To Be beggars or Not, Is The Question

A Kadir Jasin

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ARE Malay political parties beggars as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had alleged on Dec. 20?

He said, in vying for support among the Malays they stripped the community of power and turned themselves into “beggars” to the Chinese.

The former Prime Minister said the contest among the three Malay-based – Umno, PAS and Keadilan - meant that Malay votes were split into three, forcing them to woo non-Malay support in order to secure the numbers necessary to rule and consequently placing real power in the hands of the minority communities.

He added that Umno, PAS and Keadilan (PKR) are all begging the Chinese to support them at the general elections in order to win.

“And when we are the pengemis (beggars), we are not the powerful ones anymore,” he said in a speech at the Nusantara Youth Convention in Kuala Lumpur.

The answer to the question whether Malay political parties are beggars is yes and no. By the look of things, the one that is really begging for Chinese and Indian votes is Umno.

The Umno-led Barisan Nasional was the one that was rejected by the Chinese in last year’s general elections. Despite fashioning himself as the Prime Minister for all and buttering the Chinese with gifts of money and entertainment, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak was resoundingly and was unequivocally rejected by them.

In the Pakatan Rakyat, the begging by the Malay-dominated parties, if any, is less obvious. This is partly because there is no dominant party in the pact. It is a partnership of equals. The PKR, DAP and PAS are of equal strength.

The Malays Are Strong?

Dr Mahathir’s assertion was rebutted by the DAP MP for Bukit Bendera, Zairil Khir Johari, who said that the Malay control of public spheres is now at its peak.

He expressed disbelief and dismay over what he called Dr Mahathir’s exercise in deception.

“Politically, every significant government post, from the prime minister of the Federation to 12 out of the 13 state chief ministers, is held by Malays.

“Malay dominance is also very visible in other institutions of state, such as the judiciary, the police force, the civil service and the army,” he said.

As I have argued repeatedly for decades, the power of the Malays rests with their number. Being in the majority and united, they controlled politics.

Political control is important to the Malays because they are not on control of the economy. I am speaking in past tense because I am not anymore sure if the Malays still control politics, despite Zairil’s assertion.

If were count the number of Malays in the Dewan Rakyat and the state legislative assemblies irrespective their party affiliation, we can say that the Malays still dominate. Out of 222 members in the Dewan Rakyat, 157 are Malays-Bumiputeras.

So, politically the Malays still dominate by way of arithmetic. But do they lead the debate and set the agenda? I am not sure.

Whether they have to beg other races in order to hang on to power or to win power is an open debate. Since the 2008 general elections, it is Umno that appears to be begging.

This is also one of the reasons putting Mohd Najib at odd with members and supporters of his own party. He is portraying himself as being desperate for non-Malay support, especially Chinese, at the expanse of the Malays.

But all his strategies in this direction had not produced results. The Chinese rejected Ajid Gor resoundingly during the 2013 GE, prompting him to blame the BN’s dismal performance on the “Tsunami Cina”.

In the present situation, the Malays are neither here nor there. The tree-way split has forced all the Malay-based parties to appeal (beg) to the Chinese to stay in power or to take over power.

Being used to enjoying the support of the non-Malays for so long, the BN is the one that is more desperate. If it continues to lose non-Malay support and the younger Malays continue to lean towards the PR, the BN could find itself on the opposite side of the House in the coming GE.

Are the Malays Economic Beggars Too?

Economically, despite the best efforts of the NEP and its successor policies the Malays are still lagging behind the Chinese and Indians.

The game of catching up that the NEP had intended to achieve had not succeeded. Bulk of the expenditures spent to eradicate poverty irrespective of race and to restructure society went to the Chinese long before the Bumiputeras felt their effects.

Maybe the Malays are not begging the Chinese as clearly in the economic sphere as they are in politics. But we cannot also deny the intricate interdependence between the Chinese and the Malays in the economy.

The Malays are producers and consumers. The Chinese are the middlemen and traders. The Malays are not consummate consumers. As such whatever is recommended to them by Chinese traders they will buy even at the risk borrowing at exorbitant interest rates.

Remember the stories of Malay rubber smallholders buying refrigerators during the Korean War rubber boom in the early 1950’s even though they had no electricity at home? They apparently used the refrigerators as cupboards.

They are still buying refrigerators and many more electrical goods from the Chinese at exorbitant interest rates. But they are also buying those big noisy exhaust pipes and strobe lights to fix to their ageing Proton Saga because the Chinese workshop operators say these accessories are good and make their cars run faster. In short, the Chinese sell, the Malays buy.

So the practice of “padi kunca” and other forms of consumption loans continues. The end result is this - the Malays own the land but its economic ownership is with the Chinese.

I have no answer to this. With the death of the rural economic institutions like the syarikat kerjasama (cooperative societies), cooperative shops and the rural rice mills, the Malay grass root business activities are now confined to the pasar mini, pasar malam, pasar tani, pekan sehari and roadside stalls. And their dependence on the Chinese increases.

Off course the NEP had enlarged Malay professional class. But they are limited to the government sector. Without government contracts and employment, very few can hope to make the grade.

It is for this reason that I tentatively support Mohd Najib’s call to the corporate sector in April to have better representation of gender, ethnicity and age in their employment. He wanted them produce sustainability reports that include workforce composition detailing ethnicity, age and gender.

But call alone is not enough. The PM must show that he means business. Show us the results. If he wants us to believe in his 1Malaysia, he must make sure that the Bumiputera economy is integrated into the national economy.

It is a recipe for failure once again if we continue to detach the Bumiputera economy from the overall economy. Bumiputera economy is too small to be sustainable and competitive.

The recently released reports by the Khazanah Research Institute and the UNDP amply show the dire circumstances the Bumiputeras and other poor Malaysians.

I hope, in between the urge to globe-trot and fiery speeches, the Prime Minister stays home and do the needful for the sake of the country and the people. The outlook for the coming year is frighteningly bleak.

Wallahuaklam.