Archive for category NEP
Is Khazanah Nasional a bumi fund?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, NEM, NEP on Saturday, 11 February 2012
— Spencer Gan
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 11, 2012
FEB 11 — Dear Mr Prime Minister,
I need clarification. Two days ago, you announced that PNB and Khazanah Nasional will be divesting some of its businesses to bumiputera firms.
There was also the usual talk of open tenders and how qualified bumi firms will be considered. I am not going to bother about this talk of open tenders because it will snow in Malaysia before there is a level playing field in business.
What concerns me is this drive to ask Khazanah Nasional to divest its stake in non-core businesses to bumi firms. I thought Khazanah was the sovereign wealth fund of the NATION. And I thought that meant that Khazanah is the custodian of wealth belonging to ALL Malaysians.
If that is the case, then Khazanah Nasional should be divesting its non-core businesses to qualified Malaysian businesses. Read the rest of this entry »
Open letter to Dr M
— Mohd Ikhram Merican
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 30, 2012
JAN 30 — Dear Tun Dr M,
Many years ago, in 1986 or ‘87, I can’t remember the exact year, I had the pleasure of meeting you in a private family dinner. You were the guest of honour and I was a very young boy, excited to be in the vicinity of your towering presence. I had many things I wanted to say to you and when I walked up to where you were seated I could only manage one rhetorical question.
You were very kind. Although in the midst of conversation with my uncles, you stopped and gave me, a little boy, a few minutes of your time. I spoke to the prime minister. It was my two minutes of fame.
For the better part of my life you have been the prime minister of Malaysia. In all those years, I saw you as the best prime minister Malaysia has ever had. Sadly, I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t despise you or loathe you but I question your rationale for a good many things. There are so many issues that I would like to raise with you. It is near impossible to cover everything here but let me start with your latest blog post titled “Kaitan Bangsa Dengan Bisnes”. The Malaysian Insider reported this with the headline, “Dr M: Scrapping race-based policies will lead to chaos.”
I find it hard to believe that scrapping race-based policies will lead to chaos. The status quo is more detrimental to the country in the long run. The existing race-based policies have done little to improve the plight of the Malays. In fact it has created a class divide between the Malay haves and have-nots. This WILL split the Malays because severe class inequalities have caused revolutions, even in singular nations.
You believe not everyone has equal capabilities and some people must be given special consideration in business and other areas based on their race. This is an argument that neither makes sense nor justifies special considerations. Let me elaborate. Would you allow an aspiring surgeon to become one via special considerations, even if he is inherently bad at it? And would you trust your life under the knife with this person? This is what you propose.
Allow me to provide a further example. UiTM was founded in 1956 (as Dewan Latihan Rida) to facilitate the creation of Bumiputera professionals. Fifty-six years later, it ranks among the last in the QS World University Rankings. While it is the largest university in Malaysia, and has admittedly created many graduates, it has done little to create world-class professionals. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib is made Optimus Prime by Michael’s Decepticons
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, NEM, NEP, UMNO on Sunday, 29 January 2012
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 27, 2012
JAN 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak was crowned the “Father of Moderation and Transformation” by the World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF), which said the prime minister’s “fair and just leadership” had benefited the Chinese community “tremendously”. WCEF chairman Datuk Michael Yeoh said in his speech at the conferment ceremony today.
This was the major news item of the day. WCEF is a gathering of Chinese hongs and towkays eager to seek business favours from the PM. How does Michael Yeoh come by his assessment?
Among others, Yeoh praised Najib’s 1 Malaysia platform, his administration’s decision to increase allocation to Chinese schools and the introduction of tax exemptions for churches and temples, saying the initiatives were proof of the prime minister’s commitment to “fairness and justice”.
Fuyoh! I had to pinch myself. Never have I heard such outpouring of boot-licking averments which Michael sought to prove by stating the material I placed in italics above.
Let me steal the thunder from Michael’s shameless sycophantic offerings. Read the rest of this entry »
The last days of Umno are beginning
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics, Najib Razak, NEP on Thursday, 19 January 2012
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor
UMNO shows no signs of genuine reforms despite claims by PM Najib that UMNO is on the reform road as shown by the verdict of freedom for Anwar over the Sodomy 2 conspiracy. If there are no signs of reforms than UMNO will collapse in time, similar to what happened to the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1990.
Like Najib, Mikail Gorbachev tried to save Russia with his policies of ‘glasnost and perestroika’ but these failed to save Soviet Russia, because he could not introduce democracy and economic restructuring as there was no policies or infrastructure to modernise Russia.
Najib is also claiming that he has great plans to reform the country, ever since he introduced his 1 Malaysia program. However, all he had to deliver are just promises. Nothing concrete he promised to cut down corruption, but every day corruption is the rule in government departments, judiciary and the police. Events have overtaken Najib and there is no way he could reverse the corruption cancer pervading the country.
Read the rest of this entry »
Time to Pull ‘CSI: Malaysia’ Off the Air
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Economics, Najib Razak, NEP on Wednesday, 11 January 2012
By William Pesek
Jan 11, 2012
Bloomberg: The Ticker
If there’s any economy in Asia that needs a change in narrative, it’s Malaysia.
When the resource-rich nation of 28 million people has made headlines globally in recent years, they have been about sodomy charges against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, tension between Muslims and Christians, Beyonce’s bellybutton offending local sensibilities or murder investigations involving high-ranking officials. Malaysia really could have its own CSI crime drama.
Far from finding all this entertaining, many foreign investors eye Malaysia with skepticism. That’s a shame given the huge potential of an economy growing 5.8 percent. When you consider Asian economies that deserved far more attention in 2011 than they received, Malaysia is Exhibit A. It’s high time for Prime Minister Najib Razak to change the story, to shift the focus toward reforms, not tabloid scandals. Announcing the end of affirmative-action policies that hurt Malaysia’s competitiveness might be just the thing. Read the rest of this entry »
NEP’s Failure to Nurture Malay Entrepreneurs
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, NEP on Monday, 2 January 2012
by Bakri Musa
Chapter 11 : Embracing Free Enterprise
Encouraging Entrepreneurialism
As a long distance observer, let me suggest some reasons for NEP’s failure in this endeavor.
They all boil down to that basic defect of too much central planning and too rigid top-down command. Instead of trying to create an environment where budding Bumiputra entrepreneurs could thrive, the government went much further to actually select which individual Bumiputras would thrive and succeed.
These central planners presume to know the traits of a successful would-be businessman. That these planners—politicians and bureaucrats—have no experience in starting or running a business is conveniently ignored. Such hubris!
No surprise then that the pseudo entrepreneurs that the system produced were more adept in cashing in their close association with the politically powerful rather than being true creators and builders of wealth. They in turn perpetuated that same system in choosing their own set of suppliers, subcontractors, and vendors. Thus was born a class of Bumiputra entrepreneurs and businessmen more skillful at commercializing their political ties rather than being true wealth creators; a class of rent seekers and economic parasites rather than of genuine entrepreneurs. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Malaysia is not a member of the Asia Tigers Club of Singapore, Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taipei
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics, Education, Najib Razak, NEP, university on Thursday, 10 November 2011
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor
Can PM transform Malaysia to become a high income nation in 2016. When he cannot improve the economy to join the Asia tigers club of Singapore, Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taipei?
When became PM in 2009, Najib announced his proposals to transform the economy with his Economic Transformation Program (ETP) by injection of tens of billion ringgits promised largely by government related companies. His predecessor Tun Mahathir also injected billions but the economy scarcely moved and the FDIs did not come in.
But money is not the primary mover of the economy. More importantly it is manpower.
Since 1970, the NEP has been a negative factor to drive the economy. With the NEP the GDP of Malaysia began to fall far behind those of Singapore, Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan. Even now, the NEP has been a major factor in chasing away hundreds of thousands of our skilled manpower overseas, and this has affected the economy. While the four tigers leaped ahead to high income economies, while Malaysia stagnated.
Read the rest of this entry »
Mukhriz confirms Najib wants meritocracy for Malays
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, NEP on Tuesday, 18 October 2011
By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 18, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s call for meritocracy over the weekend meant finding the best Malays in the country but not abolishing pro-Bumiputera policies despite liberalising the economy, says Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.
The prime minister was reported to have said that affirmative action under the New Economic Policy (NEP) is “here to stay” by a pro-Umno blogger who attended a closed-door session with the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) Junior Science College alumni.
Mukhriz, who is the alumni president, confirmed the blog report with The Malaysian Insider, saying yesterday that Najib’s message was “that we are getting rid of rent-seekers and helping Malays become more competitive instead.”
The report quoted Najib as saying that the NEP would not be abolished but that meritocracy would be implemented among Malays to find “the best amongst Malays.” Read the rest of this entry »
Please walk the talk
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, NEM, NEP on Friday, 30 September 2011
— Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 30, 2011
SEPT 30 — One day soon, I hope a Malaysian leader will emerge who will say what he means and means what he says.
This leader will not tailor his message to his audience, be in love with symbolic acts and depend on image makeovers.
This leader will not be afraid of making unpopular but necessary decisions and policies for the country and will not allow family members or associates to plunder the country at will.
Prime Minister Najib Razak last night spoke at a gathering of Malay business and economic NGOs. He told them not to be too infatuated with protectionism. That was good but in the same speech he also reminded them that the government had reserved more than 40 per cent of the massive MRT project for Bumiputera companies.
That certainly sounds like protectionism to me, and molly-coddling a group of businessmen and creating unnatural business conditions for them. Read the rest of this entry »
Bumi quotas to go eventually, says Najib
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, NEM, NEP on Wednesday, 28 September 2011
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 27, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressed today the need to eventually do away with Bumiputera quotas but said the government must continue to support the community’s best talent to ensure a more competitive business environment.
The prime minister pointed out that the New Economic Model (NEM) promotes affirmative action based more on meritocracy, saying “we must promote the right Bumiputera”.
He said offering quotas would promote complacency, hamper economic growth and bury Bumiputera talent.
“What we have done in the past is we have not promoted the right kind of people.
“We want to do away from (with) quotas but we must support them (Bumiputera entrepreneurs) in a way that would allow them to grow,” he told the Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2011 here this evening.
“If we give them quotas, what will happen is that they will rest on their laurels and eventually, they will not gain expertise,” he added.
Najib said the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity target “does not mean anything”, particularly if entrepreneurs decide to sell off their shares when prices soar, leaving little in the hands of the Bumiputeras. Read the rest of this entry »
Beware of false prophets
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, NEP on Tuesday, 27 September 2011
— Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider
SEPT 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak certainly talks a good game. It is election season and he needs to win big so everything goes.
Today he talks about how Bumiputera quotas need to go, eventually. No one knows when this eventually will be because as we all know the Umno-hijacked New Economic Policy was extended under pressure from the Umno beneficiaries.
Najib is not the first Umno president to talk about removing quotas or taking away the crutches from Bumiputeras.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Badawi both mentioned this when they wanted to show Malaysians that they were enlightened leaders and when they were fishing for support from non-Malays before elections.
Needless to say all their “good intentions” never materialised. Once they got the votes, they promptly forgot about taking away the quotas and instead fortified the distortions in the system. Read the rest of this entry »
Bumis ‘typically’ sold government contracts for cars, houses, leaked study reveals
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, NEP on Tuesday, 20 September 2011
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 20, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — An unpublished Works Ministry study found that Bumiputera contractors as a rule sold their government contracts to buy luxury cars and houses apart from misusing payments received from the Treasury, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.
The cable, revealed by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, comes just after Putrajaya agreed to allocate RM8 billion worth of contracts in the country’s most expensive infrastructure project, the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which initially set strict rules for its contractors.
The US diplomatic cable quoted a Works Ministry source as saying the “Study on Bumiputera Contractor Leakage” was the result of feedback from various industry sources on failed and successful projects. The report was used by then-Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (picture) to castigate failing Bumiputera businessmen in February 2007.
“The current system of awarding lucrative government contracts to Bumis provides them with a strong economic incentive to simply act as agents, turning over as many projects as possible and taking a cut before handing each one off to a competent non-Bumi implementer.
“This ‘Bumi agent’ system is firmly entrenched in Malaysia. Any effort to make reforms is likely to be resisted not only by well-established Bumis, but also by the non-Bumi implementers who have built up a network of well-oiled agent partnership,” the US Embassy concluded in the report published by the Malaysia-Today news portal. Read the rest of this entry »
The Economist says well done Najib but…
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Najib Razak, NEP on Saturday, 17 September 2011
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 17, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — The influential international newspaper The Economist has praised Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his move to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) and other controversial security laws but points out that he will have to abolish “institutionalised ethnic discrimination” before he can assume the mantle of a radical reformer.
The extreme right-wing of Umno is expected to go along with the sweeping legislative changes as long as it does not touch on ethnic quotas and divisions, the newspaper said in an opinion published in its popular Banyan column yesterday.
“It is the system of ethnic quotas and divisions that is really holding the country back — if Mr Najib started to take an axe to all that, then absolutely nobody would question his credentials as a radical reformer,” the newspaper wrote. Read the rest of this entry »
After 54 years independence, Malaysia still sufferring in the middle income trap
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics, globalisation, Najib Razak, NEP on Thursday, 15 September 2011
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor
There is not much to celebrate after 54 years of independence, as Malaysia is still caught in a middle income trap, where 60% of our households are living below the poverty line of RM3000 per month.
In the past few weeks, PM Najib made some moves calculated to impress the people that the economy is resurging and well on the way to full recovery.
The first plan was to announce that FDIs (foreign direct investments) inflow was spectacular. He admitted that the FDI dropped to a low of US$1.5 billion in 2009 but in 2010 it had rebounded by over 500 per cent to US$9 billion. It looks impressive, but the increase was large only because it rebounded from a very low baseline.
However, the US$9 billion was minuscule compared to a FDI of US$38 billion in 2010 for Singapore, US$15 billion for Indonesia and US$105 billion for China.
Read the rest of this entry »
The NEP and the downfall of Malays
Posted by Kit in Mariam Mokhtar, NEP on Saturday, 3 September 2011
Mariam Mokhtar
FreeMalaysiaToday
September 2, 2011
The NEP may have caused an increase in the wealth of the Malay urban middle class but on the whole, many Malays remain poor.
COMMENT
Dr Mahathir Mohamad came to the defence of the New Economic Policy (NEP) when economist Ramon Navaratnam and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim condemned the NEP for discouraging foreign investment and for promoting corruption.
However, Mahathir failed to note that the NEP, like many of the government’s other programs with catchy, meaningless acronyms are only publicity stunts which fail to address the underlying problems that face many Malaysians, principally the Malays.
He said: “There may be corruption involved in some cases but the charge is not warranted because in most cases, the benefits of NEP have been enjoyed by almost every Malay and bumiputera. In fact, indirectly and, in some cases, directly it has benefited the non-bumiputera as well.”
The former prime minister’s selective amnesia serves him well. The NEP’s short-term benefits may have impressed his Cabinet colleagues but in the long term, the NEP has disadvantaged all other Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »
Applying Prospect Theory To Ending Affirmative Action
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Economics, NEP, UMNO on Thursday, 21 July 2011
By M. Bakri Musa
An insight of cognitive psychology (that sub-discipline dealing with mental processes like thinking and decision making) is that humans are far removed from the ideal of a rational self-interested Homo economicus (Economic man) when making decisions, contrary to the core assumption of traditional economics.
Two factors weigh heavily when we make decisions, given a set of alternatives. One, we are loss averse; that is, we magnify the value of a potential loss and minimize the potential gain even if the two are quantitatively the same. The other is that how those alternatives are framed very much influences our decision.
Although these insights refer to individual decision-making processes, nonetheless they can be extrapolated to the societal level, on how we collectively make decisions. This has relevance to the central wrenching issue dividing our Malay community today, on whether to continue or do away with affirmative action.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bersih rally may point to unequal wealth distribution, says Financial Times
By Clara Chooi
July 14, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak should take heed of last Saturday’s mass protest as a possible show of public distaste on income disparity in Malaysia, aside from a push for electoral reform, the Financial Times has said.
The daily reported in a commentary on its popular Lex column that the prime minister may have to lift the issue of unequal wealth distribution as a priority for his administration, noting that since the Umno president took office, he had chosen instead to focus on boosting Malaysia’s gross national income per capita (GNI). Read the rest of this entry »
Now Putrajaya hands LRT deal to UK firm ahead of Najib visit
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, NEM, NEP on Monday, 20 June 2011
By Shannon Teoh
June 20, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — A Finance Ministry committee has changed its mind by awarding the contract for the Kelana Jaya light rail transit (LRT) extension to a consortium led by British firm Colas, after controversially ordering a deal last week with another joint-venture.
But the committee’s latest decision continues to ignore the recommendation of LRT operator Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad for the contract to be awarded to a third company in the frame.
The Singapore Straits Times reported today that the joint-venture between Colas and CMC Engineering Sdn Bhd would be awarded the project, citing senior industry executives and government officials close to the tender as its source. Read the rest of this entry »
Key resignation, resentment hits new national innovation initiative
Posted by Kit in Economics, Najib Razak, NEM, NEP on Friday, 10 June 2011
By Lee Wei Lian
June 10, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Unik, the prime minister’s initiative tasked with restructuring the country’s public innovation ecosystem has hit a setback with the resignation of its technical advisor N Danaraj who was in charge of putting together the National Innovation Policy (NIP).
His resignation earlier this week could come as a blow to Unik due to the loss of experience as Danaraj has a masters degree in public administration from Harvard, a doctorate from Oxford and was also technical advisor to the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC), a senior fellow at Khazanah Nasional and a research fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.
His departure, which sources say was due to various disagreements with Unik CEO Dr Kamaljit Singh over the NIP, comes as several innovation agencies have been privately expressing concern over the Unik chief’s leadership style.
Read the rest of this entry »
Why needs-based affirmative action makes no sense
By Lee Hwok Aun
June 01, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 1 — We commonly hear these days that Malaysia should shift from a race-based affirmative action (AA) to needs-based affirmative action. Pakatan Rakyat started advocating this; Barisan Nasional followed.
The idea seems too nice, constructive, and harmonious to criticise. Both political alliances believe they have found a formula that can gain popular support and shift us away from the testy and rancorous debates over race-based AA and the New Economic Policy.
Unfortunately, needs-based affirmative action makes no sense, much as even I want to believe in it. The notion is, at best, imprecise and partial; at worst, incoherent and delusional. Read the rest of this entry »
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