‘Keluarga Malaysia’ rings hollow after 12MP’s unveiling

 

I was very disappointed with the recent announcement about the 12th Malaysia Plan made by the prime minister in Parliament. I am sure many others felt the same way.

I thought we had moved on and had become cleverer with the formulation of our future social policy and economic planning.

After all, so many factual arguments have been put forward by so many different groups of experts. Statistics and economic data are available aplenty to show where we are now, how we went wrong and where we should be heading instead.

We are not short on social and economic experts, either. Indeed, we are now caught in a precarious position during a critical era.

We badly need to redesign and re-engineer our priorities; our economy, social integration and education systems. So, we anticipated all these to be addressed in the 12th Malaysia Plan.

We are supposed to focus on a need-based economic strategy rather than a race-based policy from the 1970s. Surely, we wouldn’t want to revert to where we started?

That old New Economic Policy (NEP) is a bad chapter in Malaysia’s history. It has not only failed to raise the economic status of the target group, the poor Malays, but it has also widened the gap between the rich and poor Malays.

So, there is no good excuse on the part of this government to reintroduce the NEP. Several weeks ago, it prided itself with a new slogan, the “Keluarga Malaysia” (KM) concept. Obviously, there are sharp contradictions between KM and the contents of the 12MP.

Failed policy instruments

Many policy instruments devised by the NEP, launched in 1971, with the intention of uplifting the economic position of the Bumiputeras (Malays) have failed to materialise over the 30 years of its stringent implementation.

The twin objectives of the NEP were to eradicate poverty and to redistribute wealth; and government participation and intervention in business and commercial activities by the formation of the state economic enterprises and GLCs.

In fact, some of the policy initiatives have been hijacked, abused and misused by those in power at the time. It gave rise to the creation of the so-called Malay elites and party warlords, who still prevail today.

These issues and subsequent problems are not addressed by the 12MP. There is a need to review (and possibly to admit failures too), before new plans are introduced.

Numerous examples and first-hand experience could be pointed out but that is not the intention of this article.

Glaring failures of NEP

Notable and glaring failures of the NEP since its introduction in 1971 include government scholarships disbursement, public university quotas and funding allocations which were mainly taken up by rich Bumiputeras with the right connections rather than those in need.

That partially explains why urban and rural poor families remain poor till today.

Over a larger scale, many business opportunities such as vehicle import permits (APs), 30% share equity prior to listing of companies, major government contracts, urban land development in local authorities and land conversion as well as high positions in government services, were either allocated or given to senior party members, their families, relatives or cronies.

The term “Alibaba” wasn’t coined for fun, but rather for the dubious reality of permits or contracts being granted to Bumiputeras, but with capital from – and business operations carried out by – non-Bumiputeras.

Many would have thought that the government, having realised the mistakes made, learned from those errors and now wish to put in place a proper and comprehensive plan for shared prosperity, with a focus on the needy group, the B40. This should be done irrespective of their race or religious background.

But we were wrong to assume that.

Plague of corruption

The prime minister, who is from Umno, first of all, does not address the failure of his political party to root out the systemic plague of corruption within their ranks.

Despite all the political upheavals that Umno went through in GE14, the deceit and financial scandals that rocked and robbed the nation, unfolded via 1MDB, Felda, Tabung Haji and many others, one would sensibly imagine that in this one last chance, prior to the next general election, an Umno PM could put this plan into good use as their saviour.

But is it a case of Umno not having any sense of sincerity? Let alone any genuine interest to rectify their past mistakes?

Or could it be that this 12MP should be viewed as an opportunity for party leaders and members to continue with the previous malpractices? If so, then, that view is indeed a big mistake.

Playing the race card for a national development goal is definitely not appropriate. Neither will it be considered smart politically, in the face of the Undi18 crowd, coming in for the next general election.

Pulse of the nation

The 12MP gives the impression that the Prime Minister’s Office lacks strategists, thinkers and advisers. They must have relied on civil servants to deliver this plan.

But the top echelon of the civil service, who are neither politicians nor economists, are also detached from the nation’s political reality and in parallel, the pulse of the nation.

Poor Malaysians do not only come from Malays, they comprise people of all ethnic backgrounds including Orang Asal and also those in Sarawak and Sabah.

They have been neglected in the previous policy initiatives, many are still without basic amenities and have suffered in the course of this nasty pandemic.

Surely, they should now be the target groups in this new five-year plan?

The nation does not need a repeat of the 1970s blueprint which favours people of one race over others.

The bottom-most group, the B40, should be the main target. This bottom 40% of the nation’s population consists of households earning less than RM2,850 per month.

As reflected in many economic reports, the B40 category also consists of the Malays, about 62% of them.

In 2019, the overall average monthly income in Malaysia was only RM7,901. But the newly launched 12MP says that the target average household income would be RM10,000 per month.

Household median income for T20, M40, and B40 in 2019 and 2016 Source: Statistics dept, 2020.

New skill sets

But where are the new initiatives to increase skill sets for young Malaysians?

Where are the revisions on the national education systems that will ensure new skill sets are learned and acquired in the next 10-15 years? Where are the IT-based syllabus, the freedom of information, creativity, the arts, science and entrepreneurship?

Dividing them young through a race-based system is damaging to national unity, too. Channelling our young minds through tahfiz schools, for instance, will not give Bumiputeras any head start.

Where are the reviews on this important subject of education for all? This is the main pillar for the next generation to thrive on.

Clearly, the 12MP is flawed and fails to address the national agenda. The government must bring in experts to assist in the formulation of a better and workable framework that will benefit all groups of people, especially the lower strata of the society.

Otherwise, that “Keluarga Malaysia” concept is a hollow political thing. - FMT

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