Commentary by Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek 1. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib Razak, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has been pushing for the liberalisation of economic policies over the past 4 years. The government has also striven hard to implement the Economic Transformation Programme, which is an unavoidable national policy that must be executed due to the global scenario. 2. Export is still the locomotive for the national economic development for us to be more competitive, we need to create a business-friendly environment that will attract more foreign investment and talent, hence economic liberalisation and transformation is a must and inevitable move. 3. Comparing to other countries, our economic liberalisation came a bit late, but it is better late than never. We have witnessed the fruitful outcome of the policy. We have economic growth of over 5% annually over the past few years, higher than Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. 4. This year, we are also confident to achieve the 5% growth which will benefit the entire nation and the people. If there is a economic downturn and lack of competitiveness, the rakyat suffers. 5. However, when the national economy is growing, not just Chinese will be benefit from it but everyone in the country. As such, the claim by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on economic liberalisation after the 2004 General Election was to woo Chinese voters, is unconvincing claim. 6. The Bumiputras should not see economic liberalisation as a compromise to Chinese on economy and be upset with the liberalisation policy. We should understand that good economic development will benefit all, its the rising tide that give all boats. 7. It is undeniable that the country is facing an income inequality issue and the gap is getting wider. This will bring great impact to the society. 8. The income gap does not happen between the Bumiputras and the non-Bumiputras, it happens within the Bumiputras too. In Kuala Lumpur, there are rich Bumiputras and poor Bumiputras; the Bumiputras in West and East Malaysia too have income discrepancy. 9. Hence, affirmative policy must be based on need, we should help those in need regardless of race, otherwise such policy will be interpreted as an unfair policy because poverty does not exist in just one community. 10. Over 60% of the population in the country are Bumiputras, the Malay community will always be the dominant party in the Government. This was concurred by ex-Premier of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew that Malays will still be the mainstream in the ruling party if Pakatan Rakyat forms the Government. 11. It is noticeable that Malay Parliamentary seats have increased in General Election 2004, 2008 and 2013. In 2013, total parliamentary seats won by Umno alone is almost the same as the total seats won by Pakatan. 12. Chinese are generally worried about a Malay Government too strong that their political, economic status and rights will be encroached. The New Economic Policy (NEP) and its poor implementation had posed a greater worry to the Chinese and ended up losing faith in the government. 13. DAP used the fear of Chinese against a too dominant Malays support and that is also why Chinese supported UBAH, they simply do not want to see Umno growing stronger. 14. Chinese hoped that through DAP, the Malay political power will stop growing unlimitedly and through DAP, they denied Barisan Nasional and Umno as ruling party. 15. In Penang, DAP as ruling party become very dominant with Chinese presence and Chinese were hoping that there will be such a political power in the central government. They felt that there was a chance to change the government when they supported Ubah. In the 505 General Election, we witnessed that even with only 15% of Chinese support, BN still won and formed the central government. 16. DAP that survives on Chinese support contested in Chinese-majority seats. There are about 45 Chinese-majority seats nationwide. In 308 General Election DAP won 38 and MCA only only 7 seats. 17. I have said it before that when DAP is strong, MCA is weak and vice versa and the last General Election is the best example of DAP pitting Chinese against Chinese to limit the communitys political strength in the government. 18. The principle of power sharing in BN is a very good political model. However, in the 21 years of Tun Mahathir’s leadership, we see that the growth of Umnos political strength has made its coalition partners to become powerless in BN. 19. Decisions made in the Umno Supreme Council were often become the Cabinets decisions and I had mentioned it before in the BN Convention that to the people, Umno is the taiko and if it becomes arrogant and dictatorial, it will have adverse impact on its component parties. 20. The newly-appointed MCA President wanted real political power sharing. This is encouraging but whether this will become a reality will depend on the partys achievement. Otherwise it will be just another beautiful but empty slogan. 21. Now that Pahang has no MCA State Exco, Perak MCA is facing a reduction of district and local councillors and etc, all these posed a challenge to the new MCA leadership, it is for them to prove if MCA can really pull the levers of power in the BN. ENDS
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:34:56 +0000
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