Khairy Jamaluddin is wrong and irresponsible to say that the next general election decides the future of Malays when it also determines the destiny of all Malaysians

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Speech at Nibong Tebal Dinner

by Lim Guan Eng

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(Penang, Saturday): Election fever is officially on when Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud predicted that general elections will be called after Hari Raya Aidilfitre in on 13-14 October 2007. Whilst this makes a November election date likely, the people should not be distracted by this election talk from the real issues in the next general elections:

• The future of mother-tongue education following the refusal of the government to restore the teaching of Maths and Science from English to mother-tongue or refusing to give fair development allocations to Chinese and Tamil primary schools;

• The lack of equal economic opportunities following the insistence of the government to extend the New Economic Policy(NEP);  

• Emphasising mediocrity over excellence in the education system by sticking to the quota system; and

• Refusal to clean up the police force by setting up the Independent Complaints and Misconduct Commission(IPSMC) to ensure Malaysians the four basic rights of security – to live, work, study and play in a safe neighbourhood.

DAP is shocked that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak continues to insist that introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) was not to discriminate the non-Malays but to uplift the Malays who lagged behind after 400 years of colonization. When opening the Jerai UMNO division meeting on 28.7.1997, Najib said that if there's anyone who says that the NEP has discriminated the non-Malays, then we can say that we are correcting the discrimination endured by the Malays during 400 years of foreign colonization. 

DAP wishes to remind Najib that Malays were oppressed for 446 years by foreign colonialists from England, Portuguese and Dutch and not non-Malays. Such oppression of Malays does not give BN the right to do the same to non-Malays who were similarly oppressed by the same foreign colonialists. By talking of continuing the struggle through deploying every available resource for the sake of the Malays, Najib forgets that non-Malays are also Malaysians. 

Similarly UMNO Deputy President Khairy Jamaluddin shows the racist nature of UMNO when he talks of the next elections as deciding the future of the Malays. Khairy is wrong and irresponsible to say that the next general election decides the future of Malays when it also determines the destiny of all Malaysians, including non-Malays. How can UMNO ignore 40% of the population who are non-Malays? 

There is no point in wasting time rebutting immature remarks by Khairy on the New Economic Policy(NEP) when it is based not on facts but on emotion. After all Professor Dr Lim Teck Ghee had published a study proving that the target bumi quota of 30% corporate equity was more than achieved with a 45% bumi equity in terms of market value. 

Non-Malays are asking why they should be ”punished” when they were not the ones who oppressed the Malays but suffered worse oppression than the Malays, especially during the Second World War when the Japanese brutalized and tortured non-Malays. In fact, the same foreign colonialists who oppressed the Malays are treated better now by the government than their common Malaysian citizens who are non-Malays. 

Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was right when he mentioned that the Chinese in Malaysia were systematically marginalized but he was half-right because he forgot to include Indians, orang Asli, poor Malays and bumis from East Malaysia. The NEP has resulted in   corruption, political double-standards and discriminatory policies that widens income inequality and socio-economic injustices where only the few UMNO-putras or BN-putras rich benefit at the expense of all Malaysians, including poor Malays.  

The United Nations Human Development Report consistently list Malaysians as suffering the worst income inequality between the rich and poor in South-East Asia. This is conceded by the Ninth Malaysian Plan (9MP) which showed the share of income of the bottom 40% of the population declined from 14.5% in 1990 to 13.5% in 2004 whilst the share of the top 20% of the population increased from 50% in 1990 to 51.2% in 2004. 

Not many Malaysians, whether Malay or non-Malay are rich like UMNO, MCA or MIC millionaires. How many Malays own APs or shares or are millionaires like UMNO Youth Deputy President Khairy Jamaluddin who can own RM 9.2 million worth of shares or like Datuk Roslan Hashim who can spend RM 3.5 million for his wedding or Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi who can afford to give RM 50 million worth of properties to  his former wife in a divorce settlement.  

Not many non-Malays are as rich as MCA Deputy Youth President Ling Hee Leong who became the youngest billionaire at 27 years old when he borrowed RM 1.2 billion to purchase 3 publicly listed companies. Clearly to avoid answering the question by poor Malays demanding a share of the corporate bumi equity monopolized by UMNO leaders, Najib is trying to distract attention by claiming that the 30% target has still not been achieved and indirectly passing the blame to non-Malays. 

As long as Najib and UMNO continues to rely on race and not needs as the basis for economic policy-making, Malaysia will not only suffer greater income inequality between the rich and poor but also be more divisive and unable to compete internationally in this era of globalization.