Political will, the NEM and ETP.

 

The people who wrote the NEM say, the heart of the model is the political will of the government. In simpler language, it means the government must be ready to not spare the rod.

So far, it has shown a lot of slacks in this department. The PM as the principal driver, has shown himself to be in a state of perpetual diffidence; he can't control the UMNO enforcers, he is easily spooked by Perkasa and is seen to be over eager to please non Malay demands. He believes the success of the NEM and ETP depends on the involvement and support of the non bumis.

The sad part is, that's true. Which group is more economically adaptive and will respond to the 'incentivize' plans of the government? Which group has better stock of knowledge workers? Which group is more competitive? The non bumis.

So what do you do to the to-be-marginalized group? Najib has not addressed this issue sufficiently. It is causing him minus marks. Even UMNO people are questioning his Malay credentials. He is more absorbed into showy PR exercises. He is eager to champion his new philosophy of 1 Malaysia where our ethnic and cultural diversity will be strategically leveraged.

But you have to solve the basic economic issues. You can't write in special positions and such things into economics. You have to devise programs, policies to help them. Policies, and actions help them earn income, not having some provisions written in. so you come up with the nebulous concept of market friendly affirmative action. What is this? If you are already market friendly and driven, you don't need a special category of market friendly affirmative action.

In other words you are saying, you don't have any solid policies to help out the 40% base. But you have policies for the top 20%. For the bottom 40% you have market friendly affirmative action. For the top 20%, you actually have projects for them dropping as it were, like manna from heaven.

In this sense, when the NEAC recommends that the government must have solid political will, it is right. It must have the heart of steel to break the logjam of vested interests. It is also right to point out that the opposition will come mainly from people who are beneficiaries of rent seeking activities.

While it is right in this aspect, it is wrong in identifying those people with the vested interests. Perkasa? Miss by a mile.

The main beneficiaries are ganging up in support of the NEM to ensure that remain beneficiaries and stakeholders to the new plan. bankers, big contractors, direct negotiation bidders, the government's business partners are all there to celebrate the hallelujah-ing the ETP show.

Here is one big contradiction. The NEM and ETP are crafted by technocrats. They say, we must have political will. They also say we must have a process of engagement. Here is the contradiction.

The political will or its lacking are explained by non politicians. Asking 3000 people to come for an exceedingly expensive sandwich party can hardly qualify as a process of engagement and dissemination of the ideas of the NEM. Because it isn't done by politicians or through political channels, it will not have the power backing. The survival of the NEM, the ETP and whatever catchphrases therein, depend on political backing.

The sponsors and promoters of the NEM and ETP have displayed ignorance in not having these two 'projects' communicated by the political machinery..

The majority of the UMNO members, who provide the steel to the heart are not even aware what is the NEM or the ETP. Yet, these will impact on them the most- since they are direct beneficiaries of government big push of strategic policies.

Come on baby, light my fire.

The wheels of the NEM are of course the SRIs- strategic reform initiatives. Phew!

Fire up the private sector so that they will invest in high value added products and services. But of course- the 43-50 billion MRT is a valued added product and service. It is a valuable plan for the sponsors of the plan. The large property development projects involving government land- that is also a high tech value added investment. That would certainly fire the voracious and nefarious appetites of gatekeepers and vested interest groups.

We want to develop quality workforce. Start with raising entry level qualification of those going into government jobs. We must find people who are paid well and won't complain as overworked and underpaid. You get paid commensurate with the qualifications you have.

The NEAC extols the creating of competitive domestic economy. Of course again by employing cutting edge methods such as the Swiss challenge method. Hence MMC-Gamuda for example is invited to propose the building of MRT. Others are invited to counter offer and the first proposer has the first right of refusal. Who are the 'others'?

But here is the clearest indication of lack of political will.


 

The Council will now seek and incorporate feedback and collaborate with all stakeholders over the next few months to further analyse and detail the policy measures and implementation frameworks.

In other words baby, it is still the age of government knows best. Unfortunately, it's a government that is not sure of its top down policies.