TENGKU RAZALEIGH HAMZAH ON THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP) FROM SPEECHES (2009 – 2012)

7/28/2019 TENGKU RAZALEIGH HAMZAH ON THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP) FROM SPEECHES (2009 2012)

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TENGKU RAZALEIGH HAMZAH ON THE NEW ECONOMIC

POLICY (NEP) FROM SPEECHES (2009 2012)

NEP and Communal Politics (10.7.2009)

20. This is not the first time in our brief history as an independent nation that we havefound ourselves at an impasse and come up with a ground-setting policy, a newframework, a leap into the future. The race riots of 1969 ended the politicalaccommodation and style of the first era of our independence. Parliament was suspendedand a National Operations Council put in place under the leadership of the late TunRazak. He formed a National Consultative Council to study what needed to be done. TheNCC was a non-partisan body which included everyone. It was the NCC that drafted andrecommended the New Economic Policy. This was approved and implemented by theGovernment.

21. The NEP was a twenty year programme. It had a national, and not a racial agenda to

eradicate poverty and address structural inequality in the form of the identification of racewith occupation. It aimed to remove a colonial era distribution of economic roles in oureconomy. Nowhere in its terms is any race specified, nor does it privilege one race overanother. Its aim was unity.

22. The NEPs redistributive measures drew on principles of social justice, not claimsof racial privilege. This is an important point. The NEP was acceptable to all Malaysiansbecause its justification was universal rather than sectarian, ethical rather thanopportunistic. It appealed to Malaysians sense of social justice and not to any notion ofracial privilege.

23. We were devising a time-limited policy for the day, in pursuit of a set ofmeasurable outcomes. We were not devising a doctrine for an eternal socio-economicarrangement. Like all policies, it was formulated to solve a finite set of problems, butthrough an enduring concern with principles such as equity and justice. I happen to thinkit was the right thing for the time, and it worked in large measure.

24. Curiously, although the policy was formulated within the broad consensus of theNCC for a finite period, in our political consciousness it has grown into an all-encompassing and permanent framework that defines who we are. We continue to actand talk as if it is still in place. The NEP ended in 1991 when it was terminated andreplaced by the New Development Policy, but eighteen years on, we are still in its

hangover and speak confusingly about liberalizing it. The NEP was necessary and evenvisionary in 1971, but it is a crushing indictment of our lack of imagination, of themediocrity of our leadership, that two decades after its expiry, we talk as if it is thesacrosanct centre of our socio-political arrangement, and that departures from it are bigstrides. The NEP is over, and we have not had the courage to tell people this. The realissue is not whether the NEP is to be continued or not, but whether we have theimagination to come up with something which better serves our values and objectives, forour own time.

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25. Policies are limited mechanisms for solving problems. They become vehicles forabuse when they stay on past their useful life. Like political or corporate leaders whohave stayed too long, policies that overrun their scope or time become entrenched inabuse, and confuse the means that they are with the ends that they were meant to serve.The NEP was formulated to serve the objective of unity. That objective is enduring, but

its instrument can come up for renewal or replacement. Any organisation, let alone acountry, that fails to renew a key policy over forty years in a fast-moving world is out oftouch and in trouble.

26. There is a broad consensus in our society that while the NEP has had importantsuccesses, it has now degenerated into a vehicle for abuse and inefficiency. Neither theMalays nor the non-Malays approve of the way it now works, although there would bemultiracial support for the objectives of the NEP, as originally understood. Theenthusiasm with which recent reforms have been greeted in the business and internationalcommunities suggests that the NEP is viewed as an obstacle to growth. This was not whatit was meant to be.

27. It was designed to promote a more equitable and therefore a more harmonioussociety. Far from obstructing growth, the stability and harmony envisaged by the NEPwould were to be the basis for long term prosperity.

28. Over the years, however, and alongside its successes, the NEP has beensystematically appropriated by a small political and business class to enrich itself andperpetuate its power. This process has corrupted our society and our politics. It hascorrupted our political parties. Rent-seeking practices have choked the NEPs originalintention of seeking a more just and equitable society, and have discredited the broadnation-building enterprise which this policy was meant to serve.

29. Thus, while the NEP itself has expired, we live under the hangover of a policywhich has been skewed from its intent. Instead of coming up with better policy tools inpursuit of the aims behind the NEP, a set of vested interests rallies to defend the mereform of the NEP and to extend its bureaucratic sway through a huge apparatus ofcommissions, agencies, licenses and permits while its spirit has been evacuated. In doingso they have clouded the noble aims of the NEP and racialized its originally national anduniversal concerns.

30. We must break the stranglehold of communal politics and racial policy if we wantto be a place where an economy driven by ideas and skills can flourish. This is where ourdaunting economic and political challenges can be addressed in one stroke. We can domuch better than cling to the bright ideas of forty years ago as if they were dogma, andforget our duty to come up with the bright ideas for our own time. The NEP, togetherwith the Barisan coalition, was a workable solution for Malaysia forty years ago. Butforty years ago, our population was about a third of what it is today, our economy was afraction the size and complexity that it is now, and structured around the export of tin andrubber rather than around manufacturing, services and oil and gas. Forty years ago wewere in the midst of the Cold War, and the Vietnam War raged to the north. Need I say

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we live in a very different world today. We need to talk to the facebook generation ofyoung Malaysians connected to global styles and currents of thought. We face globalepidemics, economic downturns and planetary climate change.

31. We can do much better than to cling to the outer form of an old policy. Thinking in

these terms only gives us the negative policy lever of relaxing certain rules, when whatwe need is a new policy framework, with 21st century policy instruments. We haverelaxed some quotas. We have left Approved Permits and our taxi licensing system intact.We have left the apparatus of the NEP, and a divisive mindset that has grown up aroundit, in place. Wary of well-intentioned statements with no follow-through, the businesscommunity has greeted these reforms cautiously, noting that a mountain of other reformsare needed. One banker was quoted in a recent news article as saying: All the reformsneed to go hand in hand..Why is there an exodus of talent and wealth? It is becausepeople do not feel confident with the investment climate, security conditions and thegovernment in Malaysia. Right now, many have lost faith in the system.

32. The issues are intertwined. Our problems are systemic and rooted in the capabilityof the government to deliver, and the integrity of our institutions. It is clear thatpiecemeal liberalization and measure by measure reform on a politicized timetable isnot going to do the job.

33. What we need is a whole new policy framework, based on a comprehensive visionthat addresses root problems in security, institutional integrity, education and governmentcapability. What we need to do is address our crisis with the bold statecraft from whichthe NEP itself originated, not cling to a problematic framework that does little justice toour high aspirations. The challenge of leadership is to tell the truth about our situation, nomatter how unpalatable, to bring people together around that solution, and to move them

to act together on that solution.

34. If the problem is really that we face a foundational crisis, then it is not liberalizationof the NEP, or even liberalization per se that we need. From the depths of the globaleconomic slowdown it is abundantly clear that the autonomous free market is neitherequitable nor even sustainable. There is no substitute for putting our heads together andcoming up with wise policy. We need a Malaysian New Deal based on the same universalconcerns on which the NEP was originally formulated but designed for a new era: wemust continue to eradicate poverty without regard for race or religion, and ensure thatmarkets serve the people rather than the other way around.

35. Building on the desire for unity based social justice that motivated the NEP in 1971,let us assist 100% of Malaysians who need help in improving their livelihoods andeducating their children. We want the full participation of all stakeholders in oureconomy. A fair and equitable political and economic order, founded on equal citizenshipas guaranteed in our Constitution, is the only possible basis for a united Malaysia and aprerequisite of the competitive, talent-driven economy we must create if we are to makeour economic leap.

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36. If we could do this, we would restore national confidence, we would bringMalaysians together in common cause to build a country that all feel a deep sense ofbelonging to. We would unleash the kind of investment we need, not just of foreigncapital but of the loyalty, effort and commitment of all Malaysians.

NEP and Racial Policy (5-10-10)

I dont see we have any racism policy that is deliberately created by parliament or thegovernment of Malaysia to separate the people into First Class Citizens and Second orThird Class Citizens, like the old apartheid policy of South Africa.

There is no special economic policy for any other racial group.

The basis of the New Economic Policy is not racially based.

The purpose of the New Economic Policy was to create a Malaysian nation.

Without a political economy which is balanced and just, particularly addressing theconsequences of a colonial economy which excluded the Malays from the main stream ofthe economy, it would not be possible. It is not a racial policy but an inclusive policy ofall communities. All businessmen face the same problem.

Everyone agrees that 60% of the poor in the country are the Malays, and if one considersthe fact that the Malays make up the majority of the population, the figures in real termsmust be huge.

Three worries about the country

I have three main worries about the economy, the politics and about national unity in thiscountry.

First, I worry that the economy of the country might be a source of ethnic disunity andsocial unrest if the wealth of the country is not fairly and equitably shared among thevarious races or ethnic groups and among social groups, or the gaps between the majoritypoor and lower income groups and the rich minority or the upper middle class keepwidening.

Secondly, I worry that party politics interfere with government functions. I believe thatwhen a party politician becomes a minister he is no more a political activist working onbehalf of his party using government or public or taxpayers facilities; he is a publicservant working for the Nation and serving the rakyat (All Malaysians) and notworking for his party. Of course government policy is usually based on the policy orelection manifesto of the ruling party (or parties) but this does not mean that he is to

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serve only those who voted for the party and deny the use ofgovernment facilities or to spend public money on those who votedfor the opposition parties.

My worry on national unity is that we are not building it up and

giving it substance through the right forms of national policies;instead we chant empty and often emotional slogans calling peopleto unite and in the process creating more confusion andmisunderstanding among the people. There must be a clear nationalpolicy on national unity, endorsed by the Parliament as our highestlaw-making institution. All government policies on economic,

social, educational and cultural developments must be geared to this overall nationalobjective: national unity (which is not the same as ethnic unity or unity among theraces).

NEP, an equity and unity policy ? (22-3-10)

We have no excuse for our present state of economic and social stagnation. It is becausewe have allowed that last set of features, our institutional and political framework, to beeroded, that all our advantages are not better realised.

So it makes little sense to talk glibly about selecting growth drivers, fine-tuning ourindustrial or trade policy, and so on, without acknowledging that our economy is in badshape because our political system is in bad shape.

A case in point is the so-called New Economic Model. The government promised theworld it would be announced by the end of last year. It was put off to the end of thismonth. Now we are told we will be getting just the first part of it, and that we will begetting merely a proposal for the New Economic Model from the NEAC (NationalEconomic Advisory Council).

Clearly, politics has intruded. The NEM has been opposed by groups that are concernedthat the NEM might replace the NEP. The New Economic Model might not turn out to beso new after all.

NEP never meant to be permanent

The irony in all this is that there is nothing to replace. The NEP is the opposite of new.It is defunct and is no longer an official government policy because it was replaced by theNew Development Policy (another old new policy) in 1991. The NEP was brought backin its afterlife as a slogan by the leadership of Umno Youth in 2004. It was and remainsthe most low-cost way to portray oneself as a Malay champion.

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Thus, at a time when we are genuinely in need of bold new economic measures, we arehamstrung by the ghost of dead policies with the word new in them. What happenswhen good policy outlives its time and survives as a slogan?

The NEP was a 20-year programme. It has become, in the imaginations of some, the

centre of a permanently racialised socio-economic framework.

Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman and Abdul Razak, in the age of the fixed telephone (you evenneeded to go through an operator), thought 20 years would be enough. Its champions inthe age of instant messaging talk about 100 or 450 years of Malay dependency.

It had a national agenda to eradicate poverty and address structural inequalities betweenthe races for the sake of equity and unity. The Malays were unfairly concentrated in low-income sectors such as agriculture. The aim was to remove colonial era silos of economicroles in our economy. It has been trivialised into a concern with obtaining equity andcontracts by racial quotas.

The NEP was to diversify the Malay economy beyond certain stereotyped occupations. Itis now about feeding a class of party-linked people whose main economic function is toobtain and re-sell government contracts and concessions.

The NEP saw poverty as a national, Malaysian problem that engaged the interest andidealism of all Malaysians. People like James Puthucheary were at the forefront ofarticulating this concern. Its present-day proponents portray poverty as a communalproblem.

The NEP was a unity policy. Nowhere in its terms was any race specified. It has been

reinvented as an inalienable platform of a Malay Agenda that at one and the same timeasserts Malay supremacy and perpetuates the myth of Malay dependency.

It was meant to unite our citizens by making economic arrangements fairer, and de-racialising our economy. In its implementation, it became a project to enrich a selectionof Malay capitalists.

James Puthucheary had warned, back in 1959, that this was bound to fail. The presenceof Chinese capitalists has not noticeably helped solve the poverty of Chinesehouseholds Those who think that the economic position of the Malays can be improvedby creating a few Malay capitalists, thus making a few Malays well-to-do, will have to

think again.

The NEPs aim to restructure society and to ensure a more equitable distribution ofeconomic growth was justified on principles of social justice, not claims of racialprivilege. This is an important point. The NEP was acceptable to all Malaysians becauseits justification was universal rather than racial, ethical rather than opportunistic. Itappealed to Malaysians sense of social justice and not to any notion of racial supremacy.

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We were a policy with a 20-year horizon, in pursuit of a set of measurable outcomes. Wewere not devising a doctrine for a permanent socio-economic arrangement. We did notmake the damaging assumption of the permanently dependent Malay.

Today we are in a foundational crisis both of our politics and of our economy. Politically

and economically, we have come to the end of the road for an old way of managingthings. It is said you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of thepeople all the time. Well, these days the time you have in which to fool people ismeasured in minutes, not years.

The world is greatly changed. The next move we must make is not a step but a leap thatchanges the very ground we play on.

The NEP is over. I ask the government to have the courage to face up to this. The peoplealready know. The real issue is not whether the NEP is to be continued or not, butwhether we have the imagination and courage to come up with something which better

addresses the real challenges of growth, equity and unity of our time.

At its working best, the NEP secured national unity and provided a stable foundation foreconomic growth. Taken out of its policy context (a context that James helped frame) andturned into a political programme for the extension of special privilege, it has beendistorted into something that its formulators, people such as the late Tun Razak and TunIsmail, would have absolutely abhorred: it is now the primary justification and cover forcorruption, crony capitalism and money politics, and it is corruption, cronyism andmoney politics that rob us and destroy our future.

No one who really cares about our country can approve of the role the NEP now plays in

distorting the way we think about the economy, of our people, of our future, and retardedour ability to formulate forward-looking economic strategy.

The need for a holistic approach to development based on the restoration and building ofconfidence.

We need a wholistic approach to development that takes account of the full potential ofour society and of our people as individuals. We need an approach to development thatbegins with the nurturing and empowerment of the human spirit. Both personally and as asociety, this means we look for the restoration of confidence in ourselves, who we are,what we are capable of, and the future before us.

Caught in the middle-income trap

I return to the question of the middle-income trap that I alluded to some time ago. I amglad that notion has since been taken up by the government.

The middle-income trap is a condition determined by the quality of our people and of theinstitutions that bind them. It is not something overcome simply by growing more oil

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palm or extracting more oil and gas. Our economic challenge is to improve the quality ofour people and institutions.

Making the break from the middle-income trap is in the first place a social, cultural,educational and institutional challenge. Let me just list what needs to be done. Before we

can pursue meaningful economic strategy we need to get our house in order. We need to:

1. Undertake bold reforms to restore the independence of the police, the anti-corruptioncommission and the judiciary. Confidence in the rule of law is a basic condition ofeconomic growth.

2. Reform the civil service

3. Wage all-out war on corruption

4. Thoroughly revamp our education system

5. Repeal the Printing Presses Act, the Universities and Colleges Act, the ISA and theOSA. These repressive laws only serve to create a climate of timidity and fear which isthe opposite of the flourishing of talent and ideas that we say we want.

6. Replace the NEP with an equity and unity policy (a kind of New Deal) to bringeveryone, regardless of race, gender, or what state they live in and who they voted for,into the economic mainstream.

These reforms are the necessary foundation for any particular economic strategies. Manyof these reforms will take time. Educational reform is the work of many years. But that is

no excuse not to start, confidence will return immediately if that start is bold. As forparticular economic strategies, there are many we can pursue:

We need to tap our advantage in having a high savings rate. Thanks to a lot of

forced savings, our savings rate is about 38 percent. We need more productiveuses for the massive funds held in EPF (Employees Provident Fund), LTH(Lembaga Tabung Haji), LTAT (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera Malaysia)and PNB (Permodalan Nasional Berhad) than investment in an already over-capitalised stock market.One suggestion is to make strategic investmentsinternationally in broad growth sectors such as minerals. Another is that weshould use these funds to enable every Malaysian to own their own home. This

would stimulate the construction sector with its large multiplier of activities andbring about a stakeholder society. A fine example of how this is done isSingapores use of savings in CPF to fund property purchases.

The government could make sure that the the land office and local government,

developers and house-buyers are coordinated through a one-stop agency under theMinistry of Housing and and Local Government. This would get everyone active,

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right down to the level of local authorities. The keys to unleashing this activity arefinancing and a radical streamlining of local government approvals.

We have been living off a drip of oil and cheap foreign labour. Dependence on

these easy sources of revenue has dulled our competitiveness and prevented the

growth of high-income jobs. We need a moratorium on the hiring of low-skilledforeign labour that is paired with a very aggressive effort to increase theproductivity and wages of Malaysian labour. Higher wages would mean we couldretain more of our skilled labour and other talent.

Five years ago, I called for a project to make Malaysia an oil and gas services and

trading hub for East Asia. Oil and gas activities will bring jobs to some of ourpoorest states. We should not discriminate against those states on the basis of theirpolitical affiliations. No one is better placed by natural advantage to develop thishub. Meanwhile Singapore, with not a drop of oil, has moved ahead on this front.

We should ready ourselves to tap the wealth of the emerging middle-class ofChina, India and Indonesia in providing services such as tourism, medical careand education. That readiness can come in the form of streamlined procedures,language preparation, and targeted infrastructure development.

These are just some ideas for some of the many things we could do to ensure ourprosperity. Others may have better ideas.

We are in a foundational crisis of our political system. People can no longer see what liesahead of us, and all around us they see signs of decaying institutions. Wealth and talentwill continue to leave the country in droves.

To reverse that exodus, we need to restore confidence in the country. We do not getconfidence back with piecemeal economic measures but with bold reforms to restoretransparency, accountability and legitimacy to our institutions. Confidence will return ifpeople see decisive leadership motivated by a sincere for the welfare of the country.

The opposite occurs if they see decisions motivated by short-term politics. Never mindFDI (foreign direct investment), if Malaysians started investing in Malaysia, and stoppedleaving, or started coming back, we would see a surge in growth.

In the same measure we also need to break the stranglehold of communal politics and

racial policy if we want to be a place where an economy driven by ideas and skills canflourish. This must be done, and it must be done now. We have a small window of timeleft before we fall into a spiral of political, social and economic decline from which wewill not emerge for decades.

This is the leap we need to make, but to make that leap we need a government capable ofpromoting radical reform. That is not going to happen without political change. Weshould not underestimate the ability of our citizens to transcend lies, distortions and

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myths and get behind the best interest of the country. In this they are far ahead of ourpresent leadership, and our leadership should listen to them.

NEP and Malaysias New Political Economy (16-2-12)

4. It is my contention that the changes that took place in the 1980s were profound,pervasive, and influenced the value systems in public life. It has also brought aboutstructural changes in our society. These structural changes I dont mean formalconstitutional changes only relate to the way that constitutional issues are beinginterpreted today. They relate to the way in which political parties have been transformedand the manner in which politics is being conducted today, both within and outside thepolitical parties themselves. It has also brought about changes to the administration ofthe state apparatus both unto itself and in its relations with the public. Equallyimportant is what I call public values; in other words, values associated with the public

responsibility that goes along with the position that one assumes. The sum total of thetransformation and its influence will have serious consequence on the future of ourcountry, as those changes are still with us in public life, particularly the politics of theday.

5. Before I explain the nature of the changes and its consequence, I would like to statebriefly the political culture, understanding, and values that prevailed prior to thetransformation, just in order to emphasize the contrast. At the time of Independence, theproblems of the country were those that we inherited from our colonial past. The moststriking aspect of it was the fragmented nature of our society in almost every aspect ofpublic life, particularly in politics and the economy. Race dominated the general view of

both politics and the economy. There was also extensive poverty, both in the rural andurban areas. But the rural and the urban distinction had another aspect to it, and the ruraleconomy was at subsistence level unlike the urban areas. It had also a racial distinction.But the distinctions of poverty levels carried also a racial distinction. In the urban areas,

the middle class also had racial characteristics. Capitalism as practiced in the colonialperiod was clearly unsustainable to maintain a cohesive and united community withinMalaysia.

6. Many of us who decided to be involved in politics soon after Independence wereinspired by the challenges that the new nation faced in solving those problems. Theideals were those that were prevalent at that time in Asia and inspired by thinkers of that

time. The ideals were for change in society to a more balanced and one where racialdivisions will not be identified with politics or economy, and poverty, both in the ruraland urban areas, would eventually disappear without the racial divide. The objective wasalways the common good and to create a nation that was cohesive and modern. This wasto be achieved by economic changes in their nations economy and the lives of its people.

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7. The best way in which I can illustrate the point is by drawing your attention to theideals as expressed in the 1971 Second Malaysia Plan. It is a quote that is worthrepeating and remembering:

National unity is the overriding objective of the country. A stage has been reached in

the nations economic and social development where greater emphasis must be placed onsocial integration and more equitable distribution of income and opportunities for

national unity.

It went on to state:

The quest for national identity and unity is common to many countries, especially new

and developing countries. This search for national identity and unity involves the whole

range of economic, social and political activities, the formation of educational policiesdesigned to encourage common values and loyalties among all communities and regions;

the cultivation of a sense of dedication to the nation through services of all kinds, the

careful development of a national language and literature, of arts and music, theemergence of truly national symbols and institutions based on culture and tradition of

society.

The basic point is emphasized in the Rukun Negara:

from these diverse elements of our population, we are dedicated to the achievement

of a united nation in which loyalty and dedication to the nation shall over-ride all otherloyalties.

8. What happened in the 1980s was a deviation from these ideals. It had nothing

whatsoever to do with the New Economic Policy. It was something very, very different.An economic policy of the kind that the Second Malaysia Plan envisaged would requirea gestation period of more than a decade, optimistically. It was intended as a socialengineering policy. It is in the nature of economic policies that results are notimmediately evident and can only be achieved in the fullness of time. The NewEconomic Policy unfortunately did not survive the leadership prior to 1980 and fadedbefore the full impact of that policy could be seen.

9. What happened from 1980 onwards was an intervention of a new form of capitalismthat was not obvious but reflected in the way the leadership that came after the mid-1980sconducted itself in the implementation of economic policies and the exercise of political

power. The dominant economic thinking during the 80s was economic policies whichcame under the category of neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism was an ideology and apolitical philosophy with its own values of public responsibility. It had a very preciseview of what the economic system should be and what kind of supporting financialsystem should underpin it.

10. The distinguishing feature of this policy is privatization of public ownership ofutilities essential for public good, such as water, power, public transport, health and other

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services irrespective of whether they were efficient and must necessarily be owned by theState. In order to assist the neo-liberal economic policy, it also encouraged low taxation,mobility of labour to keep wages low, unrestrained mobility of finance, and the rise of thestock market as a means of financialization of profit and capital to facilitate its mobilityand accumulation.

11. It was within that new dominant ideology of neo-liberalism that the incumbent powerrealized that this new approach to economy opened up opportunities for those who hadpower and those whom they wanted to favour. There was an understanding that in orderto benefit from that new economic system, political power needed selective businessmenwho would work together for their mutual benefit. The benefit to the nation was merelyincidental and necessary to continue the new status quo that they were building.Eventually, by this relationship, political power became a means to business and

accumulation of wealth as a practice of those in politics and business; in other words,those in politics sought out business and businessmen sought out politicians who wouldwork with them. This new feature came into existence gradually and had its peak in

about the 90s. The character of capitalism changed and the values of some Malaysiansalso changed. By privatizing the public ownership of what is economically called publicgood, the values that went with public good changed to private profit accumulation ofwealth and greed. The nature of public responsibility also changed.

12. This new feature in Malaysian political life eventually became a powerful mode ofthinking that permeated political parties and the institutions of the State. Party politics,particularly, took a change in order to consolidate the status quo of power. Changes inthe constitution of political parties ensured continuation of leadership and political power.But the leadership within the party and the political system became acceptable only

because the benefits of business were also shared by those who supported the leadership.

A hierarchy of financial interest coinciding with the power structure was built within andoutside the party.

13. These changes also created a corrupt form of public values which has very seriousconsequences and with which society is now burdened. The system became self-servingfor entrenched political and business interests. All those in the hierarchy of the systemalso benefited and, in order to maintain that system, they supported the centralization ofpower within the party leadership and the government.

14. With the changes in the political party system, particularly a political hierarchysupported by business, the centralized political power had to feed this combination ofbusiness and political hierarchy with business opportunities. The centralized powerenabled discretionary use of political power to make decisions on public expenditure andprivatization. The public expenditure that I am referring to is the public procurementcontracts. The money generated by the distribution of public procurements, contracts andprivatization programme became a self-serving economic system to maintain power andaccumulate wealth.

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15. The volume of money generated in terms of public expenditure and private gainarising from this policy has never been properly audited or revealed to the public. Inorder to avoid public controversy of the public procurement contracts and privatization,the Official Secrets Act was expanded to include contracts involving public procurementsand privatization. As a result, business and power became more and more entrenched

and powerful. The fear of losing power also equally became a matter to be avoided at allcosts. In these circumstances, money became a dominant political weapon in politicalparties and the entire electoral process. This new culture of politics released forceswithin the political parties and the public arena unseen before.

16. This new focus of the political economy became less and less sensitive to the realsocio-economic problems of the people and essential changes that were necessary wereignored or misconceived.

17. It is now generally accepted by those who understand economics that statisticalevidence and economic reality are not the same. Nevertheless, the reliance on statistical

evidence can lead us to make believe that all is well when it is not. I say this because theempirical evidence that is evident seems to suggest that over time the focus of growthwas on accumulation of wealth rather than the realities of the socio-economic problemsthat the people face. One example of this is the changes in the character of labour inMalaysia. The demand for labour has been seen as an opportunity to create a rentierpolitical class from those who are part of the political apparatus. It has reached suchproportions that there is an alarm that the employment opportunities have all been takenup by foreign labour. The effect of the policies of making labour a commodity availableto employers has many consequences, one of which is to squeeze out our citizens fromgainful employment and the lower end of the economy, such as hawking, etc, as a meansof living.

18. Be that as it may, this can be a turning point for our nation in a positive sense if werecognize the nature of our problems. One of the major problems that would be in theway of meeting the consequence of the crisis will be the education and standards of skillof our people. As a means of an economic recovery, we will require a fundamentalchange in the education system we provide for our citizens. We need an educationsystem that produces quality and skills. I would say that under the present system, it willbe difficult for us to achieve that. We need the moral courage to reform the entireeducation system that we have today. I would also add, we need a massive adulteducation programme to ensure that the present generation is not left behind. Theobjective of the adult education should be to provide the necessary language andtechnical skills and to involve as large a section of the population in non-formaleducational programmes which will bring national cohesion and at the same timerejuvenate dormant areas of our economy, such as the agricultural sector. We haveenough land. What we need is for those who are prepared to go into these areas of oureconomy to be equipped with the technical knowledge that is necessary to bring about agreen revolution in our country.

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19. What is illustrative of the consequence of the economic policies of the 1980s and1990s is the household debt of average Malaysians, which is about 75% and 40% of thehousehold debts is beyond 100% of their earnings. As a result of this, the averageMalaysian generally lives under a very high social and economic tension within theirfamilies and within society struggling to make ends meet. The household problem has

many ramifications. It has spawned wide-spread illegal money-lending (the true AhLongs). The consequences have been devastating on families and individuals. Thefinancial system as it is now does not seem to be geared to make the lives of ordinarypeople comfortable or to minimize social tension. Part of the cause of rising debts amonghouseholds is because of the structure of the financial system within which the ordinarycitizen has to live, such as the romping speculation in housing, inflation in the goods ofdaily requirements, and the mortgage system on which the people depend for ordinarycomfort.

20. As a consequence of economic policies in the past, inequalities have also widened.Today, Malaysians suffer from a very wide inequality, and there is a suggestion that the

inequality is higher than in Thailand and Indonesia. This inequality cuts across racialboundaries. If the economy declines in the future, the problems that I have highlighted interms of the household debt and the widening inequality will go into a deeper crisis ofconfidence among the people, particularly the young who feel alienated from theeconomic system.

21. No democratic system, no institution as envisaged by our Constitution, can survive apolitical economy of this nature. There is too much money in politics and it has becomeinseparable from power and the electoral process. The corrupting influence of money inpublic life is obvious for any need for explanation. While the economic and socialproblems accumulate, a divide has been created by those who benefit from the

dysfunctional system and those who suffer from it. It is no different from the experienceof many counties in the Middle East. Many who had enjoyed the benefits of incumbentpower sustained the system and were reluctant to give up power or change.

22. The lesson we have to learn from the Arab Spring is that a dysfunctional democracy,however well dressed by public relations exercises or subsequently by media, cannotwithstand the realities that are the natural consequence of abuse of power and wantonaccumulation of wealth. That is the most important message, I think, that the ArabSpring has conveyed and we must take cognizance of it.

23. The danger we face is that the conflation of business and politics has become sodominant that it has the same influence an ideology would have. If we are to restoredemocratic ideals in our political discussions and the electoral process, have genuinepolitical parties which can genuinely function in what they think is the interest of thepeople, and participate in the economy, then there must be a separation of business frompolitics. Without this precondition, Malaysias economy can avoid a crisis worse thanwhat we see in the West.

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24. For business to play a responsible and major role in creating a viable economy, itmust be freed from politics. The economy of business must be returned to the people inorder for them to develop. It must be given the freedom to function without having todepend on political patronage. The right to do business as part of the national economymust be a fundamental right, not subject to favours by politicians or bureaucrats.

25. But that change will not come about until the public earnestly are allowed to discussthe dangers of conflating business and politics. That includes the danger of allowingpolitical parties that are in power to take advantage of their political power for financialbenefit. Parties must be strictly confined to democratic activities and political policieswhich they believe in and business must function autonomously from political parties.Unfortunately for us, this has not been the debate in any of the elections in the last three

decades. We need to think urgently of the dangers of this unspoken reality of ourpolitics.

26. If I am correct in my understanding that the ideology of business and politics had

become fused with the neo-liberal ideology and as part of our political economy - by thatI mean the process of thinking about economics, politics, policy, and leadership - then wehave a lesson from the crisis in the West which is happening now where neo-liberalpolicies have failed not only as a financial system but in all its economic and politicalobjectives. It must send a signal for us to seriously examine whether in fact there is afusion of money politics and neo-liberal ideology, that is the worst of both worlds. Andwhat can happen to us, not now but in the future is an urgent issue we have to deal withnow, not when it happens. The gestation period of misconceived economic policy is aslong as good economic policies, but the longer we wait the worse the consequences andhigher the price we pay.

27. One of the weaknesses we have as a nation is the absence of a critical mass of peoplewho think in economic terms and can take a critical view of the realities of the economiesthat we face today as a matter of national interest above sectarian interest. The absenceof this critical mass will make it easy for those who want to deviate from the real issuesthat we face.

Mix of politics with business fuelled economic woes, says Ku Li

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah today charged that years ofpolitical patronage and the long standing system of co-dependency between business andpolitics arising from the Mahathir era had led to neglect of the peoples real socio-

economic problems.

The outspoken veteran Umno leader added that economic policies of the past, whichkicked off from the 1980s onwards, had also widened inequality in Malaysia and wouldworsen if the present administration does not move to separate business from politics.

With this pre-condition, Malaysias economy can avoid a crisis worse that what we seein the West, he said during a luncheon talk today.

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There is too much money in politics, he continued, adding that this forced furtherdisparities between those who benefit from this dysfunctional system and those whosuffer from it.

No democratic system, no institution as envisaged by our Constitution, can survive a

political economy of this nature.

There is just too much money in politics and it has become inseparable from power andthe electoral process, said the Kelantan prince popularly referred to as Ku Li.

Ku Li (picture), known to be one of the greatest critics of the New Economic Policy(NEP) and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamads handling of it, was speaking on the state ofMalaysias political economy during a luncheon at the Royal Selangor Club here.

The Gua Musang MP said what happened in the 1980s was a deviation from the idealsof promoting unity and equitable distribution of wealth, as enshrined in the 1971 Second

Malaysia Plan.

The NEP, he said, had unfortunately failed to survive the leadership prior to 1980 andfaded before its full impact could be felt.

What happened from 1980 onwards was an intervention of a new form of capitalism thatwas not obvious but reflected in the way the leadership that came after the mid-1980sconducted itself in the implementation of economic policies and the exercise of politicalpower, he said.

Eventually, said Ku Li, political power became a means to business and accumulation of

wealth, thus creating a co-dependency between the two.

All those in the hierarchy of the system also benefited and, in order to maintain thatsystem, they supported the centralisation of power within the party leadership and thegovernment, he said.

To ensure its political survival, this centralised power, he said, had to feed those withinthe system with business opportunities.

As such, those on top enabled the discretionary use of political power to distribute publicprocurements, contracts and privatisations programmes and created a self-serving

economic system, he added.

In these circumstances, money became a dominant political weapon in political partiesand the entire political process. This new culture of politics released forces within thepolitical parties and the public arena unseen before, he said.

But, added Ku Li, the system eventually led to neglect of the peoples socio-economicproblems as essential changes to the economy were either ignored or misconceived.

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He pointed to the growing household debts of Malaysians across the racial divide andemployment problems, caused by the alarming presence of foreign labour in the jobmarket.

Ku Li also drew links between Malaysias political system and the Arab Spring and urged

the present administration to learn from the Middle Eastern uprising.

The lesson we have to learn from the Arab Spring is that a dysfunctional democracy,however well-dressed by public relations exercises or subsequently by media, cannotwithstand the realities that are the natural consequence of abuse of power and wantonaccumulation of wealth.

That is the most important message, I think, that the Arab Spring has conveyed and wemust take cognisance of it, he said.

link:http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/mix-of-politics-with-business-

fuelled-economic-woes-says-ku-li/

NEP a source of disunity (24-2-12)

28. It is strange that after 55 years of freedom, we have not learnt the simple art of livingtogether as brothers and sisters.

29. The countrys source of strength is unity, and this source of strength has been slowlywhittled away over the years.

30. We have become a nation of strangers, as evidenced in the fields of politics, theeconomy, education and the civil service.

31. The strong presence of communal political parties in the country is chiefly to beblamed for the sad state of race relations in the country. These political parties invariablysupport racial policies and imbibe racial sentiments among the people whom theyrepresent

32. In their day-to-day administration of the country, the powers that be often give scantregard to the constitutional provision contained in Article 8(1) which states that

all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law;

and Article 8(2) which states that

there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race,

descent or place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition ofproperty or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation

or employment.

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33. One major sore point in the area of race relations is the New Economic Policy, whoseoriginal intention to create unity has been subverted to become a major source of disunitynot only between the various races but also among the Malays and bumiputras in general.

34. The New Economic Policy, which was conceived in 1971 not long after the Tunku

had retired as Prime Minister, was primarily created to address poverty, and to raise thelevel of Malay participation in the economy.

35. It was intended for all Malaysians, and not just for the Malays or bumiputras.

36. As a former Finance Minister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of theNEP to create an incubated class of Malay capitalists.

37. If we visit the government departments or universities, we wonder where all the non-Malays have gone.

38. After 1969, suddenly there was this attempt to recruit mostly Malays into the civilservice.

39. It is tragic that the civil service does not reflect the racial composition of theMalaysian population, as the predominant presence of only one race tends to engender asub-culture that is antithetical to the evolution of a dynamic and efficient civiladministration in the country.

40. Our school system is not as it used to be. The non-Malays prefer to send theirchildren to vernacular schools, as the national schools have assumed an exclusivelyMalay character.

41. Needless to say, national schools have become even less attractive to the non-Malaysas English is no longer used in the teaching of mathematics and science.

42. The situation will be very different if all discriminatory practices in the educationsystem were to be abolished, and a common system of education for all is adopted.

43. National unity is the one area that we cannot afford to ignore, and the real genesis ofnational unity, I submit, is from an unlikely source: Parliament, warts and all.

44. It is the Parliament that has the final say in charting the direction the country is

heading to.

45. We must have a strong and resolute government which recognises the needs of allMalaysians, and formulates the right policies for the propagation of a cohesive andintegrated society.

46. If Parliament enacts policies that are just and fair for all Malaysians based onmeritocracy and need, more than half the battle for national unity would be won.

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NEP and Captive Minds (1-2-12)

10. Now the next issue is, are we able to exercise our mind with wisdom? Unfortunately,as a people and as a nation, we are not able to do so. We are born free, but our minds

have become captive.

11. In our country, the problem of the captive mind has its origins in the race dilemma toan extent that we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independent ofcurrent stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and the others. Our thinking is basedcompletely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of politics, education,economics, planning, and so forth.

12. Needless to say, we promote a racial world view that thrives on the policy of divideand rule.

13. The citizens of the land are exiting the country in large numbers, and the gap is filled,not by people with equivalent skills and potentials, but by unskilled labour from abroad.Public universities have no places for locals, but they are absorbing large numbers offoreign students. It is sad that our own people should be deprived of the benefits of agood education a resource that has been described as the global currency of 21stcentury economies.

14. And yet education is seen as the best solution to the economic uncertainties of thetimes, as it enables our people to compete, collaborate and connect in a way that drivesour economies forward.

15. And today, we have the captive mind, the product largely of our education system,which has failed to generate its opposite, the creative mind. The captive mind feeds ontrivia and fragmented knowledge, and students are not taught to be philosophical,universal or intercultural.

16. Our educational curricula do not encourage the moral and intellectual reform of themind. If we look west, we find that the development of education took place as part andparcel of the evolution of society and civilization as a whole. But in our own case, theeducation system has failed to impart the fundamentals of scientific thinking andreasoning in relation to our own society.

17. Captive minds tend to avoid major issues such as the concept of good governance,meaning of development, the effect of corruption on society and the rule of law.

18. Again, as it stands today, in the area of economy, there is no honest intellectualinquiry to find out why, despite many years of implementing the New Economic Policy,inequitable distribution of income continues to plague the people, and why we arelagging behind countries that do not have as much resources.

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19. To this very day, the electorate has not understood the implications of the NewEconomic Policy which has produced results that are diametrically opposed to theoriginal intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The longer wetry the policy, the further we are from the original goal.

20. If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results,then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must bewrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

21. Today, the discrepancy between vision and reality has taken on an alarming turn. Ithas gone far beyond economics into the realm of ethics and morality. In numerousinstances it has taken the form of corruption and decadence which has pushed theeconomy further down the drain.

22. Today, we are saddled with a spiraling national debt brought to exist by wantoncorruption and wasteful spending. It is feared that in relation to Singapore which is free

of foreign debts, if we are not careful, it wont take us long before we become anotherGreece. The problem continues to escalate, despite being highlighted by the AuditorGeneral year after year in his annual reports. It has been estimated that we can easily saveRM25-30bn without changing any of the deliverables if only we can get rid of corruptionand cronyism.

23. Professor Alatas once said that we have different types of governments such asdemocracy, autocracy, theocracy, and so forth, and now we need to describe ourgovernment as one that keeps the people ignorant. According to him, we need to use newterms such as ignocracy to describe a government that wants to keep the peopleignorant.

24. And yet for a democracy to succeed it is of cardinal importance for us to makeinformed choices.

Support for NEP coming from captive minds, says Ku Li

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah resumed his attack on theNew Economic Policy (NEP) today, stating that captive minds continue to support itdespite Malaysia moving further from its objective of redistributing wealth through pro-Bumiputera policies.

The Umno veteran said there has been no intellectual inquiry into why despite manyyears of implementing the NEP, inequitable distribution of income continues to plaguethe people as we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independentof current stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and others.

Ku Li today said, The NEPhas produced results that are diametrically opposed tothe original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. filepic

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If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results,then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must bewrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

Our thinking is based completely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of

politics, education, economics, planning, and so forth. Needless to say, we promote aracial world view that thrives on the policy of divide and rule, the Kelantan prince saidat a book launch in Ipoh this morning.

Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li, had in February said as a former financeminister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of the NEP to create anincubated class of Malay capitalists.

His statement further fuelled scrutiny of former prime minister Tun Dr MahathirMohamads policies after the Najib administration decided to settle out of court theRM589 million debt owed by former Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) chief Tan Sri

Tajudin Ramli.

The settlement sum was undisclosed, prompting intense public criticism and attacks fromthe opposition over the right of taxpayers to know the amount of public funds recovered.

Tajudin, 65, had served as the airlines executive chairman from 1994 to 2001 and was aposter boy of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddins now-discredited policy ofnurturing a class of Malay corporate captains on government largesse during theMahathir administration.

Ku Li, one of the greatest critics of the NEP and Dr Mahathirs handling of the policy,

had challenged the long-serving prime minister for leadership of Umno in 1987, which hesubsequently lost by a narrow margin.

He said in his speech today that the countrys education system does not encourage themoral and intellectual reform of the mind resulting in a lack of debate on major issuessuch as good governance, corruption and rule of law.

To this very day, the electorate has not understood the implications of the NEP whichhas produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridgingthe gap between the haves and the have-nots. The longer we try the policy, the further weare from the original goal.

The discrepancy between vision and reality has taken an alarming turn. It has gone farbeyond economics into the realm of ethics and morality. In numerous instances it hastaken the form of corruption and decadence which has pushed the economy further downthe drain, he said.

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He said wanton corruption and wasteful spending had resulted in spiralling nationaldebt that now amounts to RM456 billion or 53 per cent of the GDP, which if we are notcareful, it wont take us long before we become another Greece.

link: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/support-for-nep-coming-from-

captive-minds-says-ku-li/

The Looting and Decline of Malaysia (Pre Merdeka Speech)

I dont think its mere nostalgia that that makes us think there was a time when the sunshone more brightly upon Malaysia. I bring up sport because it has been a mirror of ourmore general performance as nation. When we were at ease with who we were and didntneed slogans to do our best together, we did well. When race and money entered ourgame, we declined. The same applies to our political and economic life

Soon after independence we were already a highly successful developing country. We

had begun the infrastructure building and diversification of our economy that would bethe foundation for further growth. We carried out an import-substitution programme thatstimulated local productive capacity. From there we started an infrastructure buildupwhich enabled a diversification of the economy leading to rapid industrialisation. Wecarried out effective programmes to raise rural income and help with landless withprogrammes such as FELDA. Our achievements in achieving growth with equity wererecognised around the world. We were ahead of Our peer group in economicdevelopment were South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, and we led thepack. I remember we used to send technical consultants to advise the South Koreans.

By the lates nineties, however, we had fallen far behind this group and were competing

with Thailand and Indonesia. Today, according to the latest World Investment Report,FDI into Malaysia is at about a twenty year low. We are entering the peer group ofCambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines as an investment destination. Thailand, despitea month long siege of the capital, attracted more FDI than we did last year. Indonesia andVietnam far outperform us, not as a statistical blip but consistently. Soon we shall havedifficulty keeping up with The Philippines. This, I believe, is called relegation. If we takeinto account FDI outflow, the picture is even more interesting. Last year we receivedUS$1.38 billion (RM4.40 billion) in investments but US$ 8.04 billion flowed out. We arethe only country in Southeast Asia which has suffered nett FDI outflow. I am not againstoutward investment. It can be a good thing for the country. But an imbalance on this scaleindicates capital flight, not mere investment overseas.

Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, andbillions more are being siphoned out as our entire political structure crumbles. Yet we aregathered here in comfort, in a country that still seems to work. Most of the time. This isdue less to good management than to the extraordinary wealth of this country. You wereborn into a country of immense resources both natural and cultural and social. We havebeen wearing down this advantage with mismanagement and corruption. With lies, talltales and theft. We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue

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of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies andtheft. It is easy to fall into the lull caused by the combination of whatever wealth has notbeen plundered and removed and political class that lives in a bubble of sycophancy.

I urge you not to fall into that complacency. It is time to wake up. That waking up can

begin here, right here, at this conference. Not tomorrow or the day after but today. So letme, as I have the honour of opening this conference, suggest the following:

Overcome the urge to have our hopes for the future endorsed by the Prime Minister. Hewill have retired, and Ill be long gone when your future arrives. The shape of your futureis being determined now.

Resist the temptation to say in line with when we do something. Your projects, believeit or not, dont have to be in line with any government campaign for them to bemeaningful. You dont need to polish anyones apple. Just get on with what you plan todo.

Do not put a lid on certain issues as sensitive because someone said they are. Or it isagainst the Social Contract. Or it is politicisation. You dont need to have yourconversation delimited by the hyper-sensitive among us. Sensitivity is often a club peopleuse to hit each other with. Reasoned discussion of contentious issues buildsunderstanding and trust. Test this idea.

Its not uber-liberal to ask for an end to having politics, economic policy, educationpolicy and everything and the kitchen sink determined by race. Its called growing up. Golook up liberal in a dictionary.

Please resist the temptation to say Salam 1 Malaysia, or Salam Vision 2020 or SalamMalaysia Boleh, or anything like that. Not even when you are reading the news. Itsembarrassing. I think its OK to say plain old salam the way the Holy Prophet did,wishing peace unto all humanity. You say you want to promote intellectual discourse. Itake that to mean you want to have reasonable, thought-through and critical discussions,and slogans are the enemy of thought. Banish them.

Dont let the politicians you have invited here talk down to you.

Dont let them tell you how bright and exuberant you are, that you are the future of thenation, etc. If you close your eyes and flow with their flattery you have safely joined the

caravan, a caravan taking the nation down a sink hole. If they tell you the future is in yourhands kindly request that they hand that future over first. Ask them how come theyoungest member of our cabinet is 45 and is full of discredited hacks? Our Merdekacabinet had an average age below thirty. Youre not the first generation to be bright.Mine wasnt too stupid. But you could be the first generation of students and younggraduates in fifty years to push this nation through a major transformation. And it is atransformation we need desperately.

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You will be told that much is expected of you, much has been given to you, and so forth.This is all true. Actually much has also been stolen from you. Over the last twenty fiveyears, much of the immense wealth generated by our productive people and our vastresources has been looted. This was supposed to have been your patrimony. Theuncomplicated sense of belonging fully, wholeheartedly, unreservedly, to this country, in

all it diversity, that has been taken from you.

Our sense of ourselves as Malaysians, a free and united people, has been replaced by atale of racial strife and resentment that continues to haunt us. The thing is, this tale isfalse.

The most precious thing you have been deprived of has been your history. Someone ofmy generation finds it hard to describe what must seem like a completely differentcountry to you now. Malaysia was not born in strife but in unity. Our independence wasachieved through a demonstration of unity by the people in supporting a multiracialgovernment led by Tengku Abdul Rahman. That show of unity, demonstrated first

through the municipal elections of 1952 and then through the Alliances landslide victoryin the elections of 1955, showed that the people of Malaya were united in wanting theirfreedom.

We surprised the British, who thought we could not do this.

Today we are no longer as united as we were then. We are also less free. I dont think thisis a coincidence. It takes free people to have the psychological strength to overcome theconfines of a racialised worldview. It takes free people to overcome those politicians benton hanging on to power gained by racialising every feature of our life including ourfootball teams.

Hence while you are at this conference, let me argue, that as an absolute minimum, weshould call for the repeal of unjust and much abused Acts which are reversals offreedoms that we won at Merdeka.

I ask you in joining me in calling for the repeal of the ISA and the OSA. These draconianlaws have been used, more often than not, as political tools rather than instruments ofnational security. They create a climate of fear. These days there is a trend among rightwing nationalist groups to identify the ISA with the defence of Malay rights. This is aself-inflicted insult on Malay rights. As if our Constitutional protections neededdraconian laws to enforce them. I wish they were as zealous in defending our right not to

be robbed by a corrupt ruling elite. We dont seem to be applying the law of the landthere, let alone the ISA.

I ask you to join me in calling for the repeal of the Printing and Publications Act, andabove all, the Universities and Colleges Act. I dont see how you can pursue your studentactivism with such freedom and support in the UK and Eire while forgetting that yourbrethren at home are deprived of their basic rights of association and expression by theUCA. The UCA has done immense harm in dumbing down our universities.

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We must have freedom as guaranteed under our Constitution. Freedom to assemble,associate, speak, write, move. This is basic. Even on matters of race and even on religiousmatters we should be able to speak freely, and we shall educate each other.

It is time to realise the dream of Dato Onn and the spirit of the Alliance, of Tunku Abdul

Rahman. That dream was one of unity and a single Malaysian people. They went as far asthey could with it in their time. Instead of taking on the torch we have reversed course.The next step for us as a country is to move beyond the infancy of race-based parties to anon-racial party system. Our race-based party system is the key political reason why weare a sick country, declining before our own eyes, with money fleeing and people tellingtheir children not to come home after their studies.

So let us try to take 1 Malaysia seriously. Millions have been spent putting up billboardsand adding the term to every conceivable thing. We even have cuti-cuti 1 Malaysia. Canttake a normal holiday anymore.

This is all fine. Now let us see if it means anything. Let us see the Government of the daylead by example. 1 Malaysia is empty because it is propagated by a Government thatpromotes the racially-based party system that is the chief cause of our inability to growup in our race relations. Our inability to grow up in our race relations is the chief reasonwhy investors, and we ourselves, no longer have confidence in our economy. The reasonswhy we are behind Maldives in football, and behind the Philippines in FDI, are linked.

So let us take 1 Malaysia seriously, and convert Barisan Nasional into a party open to allcitizens. Let it be a multiracial party open to direct membership. PR will be forced to dothe same or be left behind the times. Then we shall have the vehicles for a two party, non-race-based system.

If Umno, MIC or MCA are afraid of losing supporters, let them get their members to jointhis new multiracial party. PR should do the same. Nobody need feel left out. Umnomembers can join en masse. The Hainanese Kopitiam Association can join whicheverparty they want, or both parties en masse if they like. We can maintain our cherished civilassociations, however we choose to associate. But we drop all communalism when wecompete for the ballot. When our candidates stand for Elections, let them ever after standonly as Malaysians, better or worse.

The world is a dangerous place not because of people who do evil, but because of goodpeople who look on and do nothing about it. Albert Einstein

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah

http://tengkurazaleighhamzah.com/

TENGKU RAZALEIGH HAMZAH ON THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP) FROM SPEECHES (2009 – 2012)

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Transcript of TENGKU RAZALEIGH HAMZAH ON THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP) FROM SPEECHES (2009 – 2012)