COMMENT | NEP chickens have come home to roost

COMMENT | We now see the ugly side of the New Economic Policy, the grand experiment in socio-economic engineering few politicians will admit has failed.

The investigation of various rich and powerful prominent Malays for alleged corruption does make us wonder if the NEP chickens have finally come home to roost.

Suddenly, all the questions we wanted to ask in the past but were unable to do so at the time - because we feared our draconian laws - and all the doubts that we kept to ourselves but would like to voice out, are finally being asked by the authorities.

Recently, newspapers have dedicated many column inches to the allegedly corrupt Malay elite comprising former prime ministers, former ministers and Malay millionaires or billionaires, currently under investigation by the MACC.

Instead of these “successful” Malays being an inspiration to ordinary Malays, questions are now being asked about how they acquired their wealth.

Their achievements were not through hard work, although they would like us to think their success was all their own doing and ability.

They sold the population the image of the successful, entrepreneurial Malay, capable of performance on an international scale, but what we were led to believe, was probably a pack of lies.

They only cared about their personal wealth, but ignored how their actions were damaging the Malaysian economy.

Their children under the age of 12 became millionaires overnight, while our children were forced to attend sub-standard schools and work hard to earn a living.

They forced us to argue about which language, Malay or English, to teach certain subjects in school, while the rest of the world was talking the language of artificial intelligence and the digital economy.

They overload our students with more religious studies in the national school curriculum, while children in more progressive schools were learning about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects to forge ahead in the 21st century.

No rags-to-riches stories

So, 53 years after the NEP was rolled out ostensibly to get rid of abject poverty among the Malays and create a more level economic playing field among the various races, we would expect more rags-to-riches stories of Malays who benefited from the NEP.

Instead, we are told of investigations into alleged corruption, and offshore providers that were set up to manage shell companies and trusts in tax havens around the world

Certain high-value assets have been seized, questions have been asked about past acquisitions of various companies, and the hundreds of millions of ringgits being used in dodgy deals and allegedly to “fix” elections, by people in trusted positions of power.

More answers are required about how certain public listed companies had been acquired, as well as other compulsory acquisitions by the government.

Former prime ministers have allegedly misused their powers, ignored our constitutional rights, and laundered money, while some super-rich people are now taking legal action against their former political mentors.

The Malaysia these greedy people created, most of whom are the main beneficiaries of the NEP, is falling apart.

The NEP created many millionaires and spawned many Ali Baba companies. These Malays didn’t gain any new knowledge, they just became skilled at living a lie.

They didn’t do any work but left it to the Chinese companies in their Ali Baba setup to manage the business and perform.

If the NEP had been properly executed, many Malays would have been motivated to work harder, grasp the many opportunities available and become independent. The NEP would have ended as it should have, in 1990.

Institutionalised racism

Today, the NEP is many decades past its sell-by date because selfish and irresponsible Malay politicians have rebranded and repackaged the NEP, perhaps under a new name, as long as the Malay majority is dependent on the government and cannot compete fairly with the other racial groups.

Politicians have also taken this opportunity to milk the rights and “special position” of the Malays to keep the affirmative action policies going for as long as possible. The pretence of “protecting the Malays” and “defending Islam” are used.

In the past few years, some politicians said that the NEP should be needs-based rather than race-based, and yet, no action has been taken to put this in motion.

Few politicians will admit the NEP is also an excuse for institutionalised racism, and fewer still will agree that some elite Malays have become more greedy and refuse to share their wealth, their knowledge and the opportunities available, with their poorer cousins.

Although the NEP has successfully created many middle-class Malays, this “success” also has its downside. During their pursuit of wealth, success corrupted their morals.

Greedy Malays wanted to keep everything for themselves. Money. Power. Property. Recognition. Pretty women. An adoring public. Their social standing in the community.

Critics like me, who have been expounding the same anti-ketuanan (anti-supremacy) and anti-NEP message for years, have little traction with the public. The Malaysian psyche is such that the Malays, especially, will only listen to members of royalty or eminent persons.

The NEP in its current form is not sustainable. It will not bring about economic growth, political stability or peace.

Only you can force your MP to act and stop the rich from robbing the poor and reduce the ever-widening income and educational gap. The super-rich who became wealthy from ill-gotten means do not deserve our support.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.