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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Saturday 15 August 2009

The causes of Prosperity

Many have realised this fact; the struggle to preserve the 30% quota of privileges is in reality, a determined effort by the élite to preserve their own privileges. It has never expanded into the universal struggle for the economic emancipation of Malays.

I want to repeat this observation. The penury of the majority Malays is not the result of greedy others taking a larger share of the economic pie. We have been taken for a ride believing in this. The causes for the continued misdevelopmet of Malays are likely to be found in the actions and behaviour of the Malay leadership.

The Malay leadership at all levels have not acted in the interest of Malays actually. Please look around you. The top leadership of Malays from kings to district officers, to head of departments, the army, the police down to the lowly paid peons and thambys, are all Malays. They have the means to develop Malays. Yet the lot of the majority Malays hasn't improved substantially. But the lot of our own super 30 has improved tremendously.

There can only be one conclusion- the elite leadership calling for the magic number of 30, has been helping themselves to the pie and excluding the majority Malays. The majority Malays have improved on account of themselves. They have turned themselves into capital goods in the sense of having acquired the skills and education to pull themselves up.

It is strange- the UMNO progressives who fight vehemently against the dismantling of the 30% are in fact fighting on behalf of the real exploiters of the Malays. Hence, it is they, not those who decry and call for economic liberalisations who are the bribed sycophants of the old bourgeoisie. These people are hiding behind the tired and overused phrase of Malay supremacy.

Tuan- the real supremacy of Malays must be fought in the realm of economics. This is why I am attaching a special interest in the speech Tengku Razaleigh is making in front of a crowd deep in this idea of Malay supremacy. There can be no more strident voice of Malay supremacy in the disparage group led by Brahim Ali.

The answer to Malay prosperity may well lie in the basic building blocks of economic advancement. These can be summarised into four broad headings- mass production, the application of science to production, the passion for productivity and the spirit of competition. These were the views by a leading teacher of economics at Harvard University- William E Rappard in explaining the secret behind America's prosperity. Hence instead of the sabre rattling and kris wielding, maybe we Malays need to go back to the first principles of economics.

Once we accept these general observations as to what lay behind prosperity, we then begin to understand the political significance of the conclusions. It is that, our prosperity and conversely our penury lie within us. Our own salvation will be the result of our own efforts and will be a purely Malay phenomenon. It is no way caused or furthered by external factors, principal among them the greedy appropriation of other races from us.

I cannot dispute when professor Rappard says the wealth of a country very largely depends on the will of the nation. Other things being equal, then, a country and its economy will be more productive in proportion as its inhabitants want it to be. Malay community will be prosperous if the Malays want prosperity and lay down policies fitted for the purpose. The 'want to' must be there first.



4 comments:

Suci Dalam Debu 15 August 2009 at 13:15  

Sir,

Aduh. You buat saya pening kepala. Nothing wrong in what you wrote.

What you have written is so basic yet failed to be noticed by the Malay masses.

I wonder how you can spread this message more effectively to all the PM, DPM, ministers, all UMNO members and the general Malay population.

The Chinese don't need this because they seem to be practising it.

Sir, I salute you once again for making the little steps needed for bigger change.

GreenBug 15 August 2009 at 18:34  

I'm a Malaysian Chinese, Dato Sak, and I would like to say that most of my Malay friends feel the same way as you do. We are in business together and they are successful because they are good in what they do and worked hard. They have never benefitted from the NEP except for the opportunity for tertiary studies.

BTW, we make keropok mat salleh (prawn and fish fritters) for export ha! ha!

Anonymous,  16 August 2009 at 14:36  

No need for such complicated ideologies..simply:

>>Give me a license to operate a Casino in Klang Valley.The license will be in perpetuity..similar to Genting lah
>>Give me 4 digit,TOTO licenses..similar to Ananda,Berjaya,Magnum lah
>>Give me an IPP with similar take all clause...similar to YTL lah
>>Give me direct nego Double tracking Rail contract..could be JB to Gemas,and Gemas to Kuala Krai.similar to Gamuda lah
>>Sell me Lake Garden land in KL cheap..and get Petronas to buy from me about 20 m sq ft of office lah...like KLCC scheme?
>>Give me sole import license for sugar,wheat,corn..like normal normal lah.
>>Give me Public Transport service in KL but govt must pay me Rm5 per person even tho they don't ride on my buses...like YTL ERL project lah
>>Let me develop 2000 acre land at KLIA as a Free Trade Zone..like Jebel Ali lah..don't let ur JKR ask how much it cost..watever I bill govt just approve lah..like PKFZ model

And ask all Banks to support me..ok?If I can't get loan..ask EPF,KWAP,Tabung Haji etc to help out ok?And if govt servants not cooperative,transfer them out at my request...


Give me 5 years..I solve that 30% NEP issue lah..and create thousands of other businesses..simple lah.
And who says Melayu don't know how to niaga?Maybe our Malay boss prefer us not too...

Anonymous,  12 September 2009 at 12:54  

Perhaps you ought to read more about attacks on Malay privileges and understand the concept of Ketuanan Melayu.

http://takemon.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/ketuanan-melayu-a-new-constitution/

30% is welcome by any standards and serves to underwrite the success of any project.

Miriam Aburrahaman

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