After a hollow 1Malaysia slogan, the Najib administration must be careful not to sound rhetorical on the soon-t0-be announced New Economic Model (NEM). Najib said the NEM will be announced in two parts starting from March 30.
It is obvious that his administration, his advisers and PR consultants are working overtime to ensure that the model balances the expectations of all Malaysians and the exclusive interests of the Malay community.
His administration is being pressured by a Malay centric umbrella of organisations, the Malay Consultative Council, which is led by Perkasa to include the retain NEP's race affirmative policy. This policy provides special privileges and various opportunities to the Malay community.
However, the policy has come under heavy criticism since the last few years. Critics had pointed to an abuse of the policy by political elites, mainly UMNO linked politicians, to benefit their cronies and supporters. The NEP is also being manipulated and intentionally misinterpreted to link the policy to Malay supremacy and special status in the federal constitution.
What appeared to be a temporary policy intervention to allow the largely backward Malay community to catch up with other communities after the 1969 interethnic strife, it had been restated by UMNO as a permanent symbol of Malay supremacy.
Regrettably, the implementation of the policy although almost unchallenged by other race based parties in the Barisan Nasional did not lead to a betterment of the Malay community since 1970. Wealth in the community is held in the hands of a few industry chieftains created by the regime and several government linked funds and trust companies.
Surprisingly, the party has remained unwilling to admit its failure to enhance the capacity of the community. Pulai MP Nur Jazlan, in defence of his party, said Umno have been doing nothing but protect Malay interest and dismissed accusations that the Malay-based party have been short on delivering the goods.
Nur Jazlan is right about his party "doing nothing" but merely being involved in polarizing racial attacks against the country's ethnic Chinese for monopolizing the economy. It is difficult to argue that Perkasa is not another political creature created by UMNO.
Its president, Ibrahim Ali, was a UMNO member. The bulk of the organisation supporters are UMNO members who had wanted the party to take a hardline position against "demands" and "rudeness" of other communities. Eerily, this group's statements sounded like a broken record in the 50's to 80's where the Chinese community was often made a scapegoat of UMNO's failure to help alleviate the socio-economic position of the community.
Fortunately, there are many urbane Malays professionals and intellectuals who are standing up against the fallacy of both UMNO and Perkasa. Perkasa's rhetoric is no longer moving mountains or creating uprising against the non-Malays. This is not the era of silly provocation.
Najib's NEM is hardly a sure-win political strategy. It is a yardstick of his leadership. Any attempt to tinkle and tweak the policy to appease all parties especially Perkasa and its coalition partners is going to cause a diversion of its original intention.
NEM is supposed to make Malaysia a vibrant economy and a knowledge economy by 2020. It is supposed to address tough issues like brain drain, FDI, keeping local investment at home, jobs creation and others. Najib had said that Malaysia's economy needs to be both innovative and competitive.
Unfortunately, his party's direction is still being dictated by conservative forces such as Perkasa, Nur Jazlan and others. UMNO was given an opportunity to extend its influence nationally when it received overwhelming support from non-Malay communities during the first reformasi in 1999. It had squandered this opportunity by being too selfish and incapable to change to adapt to new political changes.
There are many socio-economic issues faced by the society especially urban folks. Najib's NEM is supposed to provide answers and solutions to these issues and problems.
A failure to deliver a comprehensive solution will render Najib as yet another reformist wannabe or an opportunist who wanted to use a reformist language to resurrect his political career.
Even if the NEM language sounds right and engaging, he has to see through its implementation. We know how cumbersome the civil service can be and their stubbornness can derail any well-meaning plan or policy.
Will the NEM be a boon or bane for Najib?
13 comments:
so be it... let them drag...
NEM lah! 2020 lah! What's the diff?
When come to implementation? Cerita sama lah....
UMNO thought the non-Malays with the Chinese in particular voted for BN because they managed to scare the non-Malays into doing so. Many non-Malays are on average as poor if not poorer than the Malays. The non-Malays voted overwhelmingly BN in 1999 because they thought by doing so would ensure their economic well-being. After eight years of UMNO's corrupt economics they gave BN the biggest electoral slap in Malaysian history. UMNO thinks it can scare the non-Malays into voting for them again. The non-Malays know though the UMNO elite have more to lose than anyone else in the event the country falls apart. UMNO thinks the non-Malays are not aware of this fact. UMNO will continue to play its racial games and the non-Malay based BN component parties are going to die. By default UMNO is going to create a non-Malay, rabidly anti-government electoral bloc which only knows nothing but to vote against BN.
So much for One Malaysia.
There can never be any satisfaction from a certain group of umno's members and the Malay centric umbrella of organisations, the Malay Consultative Council, which is led by Perkasa. They will scream their lungs out should Najib's New Economic Model (NEM) mention any provision for the non malays even if there is a provision to protects the malays. They simply want it all, "ALL OR NOTHING" mentality because they are ketuanan melayu...period.
Najib had given his ministers the KPI, what about him, who is going to grade him.
Take this poll:
How would you grade the PM's KPI (key performance index) during his 1 year in office.
still need help, mari mari la minum susu (NEM)
spot on about UMNO not adapting to the Chinese support in 1999 GE....the suqiu thingy was a real dent to confidence and trust of the community
the list was submitted without negative comments by the Mahathir administration before the GE...but after that....phew.
Something that caught my eye, the phrase "sounded like a broken record" that our mrKPI of Gerakan used to describe the DAP for harping the then ruling state govt for raising socio-economic issues affecting the state/country.
Sounds like the LP is being played in revese mode...whatmore we are using bluray discs instead of the LPs.
will this apa nama NEM be another flip flop. With the almost 100% record, i believe it will be another one again.
1st the NEP,then come DEB(Dasar Ekonomi Baru) and now NEM. Seems like the govt of the day like to coin acronmy for their doing something.But at the end of the day, the results count and I hope those guys in MCC and PERKASA have some sense and please dont talk and act like as if orang Melayu going to suffer tremendiously if the govt do a little more for the other races, unless those guys have their hidden agenda.
Like the Chinese saying "change the soup but not the medication". Zero expectation on this NEM thing, it sound hollow!
In yesterday's parliament, we have been urged to accept the NEM. Isn't that akin to asking us to sign on the dotted line without knowing the contents? What are the details of the nem? For heaven sake, there is no need to tell us what to do, we are not kids.
I say man......
Apco ought to be sacked lah...!!
Pr-ing not going the way it should. Wanna hire a mat salleh company that don't understand Malaysia culture....
That's what one gets...!!!!
As for Perkasa, all said & done.
Our economy is in danger of suffering from a total collapse in time to come, due to the weight of having to feed the growing numbers of unemployable graduates and all the beneficiaries of NEP, apart from severe corruption committed by the ruling governmnet. The Composite Index is a good indicator of our economic health. KL has been enjoying at the expense of Sabah and Sarawak since the formatin of Malaysia.
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