10-04-2021, 06:38 PM
Bumiputera policy and 12MP: eyebrow-raising discrepancies between plan and speech – Lee Hwok Aun
![[Image: 13082021_-_Jalur_Gemilang_Kampung_Baru_-...AF_-_5.jpg]](https://media.thevibes.com/images/uploads/covers/_large/13082021_-_Jalur_Gemilang_Kampung_Baru_-_SADIQ_ASYRAF_-_5.jpg)
PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob barely had one month to make his imprint on the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), and it shows. The 530-page tome was complete, with room only to insert his Keluarga Malaysia brand into the Preface, Introduction and Conclusion chapters.
But he had the chance to deliver the 12MP address in Parliament and, of course, he took it. This explains a quite peculiar – and unusually politicised – speech. The equity ownership aspects are being hotly debated, but there is more to it, beginning with subtle but impactful discrepancies between the 12MP document and the PM’s speech.
The tabling of five-year Malaysia Plans is the pinnacle of policy speechmaking: grand, serious, comprehensive, and potentially momentous. Yes, there are also grandiosity, self-congratulation and claptrap moments, but typically, we get a pointed summary of a massive document. The 12MP contains 13 chapters aligned with three themes, four “enablers” and 14 “game changers”. Instead of keeping to this laboriously formulated outline and buzzwords, though, the PM’s speech reshuffled the contents into nine “focus areas”.
But he had the chance to deliver the 12MP address in Parliament and, of course, he took it. This explains a quite peculiar – and unusually politicised – speech. The equity ownership aspects are being hotly debated, but there is more to it, beginning with subtle but impactful discrepancies between the 12MP document and the PM’s speech.
The tabling of five-year Malaysia Plans is the pinnacle of policy speechmaking: grand, serious, comprehensive, and potentially momentous. Yes, there are also grandiosity, self-congratulation and claptrap moments, but typically, we get a pointed summary of a massive document. The 12MP contains 13 chapters aligned with three themes, four “enablers” and 14 “game changers”. Instead of keeping to this laboriously formulated outline and buzzwords, though, the PM’s speech reshuffled the contents into nine “focus areas”.
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