The Great Malaysian Heist
COMMENT And so you have it. Najib Abdul Razak, for all his bluster, for all his attempts to be seen to be all things to all Malaysians, has again shown his true stripes.
He's hardly a chameleon. He's poltergeist. He manifests himself when the political winds suit him and his party Umno and its coalition partners in the BN, with the regularity of bumptious idiocy.
It's not a far cry from any previous regime in Malaysia. If you look closely at the country's political history since 1957, it's the same old thing.
So it's barely surprising that a week ago Najib avowed his undying support - no, protection - of the New Economic Policy that his father Abdul Razak Hussein had pronounced in the immediate aftermath of the murderous May 13, 1969 racial violence.
It must have been a rousing speech, since it was given before the Bumiputera Economic Congress - the very group, more like a lobby group, whose existence depends on the political and economic largesse of the Umno regime.
Recall the mid-1960s: the ultra right wing of Umno had given similar speeches of Malay-ness and Malay special rights to Malay economic association in a care-mongering campaign of the rampage of Chinese business interests throughout the country - saying that the yellow horde menace had to be stopped. The idea was that the Chinese were robbing the Malays blind.
And what did Abdul Razak do? He introduced laws to entrench those already in the constitution. These laws would allow Malays in general, and Malay business in particular, to use crutches from which they would benefit in economic terms from Malaysia's embryonic industrialisation.
This industrialisation was half constructed on a resources export economy and half on import-substitution (viz the protection of nascent Malaysian companies producing for the domestic economy).
So it's barely surprising that a week ago Najib avowed his undying support - no, protection - of the New Economic Policy that his father Abdul Razak Hussein had pronounced in the immediate aftermath of the murderous May 13, 1969 racial violence.
It must have been a rousing speech, since it was given before the Bumiputera Economic Congress - the very group, more like a lobby group, whose existence depends on the political and economic largesse of the Umno regime. Recall the mid-1960s: the ultra right wing of Umno had given similar speeches of Malay-ness and Malay special rights to Malay economic association in a care-mongering campaign of the rampage of Chinese business interests throughout the country - saying that the yellow horde menace had to be stopped. The idea was that the Chinese were robbing the Malays blind.
And what did Abdul Razak do? He introduced laws to entrench those already in the constitution. These laws would allow Malays in general, and Malay business in particular, to use crutches from which they would benefit in economic terms from Malaysia's embryonic industrialisation.
This industrialisation was half constructed on a resources export economy and half on import-substitution (viz the protection of nascent Malaysian companies producing for the domestic economy).
Truth is, it also protected Chinese business interests because a whole lot of so-called Malay entrepreneurs used policy loopholes to practice Ali Baba-ism. Like dills, they sold their business interests to Chinese entrepreneurs for a song.
When Dr Mahathir Mohamad came to power in 1981, he changed some laws and added others, but the end result was always the same - more crutches for Malays. But this time he introduced the specter of rentier capitalism by taking it to new heights. Corruption existed, but Mahathir expanded it, nurtured it,and made it an art form.
But this time a new configuration of rentier capitalists emerged from the crevices of Malaysian political economy: more and more bumiputera, Chinese and even some Indian so-called entrepreneurs relied on Mahathir's hell-bent policy of privatisation.
The Malays were generally to be well looked after under the guise of the New Economic Policy (NEP), but Malay entrepreneurs would be given financially lucrative state contracts, much of which would be shared amongst the Chinese and Indian towkay class as long as they provided political and financial succor to the Mahathir regime in return for his business patronage.
NEM a ruse
Fast forward to 2010. What has changed in the political economy? Nothing. Zilch. Read Barry Wain's book, 'Malaysian Maverick', amongst others over the course of two decades.
But what Wain has done is what people like Jomo KS and Terence Gomez have been doing for more than 10 years: that is to say, without saying too loudly, that every Umno-BN regime since 1969 has created the vestibule of a corruption-riddled kleptomanic state, run by kleptomanic so-called leaders - from Abdul Razak to Hussein Onn, Mahathir, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and now Najib.
And Malaysia's kleptomanic state is no better or worse than the ones found elsewhere, primarily South Africa under Thabo Mbeki and now Jacob Zuma, and Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. In fact the southern African states have tried to 'model' theirs on Malaysia.
Will these African states also usurp Najib's New Economic Model (NEM)? No. Why? Because the NEM won't get off the ground. Not in a million years. It's stillborn. Dead and gone. Snafued.
The NEM is no more a model than Vision 2020 was or, for that matter, the NEP. And if the NEP has run its course, replaced by New Development Policy, what is Najib doing repeating his steadfast support for the NEP?
The NEM is a ruse. In its present caricature, it barely has any credibility among the most serious economists and analysts in Malaysia and outside it. Najib may well say that people should wait for the second installment of the NEM. Why bother if the first installment is nothing short of a joke.
There is no intent. At least nothing that is genuine or believable because this is not a regime that can be believed, any more than anybody sane mind in Malaysia believes or is prepared to believe Najib.
There are reasons for this, one of which is that Najib cannot and will not give up Malay political supremacy when he knows full well that the ultra right wing nutters in Umno Youth led by Khairy Jamaluddin will only surrender the NEP over their dead bodies.
Now you have another main player: Malay Consultative Council chairperson and Pasir Mas MP Ibrahim Ali, whose hardcore racist streak equals only to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. He has told Najib in unequivocal terms that the NEM is dead in the water and nothing, but nothing, will replace ever replace the NEP.
Adding clout to Ibarhim's demands is the Malaysian Association of Malay Automobile Importers which has been deriding Najib over the regime's decision to kill off Approved Permits by 2015.
Poor Rafidah Aziz would be beside herself with political and economic diarrhoea now that her family's vast fortune could be robbed by the state, after the state had been playing Robin Hood since 1970. Most powerful Malay interests, especially economic ones, have labelled the NEM as anti-Malay. And the more Ibrahim goes on his racist attacks against non-Malay Malaysians, the more Najib will backpedal.
Show us the model
Najib is a gutless worm. That has been clear for all to see for a long time now. But what is even clearer is that he has already begun to rollback and, I'll wager, shelf forever, the NEM. He'll come up with the line that the global economic situation does not make it viable.
He does not subscribe to sensible economic advice when offered. Nor to the Chinese idiom, Weiji (opportunity in crisis). This is precisely the time to reform the economy - fundamentally. The problem is that to do so would require associative but equally fundamental political reforms. But to do so, Najib and Umno fear Malay supremacy will be seriously undermined if not eroded.
Which is where, and why, Ibrahim steps in. He's the front man of Malay business interests and stand-in headkicker for Umno Youth and factions of the party's supreme council. All have a lot to lose from the NEM.
The real fear is that the NEM will open up economic competition within the domestic economy to such an extent that it may just show up the incompetence of most Malay businesses that thus far have survived on the kleptomanic Malay state's patronage and protection.
Even if the NEP premise is used - that an expanding economy means a greater share for all races in the political economy - you don't really find that predicated in the NEM. Because there are no guarantees that greater economic competition from within Malaysia and abroad will necessarily produce greater good for the greater majority. Look at Europe as a case in point.
Internationalising competition within Malaysia means invoking the possibility of Machiavellian possibilities or probabilities. And this is not a regime that is remotely intelligent, let alone clever, to deal with this kind of likelihood.
When Dr Mahathir Mohamad came to power in 1981, he changed some laws and added others, but the end result was always the same - more crutches for Malays. But this time he introduced the specter of rentier capitalism by taking it to new heights. Corruption existed, but Mahathir expanded it, nurtured it,and made it an art form. But this time a new configuration of rentier capitalists emerged from the crevices of Malaysian political economy: more and more bumiputera, Chinese and even some Indian so-called entrepreneurs relied on Mahathir's hell-bent policy of privatisation.
The Malays were generally to be well looked after under the guise of the New Economic Policy (NEP), but Malay entrepreneurs would be given financially lucrative state contracts, much of which would be shared amongst the Chinese and Indian towkay class as long as they provided political and financial succor to the Mahathir regime in return for his business patronage.
NEM a ruse
Fast forward to 2010. What has changed in the political economy? Nothing. Zilch. Read Barry Wain's book, 'Malaysian Maverick', amongst others over the course of two decades.
But what Wain has done is what people like Jomo KS and Terence Gomez have been doing for more than 10 years: that is to say, without saying too loudly, that every Umno-BN regime since 1969 has created the vestibule of a corruption-riddled kleptomanic state, run by kleptomanic so-called leaders - from Abdul Razak to Hussein Onn, Mahathir, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and now Najib.
And Malaysia's kleptomanic state is no better or worse than the ones found elsewhere, primarily South Africa under Thabo Mbeki and now Jacob Zuma, and Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. In fact the southern African states have tried to 'model' theirs on Malaysia.
Will these African states also usurp Najib's New Economic Model (NEM)? No. Why? Because the NEM won't get off the ground. Not in a million years. It's stillborn. Dead and gone. Snafued. The NEM is no more a model than Vision 2020 was or, for that matter, the NEP. And if the NEP has run its course, replaced by New Development Policy, what is Najib doing repeating his steadfast support for the NEP?
The NEM is a ruse. In its present caricature, it barely has any credibility among the most serious economists and analysts in Malaysia and outside it. Najib may well say that people should wait for the second installment of the NEM. Why bother if the first installment is nothing short of a joke.
There is no intent. At least nothing that is genuine or believable because this is not a regime that can be believed, any more than anybody sane mind in Malaysia believes or is prepared to believe Najib.
There are reasons for this, one of which is that Najib cannot and will not give up Malay political supremacy when he knows full well that the ultra right wing nutters in Umno Youth led by Khairy Jamaluddin will only surrender the NEP over their dead bodies.
Now you have another main player: Malay Consultative Council chairperson and Pasir Mas MP Ibrahim Ali, whose hardcore racist streak equals only to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. He has told Najib in unequivocal terms that the NEM is dead in the water and nothing, but nothing, will replace ever replace the NEP. Adding clout to Ibarhim's demands is the Malaysian Association of Malay Automobile Importers which has been deriding Najib over the regime's decision to kill off Approved Permits by 2015.
Poor Rafidah Aziz would be beside herself with political and economic diarrhoea now that her family's vast fortune could be robbed by the state, after the state had been playing Robin Hood since 1970. Most powerful Malay interests, especially economic ones, have labelled the NEM as anti-Malay. And the more Ibrahim goes on his racist attacks against non-Malay Malaysians, the more Najib will backpedal.
Show us the model
Najib is a gutless worm. That has been clear for all to see for a long time now. But what is even clearer is that he has already begun to rollback and, I'll wager, shelf forever, the NEM. He'll come up with the line that the global economic situation does not make it viable.
He does not subscribe to sensible economic advice when offered. Nor to the Chinese idiom, Weiji (opportunity in crisis). This is precisely the time to reform the economy - fundamentally. The problem is that to do so would require associative but equally fundamental political reforms. But to do so, Najib and Umno fear Malay supremacy will be seriously undermined if not eroded.
Which is where, and why, Ibrahim steps in. He's the front man of Malay business interests and stand-in headkicker for Umno Youth and factions of the party's supreme council. All have a lot to lose from the NEM. The real fear is that the NEM will open up economic competition within the domestic economy to such an extent that it may just show up the incompetence of most Malay businesses that thus far have survived on the kleptomanic Malay state's patronage and protection.
Even if the NEP premise is used - that an expanding economy means a greater share for all races in the political economy - you don't really find that predicated in the NEM. Because there are no guarantees that greater economic competition from within Malaysia and abroad will necessarily produce greater good for the greater majority. Look at Europe as a case in point.
Internationalising competition within Malaysia means invoking the possibility of Machiavellian possibilities or probabilities. And this is not a regime that is remotely intelligent, let alone clever, to deal with this kind of likelihood.
If you're looking for a Malaysian example, go back to the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s when Mahathir ordered the 'consolidation' of Malaysian banks and finance and insurance companies.
And the announcement that the Malaysian economy grew by 10.1 percent in the first quarter was another bold and stupid lie, a furphy (tall story) based on statistical manipulation to produce a grand illusion.
We're dealing within a deluded bunch of dimwits in Putrajaya. But let Bank Negara, the Statistics Department and the Economic Planning Unit show us the modelling used to come up with the figure. I'll poke a million holes in all the assumptions used in its modeling.
Bottom line: Najib is already laying the groundwork for withdrawing the NEM and hanging on to the NEP. And if you think about it, which government, if it were seriously competent, intelligent and genuinely truthful, would release Part 1 of the NEM while still writing up Part 2?
It just does not make any sense. Then again, when has any Malaysian government since 1957, and certainly since 1969, ever made any sense at all?
And the announcement that the Malaysian economy grew by 10.1 percent in the first quarter was another bold and stupid lie, a furphy (tall story) based on statistical manipulation to produce a grand illusion. We're dealing within a deluded bunch of dimwits in Putrajaya. But let Bank Negara, the Statistics Department and the Economic Planning Unit show us the modelling used to come up with the figure. I'll poke a million holes in all the assumptions used in its modeling.
Bottom line: Najib is already laying the groundwork for withdrawing the NEM and hanging on to the NEP. And if you think about it, which government, if it were seriously competent, intelligent and genuinely truthful, would release Part 1 of the NEM while still writing up Part 2?
It just does not make any sense. Then again, when has any Malaysian government since 1957, and certainly since 1969, ever made any sense at all?
MANJIT BHATIA, an academician and writer, is also research director of AsiaRisk, a political, economic and risk analysis consultancy in Australia. He specialises in international economics and politics, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific.
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