Support for NEP coming from ‘captive minds’, says Ku Li


By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah resumed his attack on the New Economic Policy (NEP) today, stating that “captive minds” continue to support it despite Malaysia moving further from its objective of redistributing wealth through pro-Bumiputera policies.

The Umno veteran said there has been “no intellectual inquiry” into why “despite many years of implementing the NEP, inequitable distribution of income continues to plague the people” as “we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independent of current stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and others.”

Ku Li today said, “…The NEP…has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots.” — file pic
“If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results, then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must be wrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

“Our thinking is based completely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of politics, education, economics, planning, and so forth. Needless to say, we promote a racial world view that thrives on the policy of divide and rule,” the Kelantan prince said at a book launch in Ipoh this morning.

Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li, had in February said “as a former finance minister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of the NEP to create an incubated class of Malay capitalists.”

His statement further fuelled scrutiny of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s policies after the Najib administration decided to settle out of court the RM589 million debt owed by former Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) chief Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli.

The settlement sum was undisclosed, prompting intense public criticism and attacks from the opposition over the right of taxpayers to know the amount of public funds recovered.

Tajudin, 65, had served as the airline’s executive chairman from 1994 to 2001 and was a poster boy of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s now-discredited policy of nurturing a class of Malay corporate captains on government largesse during the Mahathir administration.

Ku Li, one of the greatest critics of the NEP and Dr Mahathir’s handling of the policy, had challenged the long-serving prime minister for leadership of Umno in 1987, which he subsequently lost by a narrow margin.

He said in his speech today that the country’s education system does “not encourage the moral and intellectual reform of the mind” resulting in a lack of debate on major issues such as good governance, corruption and rule of law.

“To this very day, the electorate has not understood the implications of the NEP which has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The longer we try the policy, the further we are from the original goal.

“The discrepancy between vision and reality has taken an alarming turn. It has gone far beyond economics into the realm of ethics and morality. In numerous instances it has taken the form of corruption and decadence which has pushed the economy further down the drain,” he said.

He said “wanton corruption and wasteful spending” had resulted in spiralling national debt that now amounts to RM456 billion or 53 per cent of the GDP, which “if we are not careful, it won’t take us long before we become another Greece.”

  1. #1 by Winston on Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 6:47 pm

    And who is this evil doctor?

  2. #2 by yhsiew on Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 7:51 pm

    The NEP has been abused to divert the nation’s wealth to BN elite/cronies such as the case of “cattle condo”. That is why many Malays still remain poor today.

  3. #3 by Bigjoe on Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 8:50 pm

    BUT a free mind also means a responsible one, the more freedom, the more responsibility.. Truth be told, the UMNOputras don’t mind having a captive mind, they rather not be burdened with the complications of the real world. What they fear is to be free of their addiction and their fantasy, they don’t care so long as its in a gilded cage..

  4. #4 by waterfrontcoolie on Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 10:53 pm

    Who is the EVIL DOC? Ha! Ha! Ha! Well He is the REAL Spin! They will have to support him as he had hooked them with bait and sinker! Even if the rumour of the current PM is concerned, he might still pull out both the bait and the sinker together! If he were man enough, he could still act like a REAL PM and bite the bullet; but at las, he isn’t gonna be the one to keep the pride of his family! It would appear he would simply drown in the Cow-dung or even shit!

  5. #5 by GodIsWatching on Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 11:02 pm

    Ku Li’s cautionary statement of the obvious can truly only have sting and bear potent results to reform the belligerent, decayed and unrepentant UMNO leaders whose mind are captive.

    Knowing UMNO (the self-anointed supreme league that shall never knows to admit its foolish mistakes and that is only capable to remain in self denial to skirt around every major public policy disaster simply hoping for Malaysians to forget) – these observations by an UMNO veteran would typically be brushed aside by some whitewashed baseless justification, or even more expectedly, an automated single sentence by the UMNO fat cats that Ku Li’s a traitor or to the likes of it.

    Quality education, good governance, transparency and rule of law and natural justice have long been thrown on out the window by UMNO BN. It is so entrenched in corruption, cronyism, abuses of powers, ultra vires conduct and flagrantly breaching principles of law and justice that UMNO BN is no longer bothered even to restore any form of confidence to the doubting and discontented public by declaring war against these ills and decadence.

    Instead, BN UMNO’s strategy for GE 13 is so clearly to go out for the kill with dishing out millions and millions of the rakyat’s money to feed the ruthless machinery of money politix and to continue to dangerously spew racial and religious divides with the hope of rallying up ghosts of the past. This is merely an old fashioned strategy by an irrelevant & out of touch UMNO which is doomed from the beginning,

  6. #6 by GodIsWatching on Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 11:23 pm

    Social and moral decadence amongst UMNOputras, unethical BN leaders who commit crimes and wrongdoings with little or no remorse, who are unteachable and unlearnable, and who know nothing in adopting basic principles of FairPlay and of being magnanimous politicians are all whose minds have long been captive to pride, personal gain, arrogance, greed, power and self glorification with almost no fear of God.

    May this reminder to all Malaysians also equip all pro-UMNO supporters to convert to changing and embracing a new, dynamic, capable and cleaner government this GE13.

    There is power to change. There is power in change.

  7. #7 by tak tahan on Sunday, 1 April 2012 - 11:59 pm

    Yo man

  8. #8 by boh-liao on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 1:19 am

    TIME 4 M’sians rakyat n voters 2 learn something fr Myanmar!

  9. #9 by k1980 on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 2:00 am

    Moo’s next claims—-
    1. Malaysians have the highest GDP per capita in the world
    2. Price of petrol in Malaysia the cheapest in the world.
    3. Malaysia will grab the most gold medals in the 2012 London Olympics

    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/guan-eng-calls-muhyiddins-education-claim-preposterous/

  10. #10 by k1980 on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 2:08 am

  11. #11 by monsterball on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 6:01 am

    The speech is excellent..but not something Malaysians are not aware of.
    Perhaps his speech will make more Muslims supporting Najib and Mahathir to wake up and read.
    We can say…it maybe a blessing in disguise that Razaliegh is still an Umno B member talking within..exposing them…or a sour grape getting nothing for being a loyal member.`11

  12. #12 by k1980 on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 7:44 am

    BEWARE of these “born-again” unmopootras! They have something up their sleeves

    http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/no-holds-barred/48332-how-fast-we-forget

  13. #13 by Bigjoe on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 8:04 am

    I have to correct Razaleigh’s statement:

    MOST OF OUR INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM ” does not encourage the moral and intellectual reform of the mind”, not just our education system. Be it the judicial, the enforcement, the media, the social, the business and work culture especially the civil service etc.

    We have so much broken system. The only saving grace is our Malaysian spirit that is of inherently of moderation and tolerance that stood strong still despite being pounded and damaged for 40+ decades of UMNO-Perkasa/BN rule.

  14. #14 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 9:16 am

    Once upon a time in malaysia we do have malays chinese indians etc etc etc. Then it became a nation of malays only for the rest are no longer treated as equals. In fact they were regarded as unwanteds and were given less status than incoming indons and muslim filipinos. And today, we see only umnoputras. Even the malays have dissapeared from the government’s radar. Umno sees only umnoputras and umno strives only for umnoputras for now malaysia is umno and umno is malaysia.

  15. #15 by Godfather on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 11:12 am

    This country needs to go bankrupt first, like Greece. The vast majority of Melayus don’t want any change to the NEP. The kampung folks are happy as commodity prices have been really good the last couple of years; rambutan prices are at an all-time high. They have Astro, they have flat screen TVs, they have their Proton. Why do they need to change the government ?

    The only way they will wake up is when the country goes bankrupt, and their children all go out of work and have to return to their kampungs to rely on the old folks. When the country’s commodities all go towards pledging for a new round of debt negotiations with international creditors.

  16. #16 by mauriyaII on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 11:50 am

    Ku Li, though still clinging onto the sinking UMNO ship tries his best what is rotten in UMNO B which is a totally alien one compared to the original UMNO.

    The urban well informed and educated Malays are aware of diseased UMNO and its blatant corruption, racism, and the wanton abuse of race and religious issues to cling onto power.

    Ku Li should call it a day where UMNO B is concerned. It cannot be saved or even rehabilitated. Its demise is imminent.

    Ku Li should just resign and join any of the Pakatan Rakyat parties and initiate a road show in the rural areas and the hinterland to expose all the evil doings of UMNO. He should not only expose all the multi-billion ringgit scandals but should go a step further and explain to the rural folks how they have been kept ignorant, exploited and manipulated through their propaganda media. He, being an elder statesman and a previous Finance Minister will be in a better position to reveal how the NEP has been hijacked by UMNO B to enrich its top leaders, family members and cronies.

    Ku Li is just wasting his time and energy castigating the UMNO/BN through the alternate media because those who have access to it are already aware of the problems highlighted by him.

    Ku Li should become a Pakatan Rakyat member and participate in ceramahs held in the kampungs and rural areas. His presence and words would carry more weight under such circumstances.

    The rural Malays are still a feudal society. They still take the word of their leaders (however corrupted, tainted, morally decadent and kleptomaniac) as gospel truth.

    Ku Li, just go to the kampungs and spread your gospel of truth about the thieving, lying, murdering, raping and plundering UMNOputras.
    You would be doing the country and yourself a great service.

  17. #17 by Jong on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 3:14 pm

    MauriyaII is right!
    TR should be brave enough to stand up and be counted, ditch UMNO and go stand shoulder to shoulder with Pakatan politicians, speak his heart to the rural kampung folks, unlodge those ‘captive minds’ and expose the bunch of scumbags – Zatcows, C4murderers, Scorpenethieves, PKFZ and highway robbers!

    Most urbanites are well informed lot today, don’t need him to churn out 2nd hand news; it will be like bringing ice to the Artic! Yeah, do yourself a grrreat service Ku Li, and feel good about it!

  18. #18 by sotong on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 5:20 pm

    For decades, our so called ” leaders ” do not the basic courage and decency to speak out strongly against corruption, bad leadership, gross mismanagement, injustice and etc..destroying the country.

    As usual they will come out and speak the truth when there is a serious crisis……it is too late, the damage is permanent, long term and far reaching!

  19. #19 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 6:15 pm

    Why is kuli still in umno? Tactical reason. And very important for him to stay on in umno and to be able to hardwire his thoughts into the hearts and minds of umno’s core supporters – those kampung malay folks who are still sentimental about umno (the old). His condemnation of umno (the new) and his call to reject the present crop of corrupt umno leaders will be heard by many; but not when he is out of umno.

  20. #20 by negarawan on Monday, 2 April 2012 - 11:15 pm

    KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Monday presented a report card detailing the reforms his National Transformation Programme has brought to the nation including a 45% increase of income per capita and the elimination of hardcore poverty.

    In a speech broadcast live on RTM1, TV3, and Astro Awani, Najib told viewers that per capita income had risen to USD9700 from the USD6700 it was at two years ago.
    ——————————–
    Najip, this is pure BS! People in the streets are feeling poorer today than two years ago. Only your UMNO cronies and yourself are getting filthy rich. You protect yourself and your cronies like Shalizat so that you can continue to rob the country. You take billions for yourself but give pittance to the rakyat and declare that you have done a good job. We will vote you and UMNO out in the coming GE13!

  21. #21 by Winston on Tuesday, 3 April 2012 - 12:28 pm

    Give UMNO/BN the Malaysian Wipeout!!!!
    UMNO/BN has been given five over decades!
    And have gone from bad to worse to worst!
    Time to give PR a chance!

  22. #22 by monsterball on Thursday, 5 April 2012 - 3:51 am

    To me…KuLi biggest weakness is his very selfish character.
    Brilliant as he is welknown…nevertheless he has proven to be unreliable in many instances…concerning the welfare of the people.
    I cannot forget he walked hand in hand with Mahathir…his arch rival few years ago…hoping Mahathir has he power to make him a PM…sometime..somehow.
    Now no results….out he comes….talking what \Malaysians like to hear.
    Is it from his heart or again for selfish reasons to attract attentions from PR leaders?
    He is no better than Raja Petra in mind and behaviors.
    Above everything else..he does not have a strong character to be somebody at this age now.
    Lets hope…he will stay CONSTANT….open up UMNO b supporters.. eyes and brains…and help to wing vote to support a change of Govt.
    All he needs is to focus and be consistent.
    He has the brain…but does he have the will power to do the right thing…consistently?
    Now….he can be bought by the highest bidder.

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