Govt pampering plus Dr M's crocodile tears: SO HOW COME MALAYS ARE STILL POOR?

Affirmative action by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government since 1970 has failed miserably to uplift the socio-economic status of the Malay's and other bumiputras and the blame for this must fall squarely on the shoulders of BN leaders like Mahathir and Najib.

Instead, Mahathir Mohammad has gone on to rant and rage that the Malay's especially have missed out on the economic growth of the country which he says is still controlled by the Chinese community while Indians are lawyers and doctors and other forms of professionals.

Mahathir is now crying for justice for the bumiputras whom he says have been sidelined in the process of the economic advancement of the country.

Why is the erstwhile prime minister now crying foul? Isn't he to be blamed for creating this sordid mess by upping the ante on the need to protect the bumiputra community and going out on a limb to support the New Economic Policy (NEP), the New Economic Model (NEM) and now the Najib-inspired Bumiputra Economic Empowerment agenda?

The fact is that affirmative action by the BN government has failed miserably and have caused many Malay's and bumiputras to become basket cases to be even displaced at the workplace by foreign workers.

This is how critical the situation has become now causing Mahathir to lash out at the Chinese and Indians for "robbing" the bumiputras of their dues.

While Mahathir is terribly upset and angry of how the situation has evolved, it must be stated that the only outcome of affirmative action for bumiputras since 1970 is to create the minority bumiputra elite in this country consisting of BN-UMNO leaders and their cronies and sycophants.

This really is a shame and the plight of the bumiputras who are languishing have become a source of grave concern for the country. In fact, the majority of bumiputras have regressed and this is not surprising.

But there emerges now a very serious backlash as the Malay's that have lost out and other bumiputras begin to vent their anger and frustration at the BN leaders.

This is the fault of BN leaders

In the aftermath of the May 13, 1969 riots, the ouster of Tunku Abdul Rahman as prime minister and the rise of Tun Abdul Razak to the prime minister's position witnessed also the quick implementation of the NEP, supposedly an affirmative action program to appease the Malay's and other bumiputras that were left behind in economic growth.

This was a shot gun reaction to solve the problem and there was no debate or discussion on the matter neither was there any referendum as the autocratic Razak bulldozed the policy and cast it in iron for Malaysians to witness their loss of fair play, meritocracy and justice.

This was the beginning of the decline of democracy and the loss of civil liberties as Malaysians grappled for the next thirty years, from 1970 to 2000, with the NEP.

The begin question posed was: Why wasn't affirmative action or the NEP include all races?

If the NEP back then had included the Chinese and the Indians, the minority races, the Malay's and other bumiputras would not suffer from this skewered policy.

This is because just as the NEP was announced and implemented, the Chinese and Indians who decided till today to stay on in this country realized they have to work harder than expected to ensure and safeguard their future and the future of their children.

But while the Chinese and Indians woke up to the hard, harsh unfairness of the BN government, the spoon-fed Malay's and other bumiputras grew complacent and took it for granted that BN-UMNO will always be around to bail them.

With the onset of globalization, the Malay's and other bumiputra's suffered even worse when they realized they could not compete with a slew of foreign workers who arrived on the scene to displace them of jobs and other opportunities.

While the Chinese and Indian communities worked hard to prove themselves and earn their keep, this was not the case with the Malay's and bumiputras except for a fraction who form the elite in this country, who through corruption and cronyism prospered.

But despite the failure of the NEP to meet its targets, BN leaders stubbornly persisted to replace the NEP with the NEM and now the Bumiputra Economic Empowerment Agenda.

This Agenda on the part of BN is expected to meet the same fate as the NEP and NEM and cause the gap between the competitive Chinese and Indians to broaden and widen and cause the Malay's and other bumiputras to be further left behind.

This clearly and certainly means that affirmative action by BN from 1970 to now has most definitely been a failure.

Why Mahathir is crying desperately now?

The reason for Mahathir's knee jerk reaction to the economic plight of the Malay community is easy to discern. Now the Chinese and Indians want political clout as well, they want a say in the power play that goes on in Putrajaya.

What is surprising to witness is that most Malays and other bumiputra's are willing to make way for the Chinese and Indians to hold political power as evidenced in the 13th GE.

This is a frightening spectre to unfold in the eyes of the former Malaysian prime minister and the UMNO strongman himself stated that "it won't be long before the Malays are polishing the shoes of the other races in "their own" country."

Many political analysts and pundits believe Mahathir has echoed a self-fulfilling prophecy. The writing is on the wall and there is strong indications from the ground level up that Malay's now want out of the self-seeking and self-serving policies of BN leaders.

The indications are that from the time of the ultra Malay chauvinist Tun Razak, till now, BN leaders have exploited and made use of the Malay and bumiputra vote bank to enrich themselves and the minority elite in this country as there is no way the toiling Chinese and Indians are going to give way.

With only so much to go around, it has been inevitably the Malay's and bumiputras who have suffered by opting to fall for the political ploy of the BN leaders.

By lending their support and heeding to BN, the bumiputras have become like sheep led to the slaughter.

Mahathir's biggest fear and worry now is that the Malay's and other bumiputras will turn their backs on BN and destroy his legacy.

This is why the ageing and ailing Mahathir is still running from pillar to post try to shore up and beef up the defences of BN in the hope that the national coalition will still be able to cling on to power.

But in the coming future it looks as if BN is set to crack up as already the component parties of BN have lost much of their influence such as the MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP.

Mahathir's desperate cry is set to end in a breakdown of BN as the ruling coalition and pave the way for a New Malaysia which is long overdue. - Malaysia Chronicle