Hishammuddin’s  call for  NEP2 is putting the clock back for nation-building and holding down the progress of Malays and the nation to face the increasingly competitive challenges of globalisation

Media  Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  

(Parliament, Friday): One commentator wrote of three immediate reactions to the speech of the UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein at the UMNO Youth Assembly on Wednesday calling for the revival of the New Economic Policy (NEP)   – faster heart-beat, heavy heart and great sadness.

My three immediate reactions are:

• The outcome of the unprecedented landslide Barisan Nasional general elections victory in March last year, with the Opposition the weakest in Parliament in Malaysian history;
   
• Total lack of consultation, whether in Barisan Nasional or in the country, on any proposed major policy change; and
   
• Major setback to the concept of “Towering Malaysians” as well as the ideas of meritocracy and excellence to enhance Malaysian international  competitiveness to face the challenges of globalization.

When the New Economic Policy was introduced in 1970, it was envisaged as a 20-year programme.  With Hishammudin’s proposal for the  NEP2, the 20-year NEP is going to become a 50-year programme.

Hishammuddin’s  call for  NEP2 is putting the clock back for nation-building and holding down the progress of Malays and the nation to face the increasingly competitive challenges of globalisation

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted in his UMNO Presidential speech yesterday, quoting the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the National Economic Action Council and the formulation of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad, that the target of  30% equity share for bumiputras would have been reached if the Malays had not sold off their share ownerships from bumiputra quotas for quick gain.

In fact, it had been contended that if nominee shares and the sell-off for quick gain had been taken into account, the 30% bumiputra equity target would have been reached at the end of the 20-year NEP in 1990, when bumiputra equity stake was recorded as at 19.3%, reaching 20.6% in 1995, and falling to 19% in 2000.

Hishamuddin’s call for a NEP2 is completely at variance with the theme and spirit  of the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday, which makes it all the more unfortunate that Abdullah had not made it clear that there will be no revival of NEP2 as advocated by Hishammuddin.

(22/07/2005)