by Iskandar
Dzulkarnain, Wong Choon Mei
Growing up under his leadership, one tends to have utmost
fear for this man. 22 years as Prime Minister, his fame or infamy has stretched
far and wide. When in power, many a Malay looked up to him with pride and
respect. Sad to say, the moment he was out of power, even his deputy - the
extra mild Abdullah Badawi - turned on him.
His latest article attacking Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim
for denigrating the New Economic Policy failed to make much impact. In the
past, Malaysians would have read with eyes agog at his unrestrained criticism
of Anwar, who during the 1990s was popular enough to overthrow him.
But now, ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad only draws a yawn. Most
Malaysians have already formed their opinions of the NEP and whatever Mahathir
says will not change their minds. Even the Malays, who are in two minds about
the NEP, are steadfast in their differing views. Some Malays insist that the
NEP be maintained as it is, while a similar number insist that it be revamped
to help more lower-income Malays rather than benefit only the rich Malays and
the Chinese tycoons connected to Mahathir himself.
Still
a he-devil
In Mahathir's eye, Anwar is still a devil and busy lying to
the people that the NEP only benefits the BN cronies and that the contracts,
Approval Permits and licenses given out in the name of affirmative action
invariably involve corruption. He also said Anwar made it sound as if the NEP
did not benefit the Malays and other Bumiputera at all, just the UMNO elite and
their 'friends'.
Gripe as Mahathir may wish, the statistics from his own
government show that Anwar is also right, perhaps even more right than he is.
Many experts will agree the NEP did benefit many Malays and Bumiputras in the
country. But as Anwar pointed out, when one compares against the overall Malay
and Bumi population, those who benefited work out to a miserly fraction. In
many of his speeches, Anwar often quoted government figures showing that 96 per
cent of the poorest people in the country are actually Malays. And the NEP has
been in existence since 1971 or for 40 years. How can Mahathir, a doctor by
training, fail to grasp this piece of simple math?
The only explanation may be that Mahathir is still
'politicising' against his former deputy, despite having sacked him, chased him
out of their party and jailed him for 6 years. How did the blood between the
two men become so bad? Some say it is guilty conscience on Mahathir's part for
the 1998 sodomy charges. True or not, it appears Mahathir's dislike for Anwar
has only grown stronger and not weaker with the years.
Non-Bumis
were sidelined
In his latest article posted
on his chedet blog, Mahathir said that every Malay child is
helped in his education with free text books and often with free meals. Schools
are built in the remotest areas where before there were no schools. Hostels are
built for mostly Malay and other Bumiputera children so that they can live a
better life and are able to study in better surroundings then in their homes in
the villages.
But in doing so, Mahathir is also admitting that he has
marginalized the non-Bumiputras in his effort to prop up the Bumiputras in the
country. Why? Are non-Bumis lesser beings that are not deserving of
governmental assistance? What happens to the poor non-Bumis who are also in
need of assistance? And all this while, the country thought that BN was
developing the country for all Malaysians, and not just for the Bumiputras.
Mahathir goes on to say that for the qualified, tertiary
education is readily accessible with huge numbers of scholarships. As a result
many of the children of poor families or of families unable to pay high fees
now hold university degrees and are highly qualified professionals. As an
example, he states that where before only 5% of the doctors in Malaysia were
Malays and Bumiputera, nowadays 40% of the profession are Malays.
If this is so, did the NEP benefit the Bumiputras at the
expense of the Non-Bumis? And was this the NEP's intention? Did it get
side-tracked along the way by unscruplous politicians? These are all questions
that have been asked many times before and until now, no answers have been
forthcoming from Mahathir. All he has provided are half-answers in the vein of
his latest article - either using Malay supremacy as his defense or as a basis
for attacking his favourite targets, such as Anwar or the DAP's Lims.
No wonder the 85-year Dr M has lost his audience. The only
times that he stirs interest these days is when he espouses the racist rhetoric
of extremist Malay groups such as Perkasa. With his vintage wit and his courage
to simply 'hantam' (wallop), his spin or version of a particular event or issue
is in a class of its own. He now entertains Malaysians, rather than serve a
role as an advisor, elder statesman and someone for all Malaysian to turn to in
any hour of darkness. Very likely, he may be the one creating the darkness, his
crtics make no bones about saying. This is the extent of cynicism that Mahathir
now draws.
The
numbers cannot lie, Mahathir may
Other boasts made by Mahathir to attest to the NEP's
effectiveness include the Bumis' share of corporate assets. He said today, more
than ten and half million (10,500,000) Malays and other Bumiputera hold shares
in these unit trusts with total holdings valued at one hundred and thirty-five
billion (135,000,000,000) Ringgit. This is a direct benefit from the NEP. The
unit trust makes up a substantial percentage of corporate wealth held by the
Bumiputera, he added.
"Felda too has been nursed until it has become the biggest
plantation company in the world. The settlers have much higher incomes while
their children are much better educated. All these are due to the New Economic
Policy. Microcredit is extended to the smallest village enterprises and this
has helped tens of thousands of Bumiputera villagers, especially the women in
business.
There are now thousands of Bumiputera businessmen who benefitted
from the importation of used and new cars, from becoming agents and vendors to
the national car projects and also in the oil and gas business as a result of
the NEP.
The best of them have grown big, some very big, becoming car
dealers and assemblers, housing developers, steel fabricators, boat and ship
builders, IT, transportation, ports and shipping, food and cosmetic
manufacturers and many other businesses," wrote a
still passionate Mahathir.
So thanks to the NEP, the bumiputras have succeeded beyond
their wildest dreams. Then why are they still left far far behind compared to
the non-Bumiputras who had to struggle without government assistance?
And can someone explain why the non-Bumiputras who form in
total only 33 per cent of the population can manage to hold 82 per cent of the
equity in corporate Malaysia? How can 67 per cent of the Malaysian population -
the Malays and the Bumis - hold only 18 per cent after 50 years of affirmative
action? Shouldn’t the figures be the other way around or did someone
miscalculate? What went wrong? Surely, not bad math again.
An
insult to the Malays, a back-stabber to the non-Malays
The fact is that although Mahathir may harbour noble
ambitions for the Malays, his effort have failed to alleviate the lot of the
majority of Malays and Bumiputras in this country who are more or less still in
square one, unable to move forward while on the other hand we have a handful of
super rich Malay individuals who think of nothing other than how to protect
their ill-gotten wealth from overflowing to the Malay masses.
Many Malays in this country are truly insulted by Mahathir,
who still continues to tell the world that the Malays are weak and helpless. We
still need crutches to walk, we are still handicapped and need government
assistance in the 21stcentury. And the best part is, the non-Malays actually
believed him to the extent that they stupidly voted the BN all these years,
while he stabbed them in the back. If you doubt this, just ask Ling Liong Sik
and Chan Kong Choy - two former MCA ministers in the BN Cabinet and better
hurry while they are still free men.
Mahathir also went on to tell the Malays that the non-Malays
in this country are Supermen, capable of controlling the wealth and power in
this country as they already hold more than 82% of the country’s wealth. Malays
must be on guard, do not be too friendly with them or else one day the carpet
will be pulled from under their feet.
How on earth are Malaysians going to unite with such
political charlatans around!
Source : MC
EmpireMoney.com
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