Only Umno chosen benefit from new Bumi agenda, Kit Siang says: KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — The Najib administration’s new Bumiputera agenda will only result in greater benefits for Umno’s upper echelon, Lim Kit Siang alleged today, casting doubt again on the government’s latest pledge to raise the livelihood of the Malays and Malaysia’s other indigenous communities. Instead, Lim labelled the agenda a “double-barrelled” repudiation of the two key initiatives that formed the backdrop of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s reformist leadership - the New Economic Model (NEM) and the 1 Malaysia platform. “Datuk Seri Najib Razak had virtually renounced his reformist credentials as Prime Minister for all Malaysians as well as the torch-bearer for national transformation, whether governmental, political or economic,” Lim said in a statement here, when commenting on the prime minister’s Saturday announcement. “The Bumiputra Economic Empowerment Plan is a sad commentary on the dismal failures of Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy,” the veteran politician (picture) added. Lim recalled several years back when “1 Malaysia” was still a freshly introduced initiative of the Najib government. He noted that under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) roadmap, “1 Malaysia” was defined as an initiative to “make Malaysia ….a greater nation: a nation where, it is hoped, every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society”. But in March 2010, in response to Lim’s challenge in Parliament, Najib’s deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin famously declared himself a Malay first and Malaysian second. Since the declaration, no other Cabinet minister has dared to take a similar stand or to oppose it, save for senior Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who, in a no-holds-barred statement, declared himself “Malaysian first, Malay second”. Lim noted today that even Najib himself had not dared to contradict his deputy or agree with him, despite being put on the spot during the Malaysian Student Leaders’ Summit in July 2011. According to the DAP lawmaker, Najib had only said, “I don’t want to respond in a way that will divide me from my deputy. 1Malaysia is our guiding philosophy. It does not matter what you say, just as long as you follow (the 1Malaysia concept).” As such, Lim said Najib’s latest manoeuvre of unveiling the pro-Bumiputera NEM last weekend only provided more proof that he was reneging on his own ideals. He pointed out that the new agenda was a far cry from the promises made in the original NEM, which had promised a needs-and-merit based transformation of the affirmative programme to uplift the quality of life of the low-income 40 per cent of poorer households, regardless of ethnic groupings. “The Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Plan must be faulted on two grounds,” Lim continued, “... the marginalisation of the non-Malays in Malaysia and the continued hegemony of Umno-putras to be the main beneficiaries of the RM31 billion Bumiputra Economic Empowerment Plan as during the years of New Economic Policy (NEP).” Previously, Najib who is also finance minister, had said that the NEM would replace the pro-Bumiputera affirmative action from the now-defunct NEP in favour of meritocracy. Lim maintained that the NEP had only created fortunes for “the Umno few”, in the name of uplifting the Bumiputera community, many of whom he said are still languishing in the bottom 40 per cent of Malaysian households. But In his Saturday announcement, Najib had mooted the set up of a Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Council and pushed government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) to increase Bumiputera property ownership, among other measures. Political observers saw the move as an attempt to fortify Najib’s position within the largest component party in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and appease Malay voters who have showed the most support for Umno in the May 5 general election. dlvr.it/3zqM7D
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 08:43:14 +0000
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