10-03-2021, 10:01 AM
![[Image: ismail-sabri-yaakob-parlimen-malaysiapic.jpg]](https://media.thevibes.com/images/uploads/covers/_large/ismail-sabri-yaakob-parlimen-malaysiapic.jpg)
WHEN Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob delivered his inaugural address to the nation as prime minister, he declared his intent to create a “Keluarga Malaysia”. This was an important call, as only through the creation of a compact comprising the government, business, and the people can solutions be found to deal with Malaysia’s debilitating economic and health crises.
Much was thus expected of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) for 2021-2025, the government’s five-year strategy to lead the country out of this unprecedented dual crisis, while promoting economic growth and resolving long-standing social inequities. However, soon after the 12MP was released, strong protests, tinged with a sense of injustice and utter despair, were voiced drawing attention to the hollowness of Ismail Sabri’s pledge to create a Keluarga Malaysia.
Equitable outcomes?
One “priority area” of the 12MP is “achieving an equitable outcome for Bumiputera”. This has been a priority area for the government since 1970, when the New Economic Policy (NEP), a 20-year affirmative action plan, was introduced after the riots in 1969. There was a need for an initiative of this sort as Malaysia was then characterised by a social structure, predicated on an ethnic division of labour, where groups were confined to particular occupations and industries. Bumiputera underrepresentation was stark in tertiary education and upper occupational positions, as well as in ownership of corporate equity, while more than 60% of the population was mired in poverty.
Malaysia’s method to redistribute wealth equitably was by creating public enterprises, trust agencies and statutory bodies, now collectively called government-linked companies (GLCs), to acquire 30% of corporate equity on behalf of the Bumiputeras. The NEP was supposed to end in 1990, as government leaders were worried that long-term implementation of ethnic-based preferences might divide the nation. However, because Bumiputeras still do not own 30% of Malaysia’s corporate equity, this has served as the reason for the continued implementation of ethnically targeted public initiatives, even as debates persist about the economic and social repercussions of such a policy.
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