“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
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(An old post from my own blog)
There is a delicious irony in having a white man criticising the bumiputera policies set in place by the Malaysian government to “protect” its own ethnic majority.
EU’s envoy blasts Malaysia’s privileges to majority Malays
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Europe’s top envoy to Malaysia Thursday urged the government to roll back its affirmative action policy for majority Malays, saying it amounts to protectionism against foreign companies.
In unusually frank comments that ignored diplomatic niceties, Thierry Rommel openly criticised Malaysia’s 37-year-old New Economic Policy, or NEP, that gives a host of privileges in jobs, education, business and other areas to ethnic Malays.
“In a dominant part of the domestic economy, there is no level playing field for foreign companies,” Rommel, the ambassador and head of the European Commission Delegation to Malaysia, said in a speech to local and foreign businessmen.
Ethnic Malays, known as Bumiputras, comprise nearly 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 26 million people. The government says they have a disproportionately low share of the corporate wealth compared to the minority Chinese, and need the NEP to increase their standard of living.
The government did not immediately respond to Rommel’s comments.
Rommel said the government is using the NEP as an excuse to practice “significant protectionism of its own market”, including the automotive sector, steel, consumer goods, agricultural products, services and government contracts.
Malaysia claims these are “infant” industries that need to be protected but “in reality .. it is the Malay-centred Bumiputra policy that drives protectionist policies,” Rommel said.
As part of the NEP, all public-listed companies are required to allocate 30 per cent of their shares to Malays. Companies without Malay directors or employees are excluded from lucrative government contracts. Employers have quotas for hiring Malays.
It is not just foreigners who chaff at the New Economic Policy. At home, ethnic Chinese and Indians, who are minorities, also see it as a discriminatory tool. Many Malays also have complained that the policy has benefited only a few well-connected people in their community while the rest continue to languish in relative poverty.
The issue has become a source of friction in this ethnically and racially diverse country.
The NEP was started in 1970 when the Malays’ corporate ownership was two per cent. The aim was to raise it to 30 per cent by 2010. The government says it stands at present at 19 per cent while ethnic Chinese, who form a quarter of the population, control 40 per cent of corporate wealth.
Rommel stopped short of saying the NEP should be scrapped but told reporters separately: “We (in Europe) have bitten the bullet on a number of sensitive issues, why can’t you?”
But to be brutally frank, the white man does have a point.
Being a minority in a Malay-majority country can be difficult, especially if one has no idea of how to navigate the cultural and religious norms that dictate much of the society’s goings-on. Add a seemingly-instinctual bias on the part of the ethnic majority against whom they perceive to be interlopers on their share of the country’s wealth and a dollop of good ol’ racism passed down for generations, and we have a recipe for disenfranchised folks.
While I am very lucky to have lived much of my life unaffected by this state of affairs, I realise that many of my peers are not that fortunate. In Brunei, it is possible for one to be considered “stateless”, even though the individual may been born and raised in the country all his/her life. Due to seemingly-arbitrary laws that dictate one’s nationality through parentage, children who should have been able to avail themselves of the privileges afforded to the mostly-Malay locals are forced to work harder and pay extra for services that should, in my opinion, be fairly distributed amongst the people according to a merit-based system.
But alas, that is not the case, and such a situation has bred nothing but complacency and contempt in many of Brunei’s own bumiputeras for anything that goes on here. It’s gut-wrenching to see people, who merely pay lip service to their country on national holidays and pledge their lives to uphold the glory of the nation, turn into ungrateful sycophants mindlessly echoing the party line and holding out their greasy hands for more privileges without giving anything concrete in return.
To quote a trite pop song, where is the love? If we truly loved Brunei and were proud of being its people, why aren’t we doing more for the country? I remember reading an article about local students who were interviewed in regard to their aspirations upon completing their studies, and an overwhelming percentage apparently responded that they would immediately seek employment in the government sector because it would cater to their every need without them having to lift a finger. Well, perhaps the actual words used weren’t as blunt as that, but the sentiment was exactly the same.
And with current conditions being what they are, I highly doubt that anything is going to change soon.
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maloy
10:54 am | Jul 22, 2007dude, you should totally read “asian godfathers” — by examining the rise (and sometimes fall) of asian tycoons, the book inadvertently touches on all these things, too.
i have to say that i think i have “privilege guilt” and so my kneejerk reaction is often to criticize southeast asian chinese and whites over locals — i realize that this is bad because it’s patronizing and racist in its own right, so i am trying to correct it.
good post, thanks for putting it up. what’s your blog address?
DONKEY
2:21 pm | Jul 22, 2007the bumiputra-only things seems to piss off foreigners more than the people who live in Malaysia. Chinese in Malaysia already have experience with this and know why the policies exist. the average Chinese or Indian in Malaysia is not greatly hurt by this. religion dictates how some business is done. this creates niche markets.
also this is not exclusive to bumiputras. in the shops in KL that sell higher-end products the “help wanted” signs almost all state a preference for a Chinese. this makes sense when most of the customers are going to be Chinese. there is the OCBC and countless other things which just cater to Chinese. so it’s only natural that something would be created for Malays.
it is easy to see why foreigners would not understand or like this kind of thing. but that doesn’t mean it should be changed.
Dialectic
4:21 pm | Jul 22, 2007Oh no, now the SEA chicks have blog-bonded. I can see this causing tears in so many ways.
Good post, JadeD! I’m glad to see you on the frontpage =)
Dialectic
10:06 pm | Jul 22, 2007I find the lack of controversy around this article also telling. Imagine this were an American article, and replace the ethnicities with white, Black, or Latino. It would be an American activist powder keg!!
maloy
1:45 am | Jul 23, 2007you know, donkey, i feel what you’re saying but at the same time, i think it’s damaging to a country to sustain a feeling of “us locals vs them outsiders.” the people who are more damaged by this are the locals rather than the ethnic minorities…as you pointed out, ethnic minorities will always find a way to make money and do business, but in the end, the money doesn’t stay within the country.
fuck, this is such a complicated issue…basically, part of the reason asian tycoons have generally been chinese is because they have taken over industries that the local folk have been unable or don’t want to handle. locals have always prized political power over economic because they are tied to their countries whereas historically speaking, SEA chinese have prized economic power because that means they can manipulate the politicians AND they have a way out if things get bad. and it’s really the poor who are hurt most by this system because they can’t leave and they bear the brunt of local anger.
but anyway, my point is: if you keep making ethnic minorities feel that they are “outsiders,” you prevent them from developing any form of love or attachment to their countries. that means that they have no incentive to invest in the future of the country, and they don’t really give a shit if they drag it down into further misery as long as they get theirs, ya feel me?
JadeDragon
5:57 am | Jul 23, 2007I have to agree with Maloy on this one. Donkey, while you say that higher-end shops and certain banks in Malaysia will cater mainly to the Chinese, this is actually more of an effect of the bumiputera policy than a sign of the religious/ethnic divide that started the bumiputera policy in the first place. Even before the race riots in the 1960s in Malaysia, there was already a lot of ethnic tension between the Malays and the overseas Chinese coming to make a living, as it was perceived that the Chinese were encroaching on territory that “rightfully” belonged to the Malays.
And it’s becoming more apparent that policies which uplift locals over the ethnic minorities in SEAsia are more damaging to the locals than others. There’s a complacency in business and politics because the locals believe that their government will protect them no matter what, and that reduces the drive that many Malays need to make it on their own. Did you know that any company/organisation that wants to set up in Malaysia has to have at least 30% bumiputeras on the board of directors before approval is granted?
taijian
6:33 am | Jul 23, 2007Donkey, I don’t know why you think it doesn’t piss us off. Is it because we don’t seem to talk about it? Oh, incidentally, have you heard about the ISA? It’s kinda like the Patriot Act in the USA. We’ve had it lots longer though.
Maloy and JadeDragon have summed it up pretty well. This matter is lot more complicated than your remarks make it out to be.
DONKEY
12:34 pm | Jul 23, 2007Yeah I heard of that 30% thing and that sucks. especially if you are trying to expand your small business. the policies need revision. but i don’t see what kind of alternatives there are that wouldn’t cause some huge problems. if the policies were abandoned right now, what would happen? who would benefit the most and who would suffer the most in long term and short term?
i heard about the ISA but dont know the specifics of it besides that it was made to crush dissent.
Veryangry
3:34 am | Jul 27, 2007Originally posted by Donkey:
“the bumiputra-only things seems to piss off foreigners more than the people who live in Malaysia. Chinese in Malaysia already have experience with this and know why the policies exist. the average Chinese or Indian in Malaysia is not greatly hurt by this. religion dictates how some business is done. this creates niche markets.
also this is not exclusive to bumiputras. in the shops in KL that sell higher-end products the “help wanted” signs almost all state a preference for a Chinese. this makes sense when most of the customers are going to be Chinese. there is the OCBC and countless other things which just cater to Chinese. so it’s only natural that something would be created for Malays.
it is easy to see why foreigners would not understand or like this kind of thing. but that doesn’t mean it should be changed.”
First of all, contrary to your opinion that your average Chinese or Indian in Malaysia is not greatly hurt by this, I contend that it is precisely the AVERAGE Chinese and Indian in Malaysia that is badly hurt. You only need to open your eyes and observe how DECADES of institutional racism and lack of opportunities and squabbling for scraps has done to these communities. In the Indian community, alcoholism and gangsterism is life. Among the Chinese, a significant portion would find it very hard to survive without resorting to illegal and proscribed economic activities. Chinese people pay through their noses for basics such as good education for their children simply because the deserving ones get absolutely zero government assistance in this. They pay 5% more for all houses and property. And all major government projects are ALWAYS given to Malay owned and run companies, who then leave the actual implementation and construction work to the non-Bumi companies. After pocketing a large sum, of course.
Secondly, everytime the issue of MALAY RACISM pops up, the Chinese are always made to look like they are the real racists with ready examples that blatantly are. But this is the climate in Malaysia. Who made it mandatory to state your race and religion on your identification card and government forms? The Malay government. Who stifles absolutely any debate regarding issues of race and religion and the “unquestionable primacy” of the Malay race in Malaysia? The Malay government. And who uses Chinese individuals as proxies to siphon money out of government linked and public limited corporations? More than that, who threatened to bathe their Kerises in Chinese blood during a party general assembly? Who makes frequent references to May 13 1969 everytime the general elections near, because they want to use fear to rein in Chinese voters against causing upset defeats? Who keeps saying that they “understand” the MASS RAPES and MURDERS throughout Indonesia in 1998 as a direct result of “Chinese dominion” over the economy? Which I would add, is a complete fallacy. Also, despite all that hype about Independence Day and a unified, Malaysian race and their multiracial society, who finds it absolutely ABHORRENT for a Chinese person to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia?
So may I suggest that before you suggest that the Chinese are racist in Malaysia, you be prepared to have all your dirty laundry aired in public. This isn’t a fucking Malaysian website. This one’s in the fucking US of A. No yellow fucker is going to fear a frank discussion of the matter. You can’t fucking mob or riot against us here.
DONKEY
4:05 pm | Aug 05, 2007that was cool.
i dont disagree with you, i just wanted to see some debate on this topic because its hard to hear what people really think most of the time. its never printed in the newspapers and most english websites don’t have enough people who want to discuss it.
nobody likes being at a disadvantage, there would be something wrong with them if they did. all of my family there is in food business. one of my cousins had to take a Malay partner when he expanded and the guy doesn’t do anything. he didn’t even know anything about restaurant business.
anyways i am glad to see your post and hope you can offer some more discussion.
Veryangry
11:59 am | Sep 17, 2007HAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!
“Nobody likes being at a ‘disadvantage’”!!!!!!
Is a Malay VC threatening to soak his keris in Chinese blood a mere ‘disadvantage’?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Spoken like a true malaysian.
PhantomS
4:36 am | Sep 30, 2007The Malaysian Malays are paranoid and regretting their choice of power over prosperity; historically Malays have always gone for the pen instead of the sword, unfortunately that means surrender and not diplomacy.
Their hollering over Burma is chest thumping- push comes to shove, they’ll be grovelling to the Chinese businesses to sponsor anything.
Veryangry
3:39 am | Oct 02, 2007Dude, what the hell are you babbling about? Do you have any way of substantiating such statements?