Stop defining poverty by colour call
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s affirmative action programme had failed its targeted group and brought on the opposite effect of its initial intention of nation building, Dr Pamela Yong, the deputy chairman of the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (INSAP) said yesterday.
Speaking at the opening of the symposium ‘New Government, New Policies: End of Affirmative Action?’ at the Faculty of Economics and Administration at Universiti Malaya, Dr Yong stressed that Malaysia’s affirmative programme had contributed to dissension and discord rather than increasing social cohesion.
“Success stories of the affirmative action programme are usually synchronous to how politically connected one was instead of how needy or talented one had risen, marginalising those really in need besides conceptualising a ‘second class citizen’ culture in Malaysia,” said Dr Yong.
The Pakatan Harapan government is nearly a year old in governing New Malaysia, yet Malaysians have yet to see the end of affirmative action as promised, and could even be seeing new affirmative action under guise as the Economics Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, had called for a return to the Malay economic agenda after PH suffered two by-election setbacks recently.
“Currently, the national thrust is being given to uplift the B40 poor which is ideal and exemplary, but should this focus be skewed to aid just one ethnic group and marginalise other Malaysians, who may perhaps be in even greater predicament or have greater need of assistance?” Dr Yong asked in reference to apparent suggestion by Azmin.
“We are happy that our Prime Minister-in-waiting, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had shot down a return to the race-based economic agenda this week,” she noted.
Dr Yong highlighted that for the Malays, affirmative action is ‘Social Contract’ and safeguarded by Article 153 of the Federal Constitution which lays down their Special Rights in the country.
“But as our Prime Minister had pointed out in his memoirs, when crutches are used longer than necessary, it has the potential of ruining one’s competitiveness, and leaves the race hooked for life on handouts. That became the unintended consequence of affirmative action after it was introduced in 1970,” Dr Yong stressed.
In its lofty beginnings, the New Economic Policy’s (NEP) ultimate aim was to build and ‘unite’ a nation to eradicate poverty regardless of race and to eliminate the discriminatory identification of race socio-economically. However, over the decades, the NEP’s pure intentions have been somewhat diluted or distorted, whereby a small minority of ‘favoured’ Bumiputeras had reaped the fruits while the mass majority, many in dire need, were left with slim pickings, Dr Yong noted.
What’s more, affirmative action’s existence was institutionalised and entrenched as a ‘social contract’ that brought about complacency, dependency and an expectation of permanent entitlement.
Dr Yong added that it will take an enormous amount of political will and tenacity to reform and revolutionise what has become institutionalised for so many years.
“What is more important today is to establish and develop longterm strategies and policies which are relevant to the interests and aspirations of Malaysians, while addressing the needs of the B40. This is what we at INSAP firmly believe,” she asserted.
INSAP is the co-sponsor of the symposium on ‘New Government, New Policies: End of Affirmative Action?’ which was held yesterday at University of Malaya. The symposium, which was moderated by Professor Dr Edmund Terence Gomez of the UM Faculty of Economics and Administration, was participated by a high powered panel comprising:
Ahmad Fahmi Fadzil, the member of parliament for Lembah Pantai; Tan Sri Datuk Dr Kamal Mat Salih, the Adjunct Professor of Asia Europe Institute of Universiti Malaya; Dr Lee Hwok Aun, Senior Fellow of the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) Singapore; Dr Firdaus Suffian of University Teknologi MARA Sabah; and Mohamed Tawfiq Ismail, eldest son of Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, the former deputy prime minister of Malaysia.