If it has failed, just discard it?

So don’t try to tell me about what’s wrong with the NEP. I told the government that same thing back in 1985 and I suffered because of that. I paid a heavy price by getting blacklisted for pointing out the flaws in the implementation of the NEP. I became Umno’s number one enemy for coining the word Umnoputera and declaring these people a traitor to the Malay race who should be lined up and shot.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

One very crucial point that was raised by those who had participated in the New Economic Policy (NEP) debate (or rather quarrel) over the last one week is that the NEP has failed, it has been abused by those in power to enrich themselves, it is a racist and discriminatory policy, and hence it should be discarded because it does not work and it does not achieve the objective as was originally intended.

This is certainly one view and a view that must not be rejected because all views are valid and should be respected in a civil society like Malaysia. The argument of whether it is a right view or a wrong view does not come into play because right and wrong depend on your belief system. For example, the implementation of the Islamic Sharia law would be right to fundamentalist or orthodox Muslims and wrong to liberal Muslims or non-Muslims.

From 1974 to 1994, I lived in Terengganu and was active in the Kuala Terengganu Rotary Club. I was, in fact, its Secretary for about seven years. Note that the majority of our members were non-Malays because some Malays seem to have this impression that the Rotary Club is a secret Zionist organisation and another form of Freemasonry. Hence the Malay membership was rather low although the population of Terengganu is about 97% Malay.

As part of my Rotary work, our committee used to visit the rural schools in remote places such as Wakaf Tapai and Kuala Berang, which are predominantly agricultural areas where piped water and electricity are considered luxuries. (That was why I did good business selling petrol/diesel engine-driven water pumps, generators, kerosene lamps, and so on).

It is therefore no coincidence that cholera is an almost on-going problem (and amongst the highest in West Malaysia) and infant/childbirth deaths are considered biasa (normal). It is also the reason why people there (meaning Malays) do not practice family planning (even when the government distributes tens of millions of condoms free of charge). They need more children because these children die so often.

My personal project (which I paid for from my own pocket) was to distribute free Bata school shoes to the school children in those places (I have written about this before). This is because these children were so poor they walked around barefooted.

A few months later, I again visited these schools and discovered that these school children still walked to school barefooted. They would hang their shoes around their neck and put them on only when they entered the school compound. The reason for this, according to the headmaster I spoke to, was so that they did not wear out their very precious Bata shoes.

I then told the Bata retailer to give them two pairs of shoes each and inform them that we will replace them as soon as they wear out -- so no need to hang these shoes around their neck and walk barefooted any more. (I don’t know whether it is because I am getting old and sentimental that I write this with tears dripping down my cheeks).

If you were to look at the Malays living in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar, Damansara, Subang Jaya, Shah Alam, and so on, then definitely the Malays do not need the NEP any longer. I have bumped into many Malaysian Malays shopping in Bicester Village (where even I cannot afford to shop but only go there to ‘look see’) and for sure they do not need the NEP (even the Chinese kalah in shopping).

If you want to see whether the NEP is no longer needed then don’t just look at the Malays in the big towns and cities. Go to the rural areas in the East Coast and East Malaysia and see how the Malays (and natives) there live. They certainly still need help.

Now, that does not mean the Chinese and Indians are all super-rich and that only the Malays or natives of East Malaysia are poor and destitute. There are many Chinese and Indians who are poor as well. Hence the NEP should cover these poor Chinese and Indians as well. That was what it was supposed to be but that is not what is happening.

That is my first bone of contention.

I agree with the argument that the NEP has been exploited and abused to make some people very rich. In fact, I was the one who raised this point almost 30 years ago back in 1985 and which resulted in me being blacklisted by the government because of that allegation.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah can confirm this because I made this allegation during a seminar in his Ministry, which he personally chaired. When I made that allegation there was a stunned silence in the hall until Ku Li clapped and then all the other participants in the seminar joined him to clap as well. Nevertheless, the government still blacklisted me and for many years thereafter I could not get any government contracts.

So don’t try to tell me about what’s wrong with the NEP. I told the government that same thing back in 1985 and I suffered because of that. I paid a heavy price by getting blacklisted for pointing out the flaws in the implementation of the NEP. I became Umno’s number one enemy for coining the word Umnoputera and declaring these people a traitor to the Malay race who should be lined up and shot.

But should the 95% needy be made to pay for the transgressions of the 5% corrupt? Is it fair to punish all Malays for the misdeeds of a handful of Malays?

That is my second bone of contention.

Many things do not work well in Malaysia, the NEP being one of them. It looks like our defence policy is also a failure judging by what happened in Lahat Datu recently. Do we then disband the army?

There are many complaints about the police force as well. Do we abolish the police force and allow everyone to carry guns and look after their own safety like in the Old Wild West or like in some parts of the Middle East today?

The election system is also flawed. Hitler managed to rule with only 30% of the votes and then took the world through a bloody war that saw the sacrifice of tens of millions of lives. Barisan Nasional will be able to form the next government even if it garners only 45% of the votes in the coming general election. Should we then abolish general elections?

We need to be more mature and realistic in evaluating things. We cannot always look at the small picture while ignoring the big picture. Some things work. Many things do not work.

Gambling is bad. Families break up because of gambling. But gambling is not banned or abolished. In fact, Singapore is exploiting gambling as a source of revenue. And Singapore is supposed to be one of the more sensible countries, even more sensible than Malaysia.

It is easy for those with money in their pockets to demand that the NEP be abolished. But when you walk to school barefooted, the NEP is the only thing you have to guarantee your future.

What we need is a better NEP, not the end of the NEP. And while Barisan Nasional has failed to offer us that better NEP, I do not see any alternative better NEP from Pakatan Rakyat either.

And that is my third bone of contention.