YOURSAY | Anwar needs a Malaysian agenda, not a Bumiputera one

 

YOURSAY| ‘A progressive govt needs to address the agendas of all its people’.

COMMENT | Anwar needs a bumiputera agenda

Proarte: We should focus on not talking so much about race but focus on development, poverty alleviation, and education.

We cannot alter the mindset of the Malays overnight. This has been immorally fashioned by their corrupt leaders for generations with the economic plight of the B40 Malays being blamed on the Chinese, who in their minds have taken more than their fair share of Malaysia’s wealth.

“Malaysian”, unfortunately in Malaysia, has been defined by the Malay supremacists and Kleptocrats who dominate the politics in this country to mean non-Malay, particularly Chinese interests.

The notion of “inclusiveness” is seen as a threat to the Malays who feel comfortable with a “Malay only” agenda even though the sad reality is this ‘Ketuanan’ (supremacist) policy has benefited mainly the elites who robbed in the name of the Malays and mismanaged the economy for the past 50 years.

For the sake of the Malays in the long run, a Malaysian agenda needs to be developed which harnesses the strengths of the whole nation. Intuitively, racism and discrimination cannot be good for society.

This is something Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim understands and dealing with massive leakages is his priority. A better-managed economy will improve the economic plight of the B40 Malays and will automatically lead to less manipulation by the supremacists and less distrust of the non-Malays.

Chinese and Indians are vital for our country and its long-term stability and so the idea that Anwar needs a “Bumiputera agenda” to the exclusion of a “non-Bumiputera agenda” is a foolhardy one.

A progressive and reformist government needs to address the "agendas" of all its people in its varying needs and complexities.

Existential Turd: Over many decades, successive governments have practically transformed Malaysia into a fertile ground for religious fundamentalism intertwined with racial supremacy, rooted in a cultivated inferiority complex.

On the economic front, the only policy they have is to give people fish instead of teaching them to fish. On top of that, corruption through layers of bureaucracy schemed off a sizeable portion of the fish.

Successive governments are more interested in dividing the pie rather than baking the pie.

Look at how we handle the price of eggs. When inflation increases the price of chicken feed, local farmers are not allowed to increase egg prices to offset the expense. When there is no profit to be made, local farmers stopped producing eggs. And now we are talking about importing eggs.

Mind you, this policy comes from the supposedly enlightened Pakatan Harapan-led government.

On the education front, successive governments have been pandering to the lowest common denominator, trying to outdo PAS on religious fundamentalism. As a consequence, generations of Malays received little education other than religious education.

They become an economic burden to the country because they are unproductive, which necessitates even more fish-giving, and they become a large voter base for PAS.

On the election front, gerrymandering has precisely given the people little understanding and appreciation of modern progressive governance an overweight influence on the outcome of elections.

(gerrymandering)

BN planted and nurtured the very seed of its own destruction for many decades. The chickens have finally come home to roost. That failure not only eviscerated Umno’s dominance, but it also consigned the very people it claims to defend into perpetual backwardness.

What do we say about doing the same thing repeatedly?

Magnanimous46: This is thinking out of the box. A fresh alternative. Anwar has been bombarded with loads of ideas and proposals and this one, changing the fundamentals, is worth a try.

It may need major, long-term reforming and re-strategising the mundane but it appears reasonable and practical considering the complex issues we are facing.

It involves the tedious effort of revising or readjusting the trends and policies moulded over decades by the political elites in the name of helping the poor Malays.

But, in effect, it has driven them into the fold of extremists with the ulterior motive of separating the Malay Muslims from the non-Muslims, allegedly in line with an Islamic theocracy in mind, as the way forward. As it is said, drastic times call for drastic measures.

David Dass: Harapan should focus on the poor of the country. House them, feed them, and educate them. Give them the knowledge and skills they need to lead productive lives. Wean them off state aid and subsidies, gradually.

Create a class of self-employed Bumiputeras by giving them the knowledge and skills required. Include business studies in the school curriculum. Establish top-class business schools. Make sure microloans are available to enterprising women.

Empower women and disempower misogynistic men. Create competition. Eating food is a great Malaysian obsession. Let our chefs and hawkers compete to be the best that they can be. Make our people tough and resilient. They can and will measure up.

Brave Malaysian: If Anwar wants to craft a Bumiputera agenda, I think the non-Malays, especially the Chinese will be willing to back it. I have always believed that the rich Malay elites should never benefit from the New Economic Policy and other subsidies.

For example, the discount for houses for Bumiputeras are abused by the elites who have the buying power to flip and earn good money from the discounts.

These discounts are sponsored not by the developers or the government but by the non-Malay buyers. This has been factored into the price of the houses for the non-Malays.

You think the non-Malays are upset with this? They have accepted it but would rather that discounts (even bigger ones) are given to the B40 and M40 group for their first homes. No discounts for the elites.

That would help the targeted group to benefit, even if it’s at the expense of non-Malays. They have accepted this concept for decades and would be more than happy to see that their sacrifice goes to the right people rather than the millionaires and billionaires who are much richer than the ones subsidising the discounts. - Mkini