NEP revival as NNA - two more reasons against "fait accompli"

At the DAP forum in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night, I had cited five reasons why the UMNO Youth General Assembly proposal last month for the revival of the New Economic Policy (NEP) as the New National Agenda (NNA) must be taken seriously and not treated dismissively as mere rhetorics by two UMNO Youth leaders to garner transient political mileage, viz: the adoption of the UMNO Youth proposal by the UMNO General Assembly; the rubber-stamping of the UMNO Youth proposal by all the 14 Barisan Nasional Youth wings; the endorsement by the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council; the acceptance of the UMNO Youth proposal as a “fait accompli” by top MCA and Gerakan leaders as representing Barisan Nasional policy and the role and involvement in the past few years in the strategizing and formulation of the revival of the NEP as the “New National Agenda” by one of the original formulators of the New Economic Policy 35 years ago – Tan Sri Dr. Just Faaland.

There are two more reasons to the five why the NEP revival as the NNA must not be allowed to become national policy before the fullest national consultation and debate, viz:

• The UMNO Supreme Council decision on Thursday to implement the UMNO General Assembly resolutions, including the UMNO Youth resolution on the NEP revival as the NNA.
• The public undertaking by the new MCA Youth Chief Datuk Liow Tiong Lai that MCA Youth leaders will “go to the ground and explain to the grassroots” on the explanation by the UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on his brandishing of the Malay keris at the UMNO Youth Assembly last month. Hishammuddin said if the Chinese community is still afraid of the keris, “then they are not able to compete in today's globalised world, which is talking about atomic bomb, nuclear and scud missile".

Hishammuddin’s explanation of the brandishing of the Malay keris at the UMNO Youth Assembly which called for the NEP revival as the New National Agenda is unsatisfactory and unacceptable – but even more unsatisfactory and unacceptable is the new MCA Youth leader’s response, highlighting the increasingly inequitable roles of the UMNO Youth and MCA Youth in the Barisan Nasional power equation.

Malaysians must insist that before any policy decision is taken on the NEP revival as the New National Agenda, there must be a full, rational and comprehensive discussion and examination of the successes and failures of NEP, in particular its impact on its overriding objective of achieving national unity, the two prongs of poverty eradication and restructuring of society, as well as its effects on government accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance and preparing Malaysia to become a First-World developed nation to face the challenges of globalization.

(27th August 2005, Parliament)

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NNA on NEP revival - "fait accompli" before national consultation?

There are at least five reasons why the UMNO Youth General Assembly proposal last month for the revival of the New Economic Policy (NEP) must be taken seriously and not treated dismissively as mere rhetorics by two UMNO Youth leaders to garner transient political mileage, viz:

• The adoption of the UMNO Youth proposal for the revival of the New Economic Policy by the UMNO General Assembly the same weekend;
• The rubber-stamping of the UMNO Youth proposal as the “New National Agenda” by all the 14 Barisan Nasional Youth wings in a joint meeting within a week.
• The endorsement of the UMNO Youth proposal by the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council within two weeks of the UMNO Youth General Assembly on 20th July 2005.
• The acceptance of the UMNO Youth proposal as a “fait accompli” by top MCA and Gerakan leaders as representing Barisan Nasional policy, with none of them questioning or challenging the proposal, despite the intense campaigning in the MCA and Gerakan party elections.
• The role and involvement in the past few years in the strategizing and formulation of the revival of the NEP as the “New National Agenda” by one of the original formulators of the New Economic Policy 35 years ago – Tan Sri Dr. Just Faaland. Faaland is a member of the International Advisory Panel of experts recently announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to advise the Malaysian government how to handle the economic challenges of globalization.

It would appear that the UMNO Youth proposal for the revival of the NEP has quickly become “national policy” without much discussion inside the Barisan Nasional or any consultation in the country.

In the Barisan Nasional, the debate has moved from policy level to the question of implementation, with MCA and Gerakan leaders seeking and the Prime Minister giving assurances that the “New National Agenda” to revive the NEP would be implemented in a manner that would be fair to all.

This is however putting the cart before the horse, as before the nation enters into a discussion on implementation, how to ensure that it would be fair and just to all, there should first be a national consensus on whether the “New National Agenda” for the next 15 years should be the revival of the NEP.

The 48th National Day which Malaysians will be celebrating in six days’ time has been cast under a cloud by two recent controversies –UMNO Youth’s demand for the revival of the NEP and the furore over the purported call by the Gerakan President Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik for the abandonment of the Merdeka “social contract”.

Although the Prime Minister quashed the “social contract” controversy before it got out of hand, the latter had highlighted the serious situation where top UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders are quite ignorant about the Merdeka “social contract” reached by the forefathers of the major communities on the attainment of independence as the bedrock of the nation.

As for the former, Malaysians should not have short memory and forget that the NEP had been the major cause of national division and racial polarization in the seventies and eighties and the main reason for the serious scourge of corruption even today.

One result of the NEP in the seventies and eighties was the mass emigration of Malaysian professional overseas, which was contemptuously dismissed by top Barisan Nasional leaders at the time as “good riddance to bad rubbish”.

Are the present Barisan Nasional leaders going to have the same attitude if the revival of NEP so undermined public confidence as to result in a second “brain drain” in the nation’s history – in an era of information society and knowledge-economy when the countries of the world are competing to attract the world’s best talents to their shores?

The Prime Minister gave a very inspiring and uplifting speech at the UMNO General Assembly last month, speaking about excellence, meritocracy, integrity, the attributes of competitiveness for Malaysia to face the challenges of globalization. Unfortunately, this perspective was not matched by the UMNO General Assembly proceeding which sent out a most jarring, exclusive and inward-looking message in trying to revive the old agenda of bumiputras versus non-bumiputras when the new challenge should be Malaysians versus the rest of the world.

The Malaysian people and civil society should send out a loud and clear message that there should be the fullest national consultation before any policy decision is taken whether the NEP revival should be the “New National Agenda” for the Ninth Malaysia Plan and the second-half of the 30-year Vision 2020. With two years to a half-century Malaysian nationhood, there should be a high-level and representative commission to chart the future and strategies for the next 50 years for a united, progressive and prosperous Malaysia – which should form the basis for a national debate when Malaysia celebrates our 50th National Day in 2007.

(25th August 2005, KL - Speech at the "Revival of New Economic Policy" forum)

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Proclamation of Independence

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL. PRAISE BE TO GOD, THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE AND MAY THE BLESSINGS AND PEACE OF GOD UPON HIS MESSENGERS

Whereas the time has now arrived when the people of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu will assume the status of a free independent and sovereign nation among the nations of the World.

AND Whereas by an agreement styled the Federation of Malaya Agreement, 1957, between Her Majesty the Queen and Their Highness the Rulers of the Malay States it was agreed that the Malay States of Johore, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Trengganu and Perak and the former Settlements of Malacca and Penang should as from the 31st day of August, 1957, be formed into a new Federation of States by the name of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.

AND WHEREAS it was further agreed between the parties to the said agreement that the Settlements of Malacca and Penang aforesaid should as from the said date cease to form part of Her Majesty’s dominions and that Her Majesty should cease to exercise any sovereignty over them.

AND WHEREAS it was further agreed by the parties aforesaid that the Federation of Malaya Agreement, 1948, and all other agreements subsisting between Her Majesty the Queen and Their Highness the Rulers or any one of them immediately before the said date should be revoked as from that date and that all powers and jurisdiction of Her Majesty or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in or in respects of the Settlements of the United Kingdom in or in respects of the Settlements aforesaid or the Malay States of the Federation as a whole should come to an end.

AND WHEREAS effect has been given in the Federation of Malaya Agreement, 1957, by Her Majesty the Queen, Their Highnesses the Rulers, the Parliament of the United Kingdom and Legislatures of the Federation and of the Malay States.

AND WHEREAS a constitution for the Government of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu has been established as the supreme law thereof.

AND WHEREAS by the Federal Constitution aforesaid provision is made to safeguard the rights and prerogatives of Their Highness the Rulers and the fundamental rights and liberties of the people and to provide for the peaceful and orderly advancement of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu as a constitutional monarchy based on Parliamentary democracy.

AND WHEREAS the Federal Constitution aforesaid having been approved by an Ordinance of the Federal Legislatures, by the Enactments of the Malay States and by resolutions of the Legislatures of Malacca and Penang has come into force on the 31st day of August 1957, aforesaid.

NOW in the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful, I, TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PUTRA IBNI AL-MARHUM SULTAN ABDUL HAMID HALIMSHAH, PRIME MINISTER OF THE PERSEKUTUAN TANAH MELAYU, with the concurrence and approval of Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Malay States do hereby proclaim and declare on behalf of the people of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu that as from the thirty first day of August, nineteen hundred and fifty seven, the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu comprising the States of Johore, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Trengganu, Perak, Malacca and Penang is and with God’s blessing shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations.

(31st August 1957, Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur)

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