Last Friday, Minister of Communication and Multimedia Dato’ Sri Ahmad Shabery Cheek had been quoted by Umno blogs as saying that a “particular state” was hiding behind the policy of meritocracy in order to subtly discriminate Malays. Although he did not explicitly mention which state, it was generally accepted by all that he had been alluding to the Pakatan Rakyat-led government of Penang.
On Saturday, I rebutted his baseless accusations by pointing out the various non-racial, needs-based welfare policies that the Pakatan Rakyat government has implemented in Penang. These policies have benefited many poor households, most of whom are Malay. Meanwhile, transparent procurement procedures have resulted in deserving Bumiputera companies being awarded state projects, which is a departure from the patronage-driven approach of the previous Barisan Nasional government.
I also added that it is a shame that Malays remain poor in Penang after 50 years of Barisan Nasional rule, and that the Pakatan Rakyat government was trying its best to help the poor.
To my bemusement, not only did Shabery completely miss the point of my reply, he has accused me of being “biased and racist.” As if that was not enough, he continued to flex his racist muscles by suggesting: “Why didn’t he (Zairil) say that the success of the Chinese was from BN’s success?”
Not all Chinese are rich, Mr Minister
Such a racially slanted statement is typical of an Umno minister and characteristic of the Barisan Nasional government, which has always failed to comprehend that poverty and inequality are not racial problems. To quote renowned economist and author of The Colour of Inequality: Ethnicity, Class, Income and Wealth in Malaysia, Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid, poverty is “a Malaysian problem.”
In fact, Dr Muhammed’s book goes on to show that two-thirds of Malaysian workers earn less than RM3,000 a month, and about 90 per cent of all Malaysians have nearly zero savings. This abysmal reality proves that Malaysians across all ethnic groups are struggling to make ends meet.
This fact is corroborated by the Department of Statistic’s Wages and Salaries Survey 2013, which shows that the median wage for Bumiputeras stand at RM1,600 a month. Contrary to what Shabery believes, the Chinese are not any much better, with the ethnic group’s median wage being RM2,000 a month. Indians, meanwhile, earn a monthly median wage of RM1,500. In other words, the median monthly wage for all three major ethnic groups in our country stands at RM2,000 or below, which qualifies them as low income.
What’s more, income inequality has become an alarming problem in Malaysia as we now suffer from the widest gap between the rich and poor amongst Southeast Asian countries. In ethnic terms, inequality is highest amongst the Indians, followed by the Chinese and then the Bumiputeras. However, many do not realise that the gap between the rich Chinese and the poor Chinese is actually the widest in nominal terms compared to other ethnic groups. Thus, for all the rich Chinese tycoons that we hear of, there is a large majority of low income Chinese who do not earn much more than their other Malaysian counterparts.
But cronies across all races are rich
While it is has been empirically proven that Malaysians across the board suffer from low socio-economic conditions, it must be affirmed that there is indeed a class of very special Malaysians. These selected Malaysians are special because they have been deemed fit to receive special treatment in the form of directly negotiated tenders, sweetheart contracts, lucrative concessions and mega-projects from the Barisan Nasional government.
These special Malaysians are also known as cronies, and they too are not racially divided. If the Barisan Nasional government is to be credited for making anyone rich, it is for enriching this special breed of Malaysian cronies, whether Chinese, Malays, Indians or others.
Unfortunately, the policies that created a rentier economy based on state monopoly capitalism have brought benefits only to this special class of crony capitalists, and not the rest of the Malaysian population who remain trapped in the quagmire of poverty and income inequality. And this situation is set to exacerbate further unless proactive policies are introduced to address the corruption and cronyism that has robbed ordinary Malaysians of their country’s wealth.