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.