Stop the abuses of the past

PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave a firm assurance in Parliament on Tuesday that the Pakatan Harapan government would uphold the special position and rights of Malays and special position of the natives in Sabah and Sarawak and the ethnic rights of other groups according to our Constitution.

Replying to a Parliamentary question from Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN Lenggong), Dr Mahathir said clearly that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is empowered to protect three areas that are special to the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak, namely the public service, economy and education.

He further outlined the special areas of protection: “jobs in the public sector, the giving of scholarships and the issuance of permits or licences, under Federal laws.”

Indeed, all this is right and proper under our present Constitution. But isn’t it time to improve the implementation of bumiputra policies to make the attainment of the goals more effective and fair to all?

The question that arises is whether, after 61 years under the Barisan Nasional government and its questionable performance, is now not the right time to review the quality of the implementation, especially the abuses, of all these past policies?

Let’s begin by looking at jobs in the public service. We all know that we have a bloated public service, which the PM himself said has declined in efficiency and effectiveness over the years.

This is partly because the civil service has lost much of its former multicultural composition. How effective can any civil service anywhere be in serving the public and national interests when it is not fully representative of the society it serves. How empathetic can it be?

Will there not be more inbreeding in the civil service culture as it becomes more monolithic? Where would the necessary internal checks and balances be and how would there be more competition with the rise in internal protection and favouritism?

The Pakatan government would need to improve the race and religious composition of the public service as soon as possible if we want to progress at a faster pace.

Perhaps a quota system is now essential as the old method of recruitment and promotion has not worked well!

On the award of scholarships and training, please be fairer in the distribution among our many races. This is a major source of frustration for all students, including bumiputra students who are from poor families.

Often enough in the past, wealthy bumiputra students were known to have won scholarships over their underprivileged peers, bumiputra or otherwise.

This is the abuse of the bumiputra policy in the past. There has to be more justice by being fair to all bright and poor Malaysian students irrespective of their race or religion to promote real national unity.

The issuance of permits and licences has also been abused in the past, as the most qualified bumiputra have not always been given licences and permits. Very often, those who were unqualified or under-qualified but had political friends and allies were give the permits. This led to more corruption and cronyism, resulting in wastage of our national resources and lowering of productivity and competitiveness.

The liberal award of approved permits is a case in point. How many of the rich bumiputra created advanced further than being mere rentiers and easy-going traders? We have all sacrificed to help build a bumiputra entrepreneurial class but where are most of the best qualified bumiputra businessmen and women today?

They are mostly in secure government-linked companies, earning big salaries without taking much business risks. So can they develop and grow as real entrepreneurs?

Under permits and licences, we can also include tenders and contracts that were often awarded to inept bumiputra contractors. These usually subcontracted the tenders to non-bumi contractors at higher prices. The consequent squeeze in profits often led to more corruption, lower standards of performance and a higher level of inefficiencies. All this abuse led to rising costs and higher prices which the poor consumers had to bear. No wonder they reacted during the 14th General Election!

So we all hope that the Pakatan government will remove these abuses and help the genuine bumiputra businessmen and women from now on, and then even the non-Malays would be happier that policies on special rights are being properly implemented.

And what is wrong in providing more contracts to able and efficient non-Malay businessmen and women, especially those who can form joint enterprises across the races to improve the implementation of bumiputra policies?

After 60 years of independence, many, if not most, Malaysians believe that the bumiputra policies and especially the implementation, should be improved. This will be in the best interest of the whole country and especially the bumiputra, many of whom have suffered and lost out because of the abuses practised in the past.

Dr Mahathir has rightly suggested that “Any proposed amendments on this (use of Bahasa Malaysia in the public sector) needs to be discussed and get the agreement of the Conference of Rulers in line with Articles 159 and 38 of the Constitution.”

I think all Malaysians will agree that they should support the PM and his government’s proposal to make the necessary amendments in order to move forward for greater progress.

I would also propose that a review of the implementation of all bumiputra and related policies be undertaken as a matter or priority to ensure that ALL Malaysians irrespective of race or religion are protected and are able to advance, as envisaged in our Constitution and in the spirit of our founding fathers. This will be the main way to make Malaysia under the Pakatan government great.

Selamat Hari Merdeka!

TAN SRI RAMON NAVARATNAM Chairman Asli Center of Policy Studies