'Najib's bumi policy no different from NEP'

The Bumiputera Economic Empowerment (BEE) Agenda revealed recently by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is similar to the New Economic Policy (NEP) of the 1970s, says the largest coalition of Chinese businesses in the country.

The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (Acccim) president Lim Kok Cheong said he doubted the main objective of BEE was merely to help poor Malays, as claimed by the government.

"(The BEE is) just like the NEP that was introduced 43 years ago. Why is it that now there are still many hardcore poor Malays in the country?" Lim asked during a press conference today.

He said the government should embrace the values of fairness and transparency, and accord a larger slice of the economic cake to the other races as well.

Lim pointed out that Najib had said that BEE was launched to thank the Malays who had been very supportive of the BN government.

“On this, I don’t wish to comment much. But generally speaking, Acccim supports hardcore poor eradiation (but) the poor group does not refer to only one particular race, the bumiputeras, (as) the other races also have poor people,” he said.

He added that the government should embrace the values of fairness and transparency, and accord a larger slice of the economic cake to the other races as well.

‘A never-ending policy’

Lim also slammed two government ministers for making contradictory statements on BEE, with one saying that the policy was not an extended version of NEP and the other one saying yes, it was.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Razali Ibrahim has said that BEE would be a policy to benefit all races but Finance Minister II Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah later admitted that BEE was a continuation of the NEP.

Quoting several economists, Lim (right) said BEE has been referred by them as a ‘Never Ending Policy’.

“If the government wants to utilise BEE to continue the NEP, the effectiveness of such an economic model should be evaluated as well.

“All in all, eradicating poverty is a joint effort but not limited to a particular group only. I hope the government will study properly on how to benefit all races fairly,” he stressed.

Lim also emphasised on the importance of enlarging the economic prospects of the country to reach the target of becoming high-income nation by 2020.