Malaysian Chinese: Recent Developments and Prospects

7. The New Malaysian Economic Agenda: Some Preliminary Observations

125 7 THE NEW MALAYSIAN ECONOMIC AGENDA: SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS Toh Kin Woon INTRODUCTION This฀ chapter฀ attempts฀ to฀ compare฀ and฀ contrast฀ the฀ much฀ vaunted฀ New฀ Economic฀Policy฀(NEP)฀and฀its฀later฀variants,฀viz.฀the฀National฀Development฀ Policy฀(NDP)฀and฀the฀National฀Vision฀Policy฀(NVP)฀with฀the฀New฀Economic฀ Agenda฀(NEA)฀propounded฀by฀Anwar฀Ibrahim,฀the฀former฀deputy฀prime฀ minister฀ of฀ Malaysia฀ and฀ de฀ facto฀ leader฀ of฀ Parti฀ Keadilan฀ Rakyat฀ (PKR)฀ (Peoples’฀ Justice฀ Party฀ in฀ English).฀ This฀ is,฀ however,฀ not฀ an฀ easy฀ task.฀ While฀much฀research฀and฀writing฀have฀been฀done฀on฀the฀NEP,฀the฀same฀ cannot฀be฀said฀about฀the฀NEA,฀which฀is฀still฀very฀much฀at฀an฀early฀stage฀of฀ conceptualization.฀Its฀detailed฀contents฀await฀further฀strengthening฀and฀finetuning .฀Be฀that฀as฀it฀may,฀the฀broad฀objectives฀and฀the฀underlying฀spirit฀and฀ underpinnings฀of฀these฀two฀policies฀can฀be฀compared฀and฀contrasted.฀No฀ one฀is฀sure฀as฀to฀whether฀the฀NEA฀will฀see฀the฀light฀of฀day,฀and฀if฀so,฀when.฀ Should฀it฀be฀implemented฀sometime฀in฀the฀future,฀it฀will฀be฀done฀in฀a฀specific฀ social฀formation฀that฀has฀its฀contradictions,฀competing฀interests,฀values,฀and฀ institutions.฀Some฀of฀these฀may฀pose฀severe฀constraints฀and฀challenges฀to฀the฀ successful฀ realization฀ of฀ Anwar’s,฀ and฀ by฀ extension,฀ PKR’s฀ new฀ economic฀ agenda. 07฀MalaysianChin.indd฀฀฀125 9/12/11฀฀฀11:33:34฀AM 126 Toh Kin Woon STRUCTURE OF THE CHAPTER In฀line฀with฀the฀above฀stated฀objectives,฀the฀structure฀of฀this฀chapter฀will฀be฀ as฀follows: (i)฀ First,฀we฀will฀describe฀briefly฀the฀rationale฀behind฀the฀NEP;฀its฀tools฀ of฀implementation;฀and฀the฀social฀contradictions฀that฀this฀policy฀has฀ engendered.1 (ii)฀ This฀provides฀the฀context฀for฀the฀contestation฀against฀the฀NEP฀via฀the฀ articulation฀of฀the฀NEA.฀The฀differences฀between฀these฀two฀policies฀will฀ be฀looked฀at. (iii)฀The฀constraints฀inhibiting฀the฀successful฀implementation฀of฀the฀NEA฀ and฀the฀social฀contradictions฀that฀it฀may฀potentially฀engender฀will฀then฀ be฀discussed. THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY — ITS OBJECTIVES AND TOOLS OF IMPLEMENTATION The฀NEP฀has฀been฀implemented฀for฀close฀to฀four฀decades฀now.฀It฀was฀first฀ launched฀in฀1971,฀with฀the฀overriding฀objective฀of฀bringing฀unity฀to฀a฀nation฀ that฀was฀badly฀shaken฀by฀a฀major฀racial฀conflict฀that฀occurred฀two฀years฀before฀ its฀launch.฀This฀was฀to฀be฀achieved฀through: (i)฀ reducing฀and฀eventually฀eradicating฀poverty฀among฀all฀Malaysians,฀ irrespective฀of฀race;฀and (ii)฀ accelerating฀the฀process฀of฀restructuring฀Malaysian฀society฀to฀correct฀ economic฀imbalances฀so฀as฀to฀reduce฀and฀eventually฀eliminate฀the฀ identification฀of฀economic฀function฀with฀race.2 POVERTY ERADICATION The฀first฀objective฀entails฀eradicating฀absolute฀poverty฀through฀the฀provision฀ of฀income฀generating฀assets฀and฀enhancing฀the฀returns฀of฀these฀assets฀to฀ identified฀poor฀groups.฀These฀assets฀include฀land,฀capital฀equipment,฀skills,฀ and฀knowledge.฀The฀distribution฀of฀these฀assets฀to฀poor฀groups฀has฀been฀done฀ through฀land฀resettlement฀schemes;฀the฀subsidized฀provision฀of฀productive฀ means฀ of฀ production;฀ the฀ expansion฀ of฀ education฀ opportunities฀ at฀ all฀ levels,฀and฀skills฀training฀and฀retraining.฀In฀part,฀because฀of฀the฀ideological฀ orientation฀of฀the฀state฀elite฀that฀promulgated฀the฀NEP,฀the฀focus฀of฀poverty฀ 07฀MalaysianChin.indd฀฀฀126 9/12/11฀฀฀11:33:34฀AM New Malaysian Economic Agenda 127 eradication฀has฀always฀been฀on฀the฀raising฀of฀the฀productivity฀and฀income฀ levels฀of฀the฀poor,฀without฀stressing฀the฀closing฀of฀the฀gap฀between฀the฀ rich฀and฀poor.฀Distributive฀justice฀among฀the฀classes฀has฀not฀been฀given฀ the฀attention฀due.฀However,฀there฀is฀a฀fair฀amount฀of฀attention฀paid฀to฀ ฀ reducing฀the฀income฀disparity฀between฀the฀different฀races.฀This฀perhaps฀is฀ in฀line฀with฀the฀race-based฀approach฀of฀the฀dominant฀UMNO฀elite฀in฀the฀ governing฀stratum.฀ THE RESTRUCTURING OF MALAYSIAN SOCIETY The฀second฀prong฀is฀by฀far฀the฀more฀controversial฀of฀the฀two฀prongs฀of฀ the฀NEP.฀It฀aims฀to฀restructure฀society฀with฀a฀view฀towards฀removing฀a฀ colonial฀legacy฀in฀which฀economic฀functions฀were฀identified฀with฀race.฀ Besides฀ restructuring฀ employment,฀ or,฀ more฀ specifically,฀ enhancing฀ ฀ greater฀ Bumiputra฀ participation฀ in฀ the฀ employment฀ structure฀ of฀ the฀ more฀modern฀and฀productive฀sectors฀of฀the฀economy,฀this฀prong฀entails฀ ฀ nurturing฀a฀Bumiputra฀Commercial฀and฀Industrial฀Community฀(BCIC).฀ The฀measures฀adopted฀centre฀on฀a฀greater฀role฀for฀the฀state,฀a฀departure฀ from฀the฀earlier,฀relatively฀more฀laissez฀faire฀stance฀of฀the฀state.3 ฀Legislation,฀ such฀ as฀ the฀ Petroleum฀ Development฀ Act฀ (1974)฀ and฀ the฀ Industrial฀ ฀ Coordination฀Act฀(1975),฀the฀proliferation฀of฀state฀enterprises฀for฀the฀ purpose฀of฀acquiring฀assets...