Prospering all
Income and wealth need to be distributed in an egalitarian way
THIS Aug 31, Malaysia turns 62, but a nagging question has remained astraddle the country’s hip for long. Do the Bumiputeras still need the help of affirmative action policies? Views vary. But first an international perspective. The United Nations recognises affirmative action policies whose goal is to counter deeply entrenched groupstructured inequality. Like in many countries, by accident of history, some here got left behind. But unlike everywhere else, where minorities were left behind, in Malaysia, it was the majority — the Bumiputeras.
Consider the statistics provided by the United Nations Development Programme’s 2004 Occasional Paper: in 1957 — the year Malaysia became independent — while the Malays (the largest ethnic group making up the Bumiputera category) made up 62.1 per cent of agricultural workers, they comprised only 4.3 per cent of architects, 7.3 per cent of engineers, and 6.8 per cent of accountants. That same year, Malay businesses constituted only 10 per cent of the 89,000 registered business establishments and accounted for only 1.5 per cent of the capital invested in registered companies. While latest statistics are not easy to come by, people agree that things have changed for the better somewhat; the New Economic Policy’s two-pronged objective only managed to reduce hardcore poverty, but fared badly in bringing about socioeconomic restructuring.
But the decibel of the voice calling for policymakers to take the high road to needs-based policy is becoming shrill as the conversation on shared prosperity grows. Tan Sri Dr Nordin Kardi, vice-chancellor of Universiti Islam Sultan Azlan Shah, says a needs-based policy is the right path to prosperity. But there must be justice and fairness all around, he insists. “Blaming the politicians for all past blemishes isn’t going to help. Neither will blaming the Bumiputeras for all the ills of the country. Every ethnic group, without exception, must ensure that none is left behind.”
Datuk Khalid Jaafar, chairman of Policy Research Institute, says Malaysia has what Thomas Picketty calls a capital problem (based on his book Capital). Much of the wealth derived from capital is concentrated in the hands of rich families. The share of income from the ownership of capital is disproportionately higher than that received by labour. This is destabilising to any democracy.
Malaysia’s hope in arriving at shared prosperity for all may lie in doing three things. Firstly, there must be an ironclad commitment to make quality education from primary to tertiary levels free to every citizen of this country. No Malaysian should be left behind by dint of poverty or ignorance. Not after 61 years of independence. Second, the government must allow the private sector, businesses small and large, social enterprises, nongovernmental organisations, to truly thrive sans red tape and regulations that hinder commerce. Thirdly, the tax system needs to be revamped to rebalance the tax burden between incomes/wages and profits/capital. Taxes on capital and wealth need to be reintroduced as a key element of socioeconomic restructuring. It is not only the government’s job to restructure society. Those who have benefited most in society should rightly have a greater obligation to share the burden.
... Malaysia has what Thomas Picketty calls a capital problem.