrats and some very wealthy bumiputeras.”
Under Tun Razak in the 70s the size of the government grew as it embarked on its so-called ‘restructuring programs’ to meet the needs of the New Economic Policy. Tun Razak’s government tinkered with socio-economic engineering as a policy in a big way, to bring some stability to a political system which was deemed as inherently unstable. We were told that the cause of such inherent political instability was the dichotomy between Malay political domination and Chinese economic power.
Under Tun Razak it was about big government and increased regulation. As the years passed, it became obvious that it could not continue forever as the size of the government became unwieldy and beneficiaries of the NEP began protesting that public enterprises meant to help the bumiputra traders and businessmen were in fact competing with them.
With Mahathir it would appear that it was all about downsizing the size of government and reducing waste through privatization of public enterprises – fashionable with governments elsewhere in the 80s – restructuring and rationalizing, deregulating and belief in the free market. But Mahathir was not all that. He was no free market enthusiast. Never even a convert. He was not motivated by belief in the free market and a smaller role for the government as the answer to anything. It was about a bigger role for himself.
Under cover of the mentor-mentee program, he picked and chose those he could trust and could use among talented bumiputras (flanked by even more talented and more experienced non-bumiputra partners just as eager to do his bidding) who are really his cronies to help build financial empires of their own and those of their families. It was on them that he would turn for support for many of his ideas and policies. In fact without their help he could not have stayed on as Prime Minister as long as he did. I suppose these were the ‘aristocrat merchants’ the writer was referring to.
I find the writer’s reference to what he characterized as the “unsustainable free market enterprise” of the Mahathir years without more as inaccurate. Even misleading if it seeks to lend legitimacy to his misadministration.
Mongkut Bean,
Can’t blame Karim. He has to be “politically correct” in order to have access of the rich, powerful and fame. A journalist cannot offend people. He needs them as sources of information.–Din Merican
Karim?? Who is Karim?
Mr Merican
Since you brought up Mahathir’s kids, I will like to point out his often used remarks.
Quote: ” When my children are well-qualified, do you want them to be goreng pisang or nasi lemak sellers, to avoid me being accused of nepotism.”
He’s got a point there. If sons of minions can be GLCs CEOs, why not his kids.
And its not their fault, if the the local czars want Mirzan, for instance, to head their corporation for the business he can bring in solely on his name.
We are living in a world where name and fame are wealth.
And Mahathir did live up to his promise that his sons are active in politics after his retirement.
And I am sure you are well aware ot the wealth and cronyism Anwar practised during his heydays as Mahathir’s pet in the Cabinet.
Look at his house and his life-style. Look at the change in dressing from kurta and chapal to Zegna suits.
Look at the nepotism in PKR where there are at least three dynasties.
Cronyism was alive during Anwar’s time where all his cronies are well-heeled.All the GLCS appointees are his men.
And Anwar held tight-reined on the NST group then.
Nobody expects TMD’s children to be goreng pisang sellers in Pekan Rabu, Alor Setar or by the road side or hawking bread on a bicycle. It is mind bogging these average Joes to become instant multimillionaires or to be bailed out of his financial mess using PETRONAS funds during Mahathir’s premiership. Did that particular son pay back to PETRONAS?
We are discussing TDM, not DSAI here. Hopefully, Din will come out with something on PKR’s and DSAI’s treatment of the Sabah 12. If you care to go to this blog’s archives, you will note that the host is not pro-anyone. He focuses on issues, not individuals per se.
TDM’s eldest son was down in the pit in 1998/99 and had to be bailed out. 10 years later, he was reported to own a substantial shares in a Filipino brewery San Miguel Corporation to the tune of USD2.9 billion. Now that is USD2.9 billion (or RM10 billion) in 10 years. Where did this son get his RM10 billion or rather how did he earn his RM1 billion per year income for the last 10 years? Now Sayang Bangsa, we are not talking goreng pisang seller here are we? It is obvious your Ayahanda Tun Mahthir must be a magician in coming up with money!
Yes we all are all aware,very aware of cronyism and the wealth created out of nothing by these people. Very aware . That is why the country is in the state it is in. Be it TDM or anyone else. So how does anyone justify anything about this. The only thing to do is to stop this nonsense by making the new Government accountable. As the wealth is being stolen right from under our noses, the people are rascist too?Fantastic legacy to leave behind isnt it?
It is increasingly obvious to the most insane of us that no new Government can by any measure clean the ‘Aegean Stables’ that BN and UMNO along with the other political party members have created in the form of the ‘bloated’ Civil service of doubtful meritocracy and the other organs of Governmernt. The respected Civil Service, the ODRM, etc are long gone. Their sense of duty and loyalty to country and King are no more part of the thinking of the modern Napoleanic thinkers. They themselves have adopted the arrogance and egoism of the Political leaders and we can forsee what problems the new Government , if any, would face when we look at States like Perak and Kedah today and the non stop witch hunt that goes on for the most stupidest of things that PR representatives of the Rakyat are said to have carried out. The PDRM and MACC look for the ‘mite’ in the eye whjen their own eyes are logged on with ‘moats’ The way things are going and the way that thousands are running away from the sinking ship and the way that foreigners are avoiding investing in this country as though we are suffering from a plague are all self serving evidence that thi country has no salvation during our life times. One day perhaps when the Divine has taught the rest of those who live in Malaysia about the paradise that was lost, perhaps, only perhaps, a new breed of Malaysians will come up to bring back the glory days devoid of racism and religious strife.
The mess we are in requires a herculean task. There is no question at all that Anwar at best is also a weakling and we cannot dispute that he was a fundamentalist turn coat. His weaknesses and the need to gel three fundamentally different parties requires him to play Mr. Nice Guy to achieve his lofty goals. Zaid Ibrahim would make a better leader – one we cannot discount if Saudara Anwar heads back to jail.
But Saudara Anwar’s goals are what matters most. And because of him and the opposition, the BN government is slowing changing course. The worst thing that could happen to us now, is if the opposition becomes weak and not able to force this change. My dear sayang bangsa, what choice do we have? Certainly not BN?
For those People pretending to be Malays, read this message for che det kutty
=================
We need clarity on who is supposed to have these privileges. Are only Malays and Bumiputras entitled? Definitely, yes. But, why are mamaks requesting to enjoy the same?
By Jamiliah Kassim
Being a Malay, I must say “thank you” for advocating to let the Bumiputra quota stay, albeit your much embarassing, ridiculous and amusing criticisms on meritocracy.
However, we need clarity on who is supposed to have these privileges. Are only Malays and Bumiputras entitled? Definitely, yes. But, why are mamaks requesting to enjoy the same?
Why can mamaks be made Malays? Where on earth can a person convert his race through religion? Obviously this is unacceptable. UMNO is for Malays, and Malays are exclusive of mamaks. UMNO, being fighter for Malays’ rights, should rectify this false definition.
Regards,
Jamiliah Kassim