Tok Pa must feed the poor, not the rich

 

From Zaid Ibrahim

Mustapa Mohamed is not just another minister; he is like an institution. Since the days of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Daim Zainuddin and one other, a triumvirate, Tok Pa was the architect of many economic policies for the country.

Whenever there is a search for an economic affairs minister; there is no other name that will be put forward. The country needs a first-class mind coupled with a first-class heart, the heart that cares about the poor and the marginalised.

I am glad that he has announced that under the 12th Malaysia Plan, the government will address the issues of poverty at all levels. His own family was not exactly middle class in Bachok, so he must have had some experience about what it’s like to be poor.

The subject of poverty has been part of our government’s 5-year plans for as long as I can remember. But this subject should not be in our current plan at all.

We should have become like South Korea, Singapore, and China by now. We have regressed. Our march towards prosperity and high income has floundered. That’s very clear.

After Covid-19 we will probably have another 1 million added to the poverty group.

Poorer than Vietnam

Tok Pa has to start by asking why did we not become like our neighbour or China or Japan or South Korea. Why are we even poorer than Vietnam?

The real treason is that our leaders are preoccupied with becoming rich.

The government wants to be rich, instead of taking the people out of poverty. So the government dabbles in all kinds of business. They privatised government business and assets, but at great cost to the people.

Some individuals become filthy rich by taking over government assets and selling them off. This is not the way to help the people.

Buying the profit motive

The government used to own a national savings entity, Bank Pertanian and other cooperatives. Then some bright sparks suggested we corporatise them. They wanted to be more efficient. Efficiency it seemed was more urgently needed, rather than helping the needy.

So when these government entities were corporatised, they started hiring “clever’ executives from commercial banks and the private sector. Profit becomes the main focus. So is the bonus to be paid to these executives.

Naturally, these government entities prefer to lend to big corporations.

It made more sense to them if Agrobank lends RM500 million at good rates to conglomerates like IOI instead of RM500,000 to an old farmer because they don’t have to be exposed to any risk.

Equally, Bank Rakyat would be more inclined to lend to big companies; unlike the poor farmers cooperatives or traders, big companies have all the paperwork sorted out, and hence risk assessment is easier. Just follow Bank Negara guidelines.

Do the rich pay tax?

Tok Pa has to answer a very basic question. What is the government’s role? Should not helping the people be a priority?

It is no good following Mahathir’s mantra that it is OK to give projects or loans to the rich or big companies because they pay taxes. I don’t know how much the rich pay in taxes. Clever people are not always honest.

What must not be forgotten is the role of the government to give a helping hand to the rakyat. A good and responsible government wants to make society more equal, and opportunities more accessible.

Life is hard for most people in the country. The government should not be too preoccupied with profit. It should be concerned how to implement policies to give jobs, provide an adequate safety net and improve the income of the rakyat

Other rich countries limit the kind of business government dabbles in; to those strategic and high technology businesses. They also privatised difficult and sophisticated projects; but they are always towards helping the people, as opposed to intermediaries.

‘Get rich quick’ syndrome

Our government wants to make quick money.

They want to build an RM2 billion airport in Kulim when that money can be better used to help the poor in Yan and other outlying districts, to overcome floods, and pay for other infrastructure inadequacies.

They spent RM3.5 billion on Bestari Net, but what is there about our schools’ internet connectivity to be proud of? Now another RM15 billion will go towards 5G.

I am sure Tok Pa will be hard-pressed to explain how those megaprojects will alleviate poverty. Don’t tell me about the trickle-down effect, please. The government dabbles in all sorts of businesses but the benefits and the money does not always go down to the people.

Enriching the middle-men

I don’t know if the money even gets to the government. How come the government has no money to employ doctors on a permanent basis if they have received so much money from the privatised and corporatised entities?

I suspect the intermediaries become rich but not the government nor the people. There is a big layer of intermediaries who are a threat to poverty alleviation programmes.

To Tok Pa, I want to suggest this: do not trust private and corporatised government entities and GLCs to understand the difficulties of the rakyat. Government must revert to using and employing government servants who are still happy to serve the people.

Cut the deadwood

If we have to remove some of the civil servants who are incapable of doing their work, please remove them. It is better to have 800,000 highly skilled and motivated civil servants than 1.6 million who cannot perform and have no heart to serve.

Tok Pa should know that rich and prosperous countries have the best and the brightest to serve the government. Unless we have a transformed civil service we will not be able to alleviate poverty and bring prosperity to the people.

What good are extravagant and nice-sounding policies that have failed to work in the last 50 years?

We have played politics with peoples’ lives for too long. This must end.

We can’t replace deadwood and inefficient civil servants through private sector recruitment alone; smart guys understand corporate principles and figures but do not understand the rakyat’s needs.

We need a reformed, motivated and inspired civil service to lead the march towards poverty alleviation. That’s what we see in developed countries. Why should it be different here? - FMT

Zaid Ibrahim is a former federal minister.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.