Mamakthir’s words
KAITAN BANGSA DENGAN BISNES
JAN25 2012 WRITTEN BY CHEDET
///1. Seorang pengerusi badan Kerajaan berkata pembangunan negara ini akan tergendala selagi ada usaha mengaitkan bangsa dengan bisnes.

2. Kita akui yang pengerusi berkenaan mempunyai kebolehan tertentu yang menyebabkan ia dilantik oleh Kerajaan sebagai pengerusi, tetapi orang lain tidak mempunyai sifat tertentu dan masih perlu diberi pertimbangan dalam perniagaan dan lain-lain berasas kepada bangsa mereka.///–Mamakthir

Based on Mamakthir’s argument, as long as there is still a Malay who is poor, NEP should remain. Mamakthir said in an interview with BBC that because there were still Malay drivers working for Chinese tycoons NEP had not achieved it objectives. That is how Mamakthir twisted the intention of NEP, and how he fought as Kakak-Mamak of Calicut Kerela for his race, the Malay race. Najib’s father Tun Razak promised that the NEP on which the assistance to Malays participating in business was based, would end in 20 years when Malays had 30% equity capital in the country. Najib conveniently ignores his father’s promise. Thus Malaysians are not equal as long as UMNO is in power.

///3. Benarkah pengambilan kira bangsa dalam perniagaan di Malaysia melalui dasar DEB menghalang pertumbuhan ekonominya? Dunia mengakui bahawa Malaysia yang berbilang kaum ini lebih cepat dan tinggi tahap pembangunannya dari negara-negara membangun yang lain yang tidak mempunyai masalah bangsa untuk diambilkira.///–Mamakthir

Mamakthir selectively used whatever argument that suits his purposes, and even if the words were meant sarcastically. It defies logic to argue that meritocracy is a drag to economic development. Malaysia might be more developed than other countries despite NEP; it would certainly be much better off without NEP.

///4. Memang mungkin jika masalah kaum tidak menghantui Malaysia pertumbuhannya menjadi lebih pesat. Tetapi apabila agihan kekayaan begitu luas di antara kaum, besar kemungkinan permusuhan akan berlaku antara kaum yang miskin dengan kaum yang kaya.///–Mamakthir

Mamakthir is certain that the poorer people would be envious of the richer people, but why should the jealousy be confined to people across ethnic groups? Isn’t it more relevant for people to be envious of the persons who know more intimately if the sense of jealousy prevails? Mamakthir has made his cronies filthy rich and wealth disparity among the Malays is much wider than that among other races. As the government under him had been actively promoting jealousy as Malays’ sports aren’t poor Malays now ready to rob rich Malays? This should be more likely since the rich Malays at the level of Mamathir’s sons acquired their wealth through political connections rather than through their own business undertaking. But there is no riot of poor Malays against rich Malays. It shows that Malays are not culpable of running amok out of jealousy against other races or causing riots in May 13 as Razak wanted the world to believe.

Why do Malays allow a Calicut Indian to claim to be one of them, to use them to attain power and yet to disparage them?

///5. Permusuhan ini sudah tentu akan menyebabkan ketegangan dalam masyarakat dan menjadikan negara tidak stabil dan terdedah kepada huru hara dan rusuhan.///–Mamakthir

Any hostility that exists in the country is caused by the racist policies created by UMNO and perpetuated by Perkasa. NEP was an excuse to whitewash May 13. NEP has since been a vehicle for the powers-that-be to enrich themselves and their cronies.

Jealousy alone would not be able to produce the riots of May 13. That was why UMNO delegates at the UMNO general assembly declared that they could bring about another May 13. Does it mean that UMNO could at will contain the sense of jealousy? Then UMNO is at will to create hostility or unity.

///6. Keadaan seperti ini akan menghalang pelaburan, dagangan dan perusahaan. Dalam iklim seperti ini ekonomi tidak mungkin tumbuh dengan baik. Pembangunan akan terjejas.///–Mamakthir

FDI came to Malaysia until 1990s because other countries in the region were operating planned economies. Since the opening up of other ASEAN countries and China, Malaysia ceased to be a preferred destination especially after Mamakthir destroyed the judiciary. Investors are wary of racial polarization in the country entrenched by NEP. Hot riots might not recur but cold war among the communities fanned by UMNO is sufficient to discourage investors.

///7. Yang jelas ialah mengenepikan masalah bangsa dalam negara berbilang kaum, tidak juga menjamin kepesatan pembangunan.

8. Kata pepatah Melayu, telan mati pak, luah mati emak.

9. Namun adalah lebih baik pembangunan terlewat sedikit daripada kehancuran akibat rusuhan.///–Mamakthir

It is now clear that May 13 could have happened had Tun Razak stopped Harun Idris in time before Harun sent his people out rioting. Thus May 13 was not a result of hatred among people of different ethnic communities, and it had nothing to do with wealth or jealousy. Razak chose to launch NEP at the time when Article 153 should have been reviewed. NEP was racially discriminatory in approach and it heightens racial polarization by the day when UMNO introduced increasingly more racially discriminatory policies. For example, non-Malays pay a 7% higher price for housing units starting only in the 1980s. It has nothing to do with the objective of NEP.

Mamakthir still uses the same excuse of riots to justify NEP or Ketunan Melayu. But, it is the call for Ketuanan Melayu that he champions that might cause riots. But Malays today are not so easily fooled into wasting their lives so that politicians can remain in power.