PM Najib: Meritocracy = Best amongst the Malays

PM Najib addressing ANSARA members at 'PM Unplugged'

Prime Minister Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak announced that the New Economic Policy is here to stay and will not be abolished. He affirmed this during an ANSARA event ‘PM Unplugged’ at PWTC.

“When I said we need to have ‘meritocracy’, what I meant is ‘The Best Amongst Malays’. We need to invoke necessary ‘adjustments’ in the policy”, speaking to 1,000 Ex MRSM students association or ANSARA members.

“We need to develop the competency of the Malays and for them to have economic resilience. We need the ‘transformation’, so we tweak the NEP, to achieve the desired results.”, he explained. “We no longer want to see Malay businessmen had to sell away assets, especially when they face a major crisis. We have seen this before”.

“If I wanted to be popular, then I would pander to the ‘Economic Rent Seekers’. We want to see ‘what you know’ instead ‘who you know’. This is not to best way to develop the Malays, to be at a higher economic standing”.

PM Najib addressing the 'PM Unplugged' audience

PM Najib explained the his policy of ‘inclusivity’, “It does not mean we will abandon the Malays. This is not a ‘zero sum game’. We must use our wisdom”. He also said that the Government is very committed in developing the Malays and will continue policies that have proven to work. “I have allocated RM100 million for next year’s budget for MRSM”.

“The latest figures show that our income per capita already achieved RM30,000, which is USD10,000. We want to be industrial nation status. Of course we want to see the Malays be a significant part of that”.

Talking about Malay businessmen needing ‘capacity building’, thus a ‘break’ from the Government, PM Najib explained “We see a lot of these companies, when they go outside, their new markets ask them ‘Did your Government buy your product?’. That’s is why we need to have the policy for these Malay companies to sell to GLCs. We also realise that unlike other people, the Malay businesses don’t have the ‘informal support system’.

PM Najib talking about serious matters to ANSARA members

During the Q&A session, he was asked about the ‘Single School System’. His response, “We don’t live in an ideal world. Our forefathers have decided to allow vernacular schools. We cannot stop this now, without having a racial issue. It is very difficult to do away with this, now”.

To a grouse about PM Najib’s politicians (which include Cabinet members and elected representatives) are not doing like what he is doing (going around on the ground to meet rakyat and engaging them) which include events such as this, the witty response from the Prime Minister, “Well, I inherited this (The Government and elected representatives from PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah’s time). Give me the fresh mandate. I’ll do the necessary changes”.

That is a cue that more changes will come.

PM Najib being 'unplugged', with ANSARA members

In a light moment during the Q&A session, an ANSARa member coyly ask what keeps the Prime Minister awake at night, “I take things, philosophical. My days are getting longer and nights are getting shorter. I tend to sleep off some of the ‘knee jerk issues’, and decide in the morning. Usually, I sleep quite well”.

Earlier in his opening speech, ANSARA President YB Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir said that ANSARA members have gone a long way. “We have members who go high up to the sky (Angkasawan) and as deep in the depth of the sea (Submariners)”.

The Deputy Minister of MITI also asked that whatever’ Transformation’ that the Government intend to do, to take into consideration of the majority. “Many of our members made it to top position on their own merits. It is clear that ‘Affirmative Action’ does not interfere with the concept of ‘meritocracy’”.

- bigdogdotcom