NEP, VISION-2020 & TN50: These are key national policies that can shape the future of Malaysia & the people. I have come across many friends, including Scholars & Ulama, who don’t understand these terms properly. They are also confused about some related concepts like a fully developed country or a high-income country. It is our responsibility to educate fellow Malaysians through discussions & debates in the social media. This is one way to serve the nation instead of waiting for the nation to serve us. I wish to initiate a discussion on these issues, and you are most welcome to participate and contribute towards a better Malaysia in years to come.
New Economic Policy (NEP) was formulated in 1970 by PM Razak with the aim of correcting the economic imbalance between the rich (Foreigners & Chinese) and the poor (Malays & Bumiputras) within 20 years. One key indicator was the Bumiputra equity (ownership) in the country that was targeted to increase from 2.4% (in 1970) up to reach 30% (by 1990). Unfortunately, the key indicator was very far from success as it was just 19.3% in 1990. One former leader blamed leakages as the main reason, in order to justify that the government was already doing its job well, but something was leaking on the way. Actually, the leakage was deliberately the work of PM Mahathir. It is known that the biggest beneficiaries during his rule were the Chinese cronies. They were given government projects to do and get rich quickly and favourably. In a way – “you scratch my back, I scratch your back”. Thus, the government (led by Mahathir) managed to deny or postpone a big promise made to the Malay community.
Vision 2020 was formulated by PM Mahathir to over-shadow the NEP. Since, NEP target was not a success until 1990, Mahathir formulated a proper vision to be realized in 2020 – i.e. a period of 30 years. The new target was a fully developed nation to be achieved by 2020, but the NEP was to continue into the future. Everybody liked Vision 2020, but the Chinese were angry with the continuation of NEP (which Mahathir re-branded it as National Development Policy). Based on his description in 1990, what Mahathir meant to achieve was actually a high GDP-Per-Capita nation, but he kept saying it as a fully developed nation. Anyway, Vision 2020 was loaded with some extra features to be achieved along with the fully developed nation status. That extra features included the social aspects which the non-Malays liked to see themselves as Malaysian citizens of higher political status like the Malays & other Bumiputras by 2020.
A high-income or a fully developed nation, as defined by the OECD, IMF and World Bank is not too difficult to achieve. These organizations maintain a list that is updated every year. So you can always check the status with them. There are about 80 high-income countries today, but there are about 35 developed countries only. Anyway, a high-income or a developed country has a very high GDP Per Capita & HDI index. In both cases, the figure for GDP Per Capita is a moving target, but the HDI value is fixed at 80%, but higher is better. Thus, Malaysia too needs to score 80% for HDI in order to become a fully developed country. A developed country is automatically a high-income country, but not the reverse case. It is not very difficult for Malaysia to become a high-income or a developed country, as the measurement is very straight-forward. But it would take a much longer time to fulfil the social aspects of Vision 2020. A real Malaysian nation is still a far cry away. The Chinese (especially) are more interested in the social aspects as they are already superior in economic terms. The Chinese in Malaysia are comparable with those in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. On the other hand, the Malays are more interested in the economic superiority as many of them are still poor (relatively). The other Bumiputras are even worse than the Malays.
TN50 is being formulated by PM Najib to over-shadow Vision 2020. It is assumed that Malaysia will achieve a high-income or a fully developed nation by 2020. Thus, Najib is formulating a new vision for 2050 – i.e. a further period of 30 years. You can say that around 2020, Malaysia will be at the lower end of a fully developed status. But by 2050, Malaysia will be at the upper end. Thus, PM Najib is planning to make Malaysia jump from 35th position (in 2020) to reach 20th position (in 2050) in economic terms. Of course, in social terms and democratic terms, Malaysia needs to be raised to a higher level too. What about the Islamic terms? The Ulama & Islamic Scholars need to define what would be a higher level of Islam. Perhaps, Islamic Civilization to be generated by Malaysia should be competitive globally. Traditional Islam needs to become Civilizational Islam by 2050. Traditional Islam focuses more on historical, rituals & memorization aspect of life, in favour of conservatism rather than creativity & innovation. This is a challenge for the Ulama & Scholars.
Meanwhile, the following key objectives are suggested immediately:
NEP’s Bumiputra equity should be targeted at 35% to reflect a fair percentage of the community in the country today. Once that is achieved, NEP should end.
GLCs should be used as the instrument to achieve the 35% target, and to sustain the percentage, while Management-Buy-Out (MBO) over the GLCs can be adopted.
Bumiputra equity had reached 23.5% in 2011-13. What about now in 2017-18? Let the old target of 30% be achieved, and solve that old problem of the NEP.
NEP target is long overdue. PM Najib must fulfil this promise by 2020, since PM Mahathir had failed to do that in 1990. Let that be 30% in 2020, and 35% in 2025.
PNB and similar organizations should spearhead the construction of strategic projects to raise Bumiputra equity – e.g. Menara 118 and other tall buildings in big cities. High-tech buildings are manifestations of high technology, sophisticated hardware & software. It demonstrates the presence of very high level human-ware in the country.
NEP’s Bumiputra equity should be targeted at 35% to reflect a fair percentage of the community in the country today. Once that is achieved, NEP should end.
GLCs should be used as the instrument to achieve the 35% target, and to sustain the percentage, while Management-Buy-Out (MBO) over the GLCs can be adopted.
Bumiputra equity had reached 23.5% in 2011-13. What about now in 2017-18? Let the old target of 30% be achieved, and solve that old problem of the NEP.
NEP target is long overdue. PM Najib must fulfil this promise by 2020, since PM Mahathir had failed to do that in 1990. Let that be 30% in 2020, and 35% in 2025.
PNB and similar organizations should spearhead the construction of strategic projects to raise Bumiputra equity – e.g. Menara 118 and other tall buildings in big cities. High-tech buildings are manifestations of high technology, sophisticated hardware & software. It demonstrates the presence of very high level human-ware in the country.
In the past, some political top personalities have sent in their dogs to bark at my postings. They did not send in educated people like doctors & professors, but instead, they just sent their dogs to bark & to curse & to make noise. Let there be a healthy debate rather than a blind support. I’m sure DAP & PKR (especially) have many educated people to do this job well. By the way, I’m not representing UMNO & BN & PAS. If anything looks alike, then it’s just a coincidence.
