Will Najib really push through an effective NEM

Najib - how reformist will the NEM be?

Dr Chen Man Hin

It will take a liberal New Economic Model and a strong prime minister to push much needed reforms to transform Malaysia into a high-income country with democracy, justice and prosperity for all regardless of race or religion.

The political and economic outlook for the country is critical. We are riddled with multiple problems of corruption, lack of judicial independence, racialism, brain drain, with 40 per cent of households living below the poverty level of RM1,500, and four out of five poor households are Bumiputeras.

All these things are happening even after two years of PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s rule since April 2008. His 1 Malaysia and mediocre attempts at reforms have failed.

WORLD RANKINGS OF MALAYSIA

The sorry state of political and economic development is reflected in the world ranking status of Malaysia on areas which indicate whether a society is honest, democratic, transparent, and just.

CORRUPTION: Transparent International Corruption perception — Malaysia is ranked 56 among countries in 2009 having dropped from 47 of 2008 and from 23 in 1995. It indicates that corruption has deteriorated during Najib’s watch, whereas Singapore and Hong Kong are almost corruption free.


JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE: Malaysia’s world ranking for year 2009-2010 was 52 compared with Thailand 54, Taiwan 49, Singapore 19, Australia 5, Finland 4, Denmark 3, Sweden 2, and New Zealand 1. Low ranking for Malaysia is not surprising, especially as the Sodomy 2 case against Anwar Ibrahim has raised international concern about the integrity of the judiciary in Malaysia.

UNIVERSITY RANKING: This year no university from Malaysia made it to the top 200 world universities list of QS World University Ranking 2010. Last year one Malaysian university, Universiti Malaya, was ranked 180. This year Universiti Malaya was ranked 207.

ACADEMIC RANKING OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES BY SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY: No university from Malaysia was in the list, which indicates that the academic standards are questionable.

POLICE STATE: It is a fact that the government uses all the institutions — police, judicial, attorney-general and media — to exercise rigid and a repressive controls on the social, economic and political life of the people. The ISA is used to oppress the opposition. Press freedom is muzzled, as seen by the ranking for Malaysia which was 141 out of 196 countries. Which is not unexpected as the government has imposed a tight censorship of all opposition news. The government plans to impose censorship of the Internet, which is gaining popularity with the people.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS (FDI): The World Bank has released figures which showed that for 2009 there was an 81 per cent fall in FDI into Malaysia from US$7.32 billion to US$1.38 billion. FDI into Thailand and Indonesia has overtaken FDI into Malaysia, which has now joined the ranks of countries like Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Timor Leste. These are figures which indicate that investors, both local and foreign, have lost confidence and prefer to put their money in Indonesia and Thailand.

Poor global rankings of Malaysia are an indictment of the Najib regime, which under the cloak of 1 Malaysia is actually practising the politics of race, corruption, cronyism and rent seeking. If the same policies are continued, then inexorably, Malaysia will join the ranks of failed states like banana republics Myanmar and Zimbabwe.

THE ONE HOPE

Follow the advice and recommendations of the World Bank and IMF which have recommended that Najib follow free and liberal market policies. There has to be a structural reform, which means no NEP regulations like 30 per cent Bumiputera equity and cronyism or rent seeking. A culture of competitiveness and meritocracy must be practised.

At the same time, the reforms must be inclusive to look after the interest of the poor — Bumiputeras and others. A new type of affirmative policy must be practised where help is given according to needs and merit. This affirmation action should not interfere with the mainstream liberal free market economy, or the main economy will stagnate or collapse as it did the 40 years of NEP rule from 1971 to 2010.

The fate of Malaysia is now in the hands of the prime minister. The whole country is now watching the next move of the prime minister. Will he follow the NEM policies as endorsed by World Bank and IMF? Or will he wilt under the pressure of Perkasa?

“To be or not to be, that is the question.” – Hamlet. The whole country awaits.

(Dr Chen Man Hin is the life adviser of the DAP)