by Dr. Chen Man Hin
At the last UMNO general assembly, it was put to the delegates to reject the objective of Bangsa Malaysia and opt for a Ketuanan Melayu Malaysia. The proposal was accepted by deputy prime minister.
So it came to pass that former prime minister, Dr Mahathir’s dream of a VISION 2020 where the people are one – Bangsa Malaysia- and the status of a developed nation was swept aside.
Since then there has been various moves to promote the concept of a Ketuanan Melayu, and announcements by the prime minister that the NEP would be extended indefinitely.
We in the DAP view with great concern the rejection of Bangsa Malaysia, as the very idea has caused deep uneasiness among the people, and shaken the bond of national unity and testing their tolerance.
The implementation of NEP while it has eradicated the association of race with economic function, as there is a sizeable Malay middle class – successful businessmen and professionals – has slowed economic progress since the implementation of NEP in 1971.
The fact is that the NEP was redistributing wealth but it could not create wealth fast enough. It could not increase the size of the national cake!
There was only a slight difference in the per capita GDP between Malaysia and Singapore in 1965, but it was followed by a slow ascent for Malaysia to US$5042 in 2005 in contrast to the steep ascent for Singapore which recorded a per capita GDP of US$26,836 in 2005.
How is it that Singapore without natural resources could perform better, and let its citizens take home a higher income of US$26,836 per year, while Malaysia could only give US$5042 to its citizens.
Malaysia has vast resources of petroleum, gas, palm oil, timber and rubber. The fault lies in not utilising its potential of human resources. Brain drain, racial policies, quotas have driven off a vast reservoir of human resources to other countries. Singapore makes full use of its human resources but Malaysia don’t because it is still insisting on carrying the old baggage of quotas, NEP and corruption.
There may be multiple causes of corruption, lack of transparency, not globally competitive and lack of economic freedom.
The launching of the NEP in 1971 is the main reason for the poor economic progress. It is quite obvious that the economy was being kept down from 1970 and onwards when the NEP was implemented, while Singapore was leaping upwards.
However, if UMNO insists on a policy of racial preferences and the NEP, Vision 2020 of a developed nation would vanish. That would be a sad day