Dr M, NEP not meant to create a few billionaires

YOURSAY 'That is precisely what's wrong with the NEP. It made a few billionaires, while leaving the rest of us struggling to eke out a living.'

Mahathir: NEP made some non-Malays rich, too

PB Win: Yes, I agree the NEP (New Economic Policy) made a few Malays rich, a few Chinese rich and maybe one or two Indians rich. The key word is ‘a few'.

What good is a national policy if it only benefits a few; what kind of government would want to cook up a policy that only makes a few already rich richer? The NEP is supposed to benefit the average and below-average earner.

So Dr Mahathir Mohamad, do you admit that you and your successors have failed miserably with your NEP all this while, and have wasted billions in the disguise of the NEP, which is of no use to the general public?

Opah: That is precisely what's wrong with the NEP. It made a few billionaires, while leaving the rest of us struggling to make a living. This old goat does not realise we've had enough of his bull.

Onyourtoes: Was it the objective of the NEP to create Malay millionaires and billionaires? Does creating a class of commercial and enterprising Malays the same as creating a class of Malay cronies, parasites and rent-seekers?

Public policy can only make the people less poor; the public should never make the people super rich. It is confirmed - Mahathir is a nincompoop who does not know his own baloney.

Pjseow: I am sad that Mahathir and PM Najib Razak have forgotten that the NEP is supposed to eradicate poverty regardless of race.

I remembered the NEP objective clearly in Bahasa Malaysia which is, ‘Untuk membasmikan kemiskinan tanpa mengira kaum' (For the eradication of poverty regardless of race).

Now the former PM seems to think that the NEP is to enrich a few individuals (regardless of race). What is more important for the NEP is to raise the standard of living of the rakyat regardless of race, not to enrich a few cronies.

Anonyxyz: From the inception of the NEP till today, the top 20 richest list is still dominated by the Chinese; on paper, it looks that way but this is purposely manufactured to continue hammering the ‘Malays still behind, less than 30 percent bumi equity' slogan which has worked very effectively to bluff the largely ignorant majority Malays base of whose political support is strongest.

In reality, there is no ‘ketuanan Melayu' but ‘ketuanan BN'. The royalty, civil servants, police, army, judiciary, Felda, etc, are subservient to BN for leftovers.

With this as the ultimate weapon, the country's wealth becomes concentrated among the small elite group of Chinese, Malay and Indian businessmen who are collaborating with BN to plunder Malaysia's wealth (and where ordinary party members of MCA, Umno and MIC are just being used).

Anonymous_3f4a: Mahathir cannot judge the success of his NEP policies purely by quoting some success stories to the exclusion of other failures. A balanced approach must be adopted to assess the overall success/failure of his policies.

May he be reminded that he once lamented how he had failed to uplift the Malays and bumiputera in spite of all the government efforts and resources?

No race can be uplifted by continuous assistance and handouts from the government. As has happened, the Malays and bumiputera have developed a dependency mentality on the government over the years, without which they would find it hard to survive in an increasingly competitive world.

The current drive by some Malay NGOs to defend the NEP and fearlessly advocate against its abolition is a clear example of that dependency syndrome after 42 years of the affirmative action policy.

Jesse: Dr M, these rich Chinese are your front men, and one of them have fallen out with you for whatever reasons best known to you both.

How about the common people, regardless of race? The government is meant to do things for the common good, not just for your favourite toy boys. All we can see are a few non-Malays and lots of Umnoputras, including your son, making lots of money.

Ferdtan: Dr M, billionaire Vincent Tan is your good friend but he was never ours. We, the Chinese, never called him one of our own and in fact, most of us despise what he is perceived to do with his millions to help Umno. Many of his actions are seen to hurt the Chinese in Malaysia.

You made him rich through the award of government contracts and licences so that he can be of use to you and Umno. Before Najib said the obvious "you help me, I help you" in public, you had been practising that all along, though discretely.

The opposite is true for Robert Kuok - we are very proud of him as he grew rich through hard work; and never actively involved himself with Umno politics. You didn't make him rich - in fact Felda under Umno's crony, Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, took away his sugar business.

Now Kuok is taking his business to Hong Kong and China.

Adil: Objective assessment on the implementation of NEP is not about the number and racial demographics of the crony capitalists which have been created.

The question is about why so many hardcore poor, bumiputera included, have been left out when it is supposed to be an affirmative policy with special focus on the bumiputera.

Swipenter: In the final analysis, the NEP has become a burden to all Malaysians, except for Mahathir's cronies, the nepotists and the politically well-connected multi-millionaires and billionaires.

Secondly, it is the root cause of massive corruption in the country. Thirdly, it is also the root cause of institutionalised racism.

Mahathir, the noble aims of the NEP was bastardised under your watch. Without the cover of the NEP, none of your sons would be multi-millionaires and billionaire on their own merits.

Absolom: Nobody argues with the original tenets of the NEP, which are the eradication of poverty and restructuring of the economy to eliminate identification of ethnicity with economic function.

What people cannot accept are the abuses which have taken place on the pretext of the NEP (a whole lot of it during the time of Dr M as PM). Those in positions of power,using NEP as a cover to enrich themselves and bail out their own children and cronies, is, in my opinion, never the intention of the NEP.

Another point is that the NEP is not the brainchild of this old man, but he will be remembered as the one that did everything to give it a bad name.

Pemerhati: Most of the Mahathir-made millionaires or billionaires were his collaborators or cronies who helped him to steal the people's money.

The most common strategy used by the corrupt Mahathir was to make a purchase or give a contract or business to a crony at a price very much higher than the market rate. The corrupt crony then gave back most of the excess money paid, sometimes amounting to billions, to Mahathir and the other Umno thieves.

A few trusted corrupt cronies got a lot of lucrative overpriced negotiated contracts and became millionaires or billionaires.

Our tolled roads and the power plants could have been built very much more cheaply if they had been tendered openly, instead of being given to the Mahathir and Umno cronies at inflated prices.

Cheaper construction costs would have resulted in much lower tolls and electricity charges. Unfortunately, thanks to Mahathir's unlimited greed, now all Malaysians are burdened with very high tolls and tariffs.

Clearwater: A non-race based affirmative action policy, applied equitably, diligently and free of corruptive influences, would have helped millions of ordinary people and united the nation.

Instead, Mahathir-style NEP developed the now entrenched crony system, made many Malays shamelessly crutch dependent, indulged in race divisiveness, and he still has the gall to blame others.

Oscar Kilo: What do you call a policy that hasn't achieved its objectives after 30 years of implementation? A failure. - Malaysiakini