QUESTION: What do you think is the major challenges faced by Umno in regaining the people’s support after the 12th general election last year?
ANSWER: Umno needs to have a restoration process. At one time, Umno consisted of various groups. Prior to 1946, there was no Umno, only teachers associations, writers association, Kampung Baru association, imams and the Malay associations of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang.
As it is, Umno might have detached itself from these groups.
But there have been a lot of changes after the New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced, particularly in the period between 1970 and 1990.
Prior to that the Malays were just farmers and rubber tappers; there was no Malay business community, we only had groups willing to serve.
Aminuddin Baki (a Malay scholar in the 60′s dubbed Malaysia’s Father of Education) once said we were like chickens dying of hunger inside “a kepuk” (padi storage) or ducks swimming in water by dying of thirst.
Then after that there were moves towards changes. In 1970, under the leadership of the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the NEP was launch to restructure the society and eradicate poverty.
This was followed by efforts to train the Malays through the Junior Mara Science College. Various schemes were created to help the Malays to excel in education and business with the ultimate aim of achieving 30 per cent Malay equity participation within 20 years.
In 1990, the participation was 18 per cent, meaning there was some degree of success. Today Umno is mingling with business communities. The Malays have change a lot because of education. Education opportunities are in abundance, from kindergarten right up to higher learning. Villages are enjoying better amenities.
There are a lot of opportunities under the NEP, opportunities for Class F contractors, bank loans and so on to assist the Malays.
Now, the Malays are reaching new heights in terms of education and economic opportunities and becoming more and more competitive. This is what we want but we also want the Malays to strive towards achieving progress for the race as a whole.
QUESTION: At the moment, government policies, such as the NEP, are still seen as favouring the Malays.
ANSWER: Francis Light opened Penang in 1786, Stamford Raffles opened Singapore in 1919 and then there was the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Agreement and then the Pangkor Agreement in 1873.
For nearly 250 years from 1786, the people who came during that period had been enjoying their “NEP” which was provided by the British for their benefit. In terms of education, those who went to Victoria Institution, St John, Anderson School, Penang Free School, King Edward dan Raffles School di Singapore were all from the immigrant community.
The Malays remained backward. It was as if they had been cold-storaged. All they had for an education were religious school and they did not even learn about the economy. The just learned fardu kifayah and fardu ain and this has been the situation for nearly 250 years.
Now, do you think 20 years will be enough for a community which had been left out and cold-storaged for so long? Are you able to catch up with others who had been controlling things for centuries?
We should be given the opportunities to catch up. There are still many of us who are still struggling and you cannot suddenly say now you have to compete freely.
The Malays are still far behind and they should be guided and at the same time, the poor from other communities should also be helped. We cannot say we no longer want to help because we have achieve what we have set to achieve for ourselves.
QUESTION: There are also perceptions that Umno is only fighting for a certain group of people, and cronies, and not for the Malays as a whole.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newspolitic.php?id=397900
I wonder how many Chinese and India are lucky enough to receive western education since 250 years ago. My grandfather and father had never stepped into school as many Malay folks in the old days.
Sound like this speak-no-English fella blames Chinese again for Malay poverty problem?
Malays are still far behind is a plain bullshit.
See the luxury cars on the road mostly owned by Malay or non-Malay?
Guess who are the biggest shareholders in the banking, plantation and transport sectors in Malaysia? (I intentionally drop the public service sector)
The answer is Malay.
Chinese only hold up in the manufacturing, travel and retail sectors, all other economic sections already controlled by Malay businessmen. There is other argument saying retail sector is also no longer controlled by Chinese after western hypermarket chains invading Chinese traditional retailing business.
The argument on who are controlling what sectors is meaningless IF only a few Malay and Chinese tycoons monopolize 80% of our economic pie.
We ordinary people regardless you are Malay, Chinese or Indian, don’t be fooled by NUMBER game played up by UMNO politicians.
What is real benefit to me if 8 out 10 most richest men are Chinese? NONE except to make up income per capita for Chinese is higher than Malay and India. This statistical number is exploited continually by UMNO to fool (or manipulate) Malays that Chinese are richer than them.
Malaysia Chinese can still survive under UMNO persecution is mainly because of employment opportunity for Chinese in Singapore and overseas. Without the employment opportunity in Singapore and overseas, Malaysian Chinese will be in the same fate as Malaysian Indians.
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