Malaysian Politicians Kock Talking

Few can deny that Malaysia is in a state of imbalance. And that’s putting it nicely. Over the years the effects of corruption, cronyism, nepotism and discrimination has shown no signs of fatigue, rather it has been gaining strength and momentum.

The 2008 elections saw Malaysians stand up to deny the ruling coalition for the first time in decades. The event has not been given enough credit. It was a day signifying a change. My hopes is that one day, it will be written in the school history books as the day Malaysians stood up for what is right. Malaysians. Not “The Chinese” or “The Malays”, but MALAYSIANS.

Some people are afraid of change; the thought of stepping out of their comfort zone terrifies them. Like an abused wife who stands by her husband, convincing herself night after night that this is only temporary, that it’s only because he was drunk, that she still loves him. We all know that’s not true…

So what has this change taught us? For one thing it has taught us that when pressed, Malaysian politicians can say the stupidest things (Sarah Palin anyone?). Here are some examples based solely around a particular policy. One that mandates all public listed companies to have at least 30% bumiputera stakes in them.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin

“the policy to have 30 per cent Bumiputera equity participation in public companies showed that the community had compromised a lot even though they form 70 per cent of the country's population.”[link]

So in simple terms, what he seems to be implying is that percentage of equity in public companies should be directly proportional to the bumiputera population. So since bumiputeras make up 70% of the population (although that figure itself is grossly exaggerated) then it is a big compromise on their side since the policy only requires 30% bumiputera participation.

Why is this guy “Education Minister”? By his argument, then all public companies should at least have 30% NON-bumiputera equity as well since they make up 30% of the population.

Imagine rocking up to a restaurant and ordering a plate of fried rice, only to be served a dish with 3/4 of it fried rice and the rest char kuey teow. And when you complain the chef says there are lots of kuey teow leftover and so he serves them in every dish. Ridiculous? You bet.

Umno Youth executive council member Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir.

"So long as the Bumiputera are not comfortable and confident with their capabilities, the policy cannot be abolished.” [link]

Seriously? That’s like saying as long as students from a particular school don’t meet the grades, we will continue to pass them regardless.

How about looking into the reason why students are failing instead? Or in this case, the lack of confidence? The logic is so simple that it is scary to think that the politicians have not actually thought of this solution. And it is equally scary to think that they actually have thought of it, but chose to ignore it in favour of the more discriminative and manipulative method.

Entrepreneur and Co-operatives Development Minister Datuk Noh Omar.

“This is proof of the government being flexible.This is evident from 260 companies without the Bumiputera equity operating in the country.”

“All this while we've never denied the rights of others; we give the freedom to embrace the religion of their choice and to build places of worship. Every Malaysian citizen is given protection and equal rights," [link]

First, addressing the obvious, how does company equity and freedom of religion relate to each other? I can think of one way:

It only goes to show what kind of impression some people have regarding the issue. Why so shallow? Does everything have to relate to religion?

Now let us ignore that ridiculous comment and analyze this on a purely economic viewpoint. The ministers, even Dr M himself says that the policy should only be abolished when a target of “30 percent Bumiputeras, 40 per cent for non-bumiputeras and 30 for foreigners is reached”-News Strait Times

So this in turn begs the question time and time again, how do we determine what the percentage is now? Well just recently in 2006 the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) submitted a report based on that very topic. Contributors to the study include the likes of Dr Lim Teck Ghee, a former World Bank social scientist, and Dr Terence Gomez, a research coordinator at United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). The authenticity is far from questionable, given that the findings and methods are released to the public.

What was the government’s response? Tan Sri Muyiddin Hussein called it “rubbish”. UMNO vice-president and Malacca Chief Minister Mohammad Ali Rustam called it “inaccurate”. Why? Because the study places bumiputera corporate equity ownership around 45%, significantly higher than the 18.9% official figure released at that time.

Here’s what Prime Minister Ahmad Badawi had to say about it,

"ASLI adopted an approach based on a survey involving only 1000 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, unlike the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) which involved 600,000 Malaysian companies in its survey and used government documents."

Compare this to what Datuk Noh Omar claims when he says that the government is "flexible" What is he comparing that 260 non bumiputera companies too? The 1000 listed on Bursa Malaysia, or the 600,000 companies? Paring his figure with 1000 would make his claim believable. But the Prime Minister himself has stated that a figure of 600,000 should be used for such studies instead. They contradict themselves, who do we believe? They screwed themselves either way.

The government has been suppressing the issue for far too long. They have NOT released their own method or calculation prosedure, and the numbers they quote are inconsistent. On a side note, the pressure they put on ASLI finally made them cave in. They retracted their study. The researchers who conducted the study however, stuck by their findings and Dr Lim Teck Ghee himself refused to sign the retraction form, which ultimately led him to quit. [link 1] [link 2]