By Lee Wei Lian - The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The country’s New Economic Model (NEM) is expected to offer alternatives to the race-based policies that have characterised affirmative action in Malaysia for the past 40 years by introducing a sense of inclusiveness and focus to help the bottom half of Malaysian wage earners.
Sources told The Malaysian Insider, the proposed reforms will highlight innovation and merit for a more competitive economy while providing cushioning measures such as a wider social safety net and government backed institutions to combat discrimination and unfair practices in the marketplace.
While non-Malays are likely to welcome any moves to go from ethnic based policies to policies based on demonstrated need, it might not bring joy to right-wing groups such as the Malay Consultative Council (MPM) which has lobbied for the NEM to be designed with racial considerations.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak (picture) will receive a full report on the NEM’s proposed measures on March 30 at the Invest Malaysia conference but has said full details will be disclosed only at the launch of the 10th Malaysia Plan in June after getting public feedback.
“The public feedback is crucial as the PM wants it to be a collaborative effort,” a source familiar with a draft of the NEM told The Malaysian Insider.
The NEM is being drafted by the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) chaired by Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz, a top banker who was later made an economics minister under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Cabinet in 2008.
The report was due late last year but it is understood that Najib wants a comprehensive report that takes into account all views before drafting it into the 10th Malaysia Plan, the country’s economic blueprint that has helped make it an Asian Tiger in the 1980s and 1990s until the Asian Financial Crisis tripped its high growth cycle. Malaysia, which just came out of a recession in the last quarter and recorded a contraction of 1.7 per cent in its GDP growth in 2009, has also hobbled due to a “decade of economic stagnation”, said Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah recently, adding the country must be competitive to ensure its economic growth.
Another source disclosed the NEM is also proposing the formation of anti-discrimination institutions that could potentially end up benefiting all parties — both Malays and non-Malays.
Many non-Malays have long complained that they face racial discrimination in the public sector, while many Malays have argued that they face racial discrimination from non-Malay companies.
“An anti-discrimination body could resolve such complaints from both Malays and non-Malays,” the source added.
The focus on transparency in affirmative action, if implemented, will eventually create an environment toxic to rent seeking and patronage, one of the main criticisms of both non-Malays and many Malays, about the side effects of the New Economic Policy (NEP) which has dominated the Malaysian economic scene since the 1970s.
The NEM will also seek to narrow the income differences between East and West Malaysia in order to reduce regional disparities within the country, the source said.
The NEM is one of the key thrusts of the Najib administration and is supposed to transform Malaysia to be a high income nation with a per capita income above US$15,000 (RM50,000) by 2020.
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