Vincent Tan and Robert Kuok, so what? What about the everyday Chinese, Jui Meng slams Dr M

PKR leaders slammed former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad for "rubbing salt into the wound" when he insisted that the New Economic Policy had benefited the Chinese, and then pointed to tycoons such as lottery-king Vincent Tan and sugar-king Robert Kuok.

"The average Malaysian Chinese survived and thrived in spite of Mahathir, the BN and the NEP, and not thanks to them or Vincent Tan or Robert Kuok. And these guys know it. As Francis Yeoh once said, even they had to give back 30% to the BN. But it is the ordinary Chinese youth who had to sweat and toil the extra mile just to be successful. Job opportunities are closed to them, so are places in schools and universities. Many have no choice but to go to Singapore and then be labelled as betrayers back in their homeland," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It is very callous of Mahathir to say such things and it brings to the fore the part of him that is very cold and ruthless. Whether it is with the Chinese, Indian or Malay youth, he has never been able to click with them. He never sees things from the point of view of the ordinary person. It is always with the goal of a larger and self-serving objective in mind. The NEP not only failed the ordinary Malaysian Chinese, Indian, Kadazan-Dusun-Murut, Dayaks but also the ordinary Malays themselves. The NEP as Ku Li pointed was abused beyond recognition to benefit the Malay elitists first and foremost, period."

My good friends - the billionaires

Jui Meng was responding to Mahathir's rather defensive remarks that the NEP not only benefited the Malay super-rich but had also spawned a class of non-Malay tycoons.

"People only mention the few Malays who became millionaires... but there are also (those from) other races who became millionaires during my time.  You can count the number of non-Malays who became millionaire or even billionaires during my time," Mahathir told the press on Friday.

"My good friend Vincent Tan became a billionaire; Robert Kuok became a multi-billionaire during my time when the NEP was being implemented - the monopoly of sugar and flour gave him the kick start.'

A nation of strangers

Mahathir was himself responding to comments made by Umno veteran Tengku Razeleigh Hamzah or Ku Li that the NEP had only benefited Malay capitalists. The contrast between the two former rivals could not be more stark. Ku Li lamented the growing racial polarization in the nation and pleaded for reforms.

"One major sore point in the area of race relations is the New Economic Policy, whose original intention to create unity has been subverted to become a major source of disunity not only between the various races but also among the Malays and Bumiputeras in general. The New Economic Policy, which was conceived in 1971 not long after the (founding prime minister)Tunku (Abdul Rahman) had retired as prime minister, was primarily created to address poverty, and to raise the level of Malay participation in the economy," Ku Li had said in a speech at a separate function in Kuala Lumpur.

"It was intended for all Malaysians, and not just for the Malays or Bumiputeras. As a former finance minister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of the NEP to create an incubated class of Malay capitalists. If we visit the government departments or universities, we wonder where all the non-Malays have gone. After 1969 (May 13 racial riots), suddenly there was this attempt to recruit mostly Malays into the civil service. It is tragic that the civil service does not reflect the racial composition of the Malaysian population, as the predominant presence of only one race tends to engender a sub-culture that is antithetical to the evolution of a dynamic and efficient civil administration in the country."

Robbed blind and in open daylight

Ku Li's straight shooting struck a chord with many in the country, who are becoming increasingly alarmed at the manner in which the BN elite led by Prime Minister Najib Razak's Umno party was unleashing a string of questionable mega deals that appeared aimed at cashing out on national assets before the 13th general election, widely expected to be held later this year.

"For the sake of the future generations, we pray that ordinary Malaysians of all race and faiths will wake up and stop this daylight robbery taking place before our very eyes. Each day, we are being robbed blind by people like Mahathir who does not give one hoot about how the man in the street is doing," Jui Meng said.

"When you ask him a serious question, he gives a nasty answer - it's not just the rich Malays who benefited but also the rich Chinese. But our question is, what about the poor and the everyday Chinese, Indian, KDM, Dayak and Malay. When he, Perkasa and now Jati talk about Malay rights and the Rulers, do they ever once mention corruption and how to get back the wealth, the RM1 trillion, that has been siphoned out of the county over the past 10 years."

Jui Meng, the PKR Johor chief, was referring to the latest report from New York-based Global Financial Integrity which stated that in the past decade to 2010, RM1 trillion in illicit outflows had left Malaysian shores. These monies were often the accumulation of corrupt deals, commissioning and skimming off from legitimate government contracts through hugely inflated pricing.

Among the deals struck and announced in the past few months include a 60-year West Coast Expressway toll concession road, the Kidex Highway, the AirAsia-MAS share swap, the out-of-court settlement and decision not to sue fallen tycoon Tajudin Ramli, and several others.

Malaysia Chronicle