The NEM’s enemy within
Written by Commentary by R B Bhattacharjee
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 00:00
"WHEN the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) hits inevitable challenges and setbacks, we the government and all Malaysians must remind ourselves of what is really at stake here and continue to stay the course."
This line, from the closing of the executive summary of the GTP Roadmap carries a foreboding of the resistance that can be expected when the New Economic Model (NEM) is formally adopted. If things go as planned, the new blueprint will be launched in the latter part of 2010.
The people who would most strenuously object to the new rules of the game are those who have enjoyed a privileged existence, drawing their lifeblood from an opaque administrative system. They are not in the lower rungs of society, the folk who have gained more equitable access to education, scholarships, vocational training, small loans and business licences that were undreamt of just one generation ago.
The interested parties are those who have been controlling the stakes based on know-who rather than merit. As the beneficiaries of the status quo, they can be expected to vote against the GTP, that is working to bring the socio-economic delivery system out of its father-knows-best past into a future where the most deserving will be helped and the fittest will survive.
Of course, it would be expedient for this privileged coterie to agitate the masses against the impending changes in the name of protecting the people’s rights. In the confusion, they hope the rakyat will not see that these vested interests are merely seeking to perpetuate their access to the country’s bountiful assets.
Now, the game is up. Serious cracks in the national edifice have developed because of entrenched abuse of the New Economic Policy (NEP) platform. Perhaps the most glaring symptom of our dysfunctional economic growth is the disparity between the rich and poor, which is the highest in Southeast Asia, according to the UN Human Development Report. The fissures in society have grown so visible that there is no point living in denial any more.
Stunned by the people’s verdict in the 12th general election, the government has been galvanised to respond. The result is the GTP, which identifies six National Key Result Areas (NKRAs), where the need is most pressing to show improvements before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration faces the people in the next general election.
The hidden obstacles facing Najib can be discerned by two aspects of the transition from the NEP and its permutations to the much-heralded NEM. One is the tentative manner in which the new policy direction is being announced, and two is the reactionary noises that are emerging in response to its approaching launch.
When unveiling Part 1 of the NEM in March, Najib outlined three main goals of the policy: turn Malaysia into a high-income economy, ensure all communities benefit from the country’s wealth and strive for sustainable economic growth through efficiency and fiscal discipline. Part 2 of the NEM would follow after public feedback for two months and will be announced at the launching of the 10th Malaysia Plan in June.
As part of the consultation process, a National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) workshop for some 800 representatives from a cross-section of the economy was held in Kuala Lumpur last week. At this event, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala, who is CEO of Pemandu, the unit overseeing the implementation of the administration’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), walked the participants through the feedback process, which was aimed at obtaining industry forecasts of expected growth rates for the top 30 contributors to the GDP in the next decade.
Among the questions that followed was one from Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, who asked what the basic assumptions were on which to make the forecasts. Growth projections may change significantly depending on changes in policy direction, for example.
Expanding on this point to The Edge Financial Daily in a phone interview later, Navaratnam said that since the NEM chiefly involves a major shift in economic strategy, wouldn’t the forecast be very different after the NEM is introduced?
What appears to be a disconnect between economic planning and common sense can be understood when the political dimension is added to the mix. To legitimise the NEM, Najib needs to build a broad consensus for its radically different direction. This is in order to neutralise the ethnocentric right wing that seems to be singleminded in its mission to keep the race-based agenda alive.
Ironically for Najib, the biggest obstacle that could stop him from claiming his place in history as the leader who reinvented Malaysia is the enemy within.
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/business-news/169190-stocks-to-watch-three-a-lafarge-gentingm-gaming.html
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