سۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيم
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Artikel oleh Chua Jui Meng
By Chua Jui Meng
Going into the March 2008 general election with a 71% approval
rating, then premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was expected to win
comfortably for a second term in office.
After all, he had led Barisan Nasional to its biggest ever electoral
victory in history in the 2004 general election – winning 91% of the
222-seat Parliament.
The political tsunami surprised every Malaysian – it was to be BN’s
worst ever electoral performance, losing its traditional two-thirds
majority and five state governments.
Today, Umno president and prime minister Najib Tun Razak’s approval
rating is 63%, according to a Merdeka Centre poll last December.
Can one really conclude with any accuracy the outcome of the coming 13th general election?
Parliament is headed for automatic dissolution on April 28 and the
first state assembly set for automatic dissolution is Negeri Sembilan on
March 23.
Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad blames Abdullah for BN-Umno’s
current weak political standing. But Mahathir failed to acknowledge that
it was he who contributed immensely to Abdullah’s downfall with his
harsh criticisms of Abdullah’s administration.
However, Abdullah and his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin have to also take a lion’s share of the blame for BN-Umno’s predicament.
It was Abdullah and Khairy’s Putrajaya Fourth Floor Boys who dug
their own political graves by swallowing the government’s gravy train.
Abdullah and Khairy are also responsible for not only extending the
New Economic Policy (NEP) for another 15 years (1995-2020), they also
formulated a damning new Wealth Ownership policy via the 9th Malaysia
Plan (9MP).
This was carried out with the approval of the then MCA big four – Ong
Ka Ting, Chan Kong Choy, Fong Chan Onn and Dr Chua Soi Lek – and others
in the cabinet.
Affecting the non-Malays
The Wealth Ownership policy has far reaching consequences on
non-Malays which the Umno-led BN had yet to implement openly. However,
certain policies had been implemented discreetly.
The Wealth Ownership policy means:
- The NEP has become a never ending policy as it states that it is to be extended to 2020, not end in 2020;
- If you discover or invent anything that comes under intellectual
property rights, you have to surrender 30% share to Bumiputera; and
- All SMEs, like your successful retail franchises, have to surrender
30% equity to Bumiputera, thus extending the original NEP’s equity
distribution beyond the corporate sector.
Malaysians have BN and MCA to thank for selling out Malaysians,
particularly the Chinese, big time for Umno’s self-serving wealth grab
agenda.
The Wealth Ownership policy will certainly benefit Umno leaders,
their families and cronies, just like how the NEP has enriched
Umnoputras, not the majority Malays.
Abdullah had confided in me the national coffer was empty when he succeeded Mahathir as prime minister in November 2003.
That is why the BN government had to borrow to keep the country’s
administration afloat and this wanton reliance on borrowings was
extended by current prime minister.
That explains why Malaysians and Malaysia are saddled with a federal
debt of more than RM620 billion or 74% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
breaching the legislated federal debt ceiling of 55% of GDP.
When Abdullah took over from Mahathir, the federal debt was only RM250 billion.
With Najib’s popular rating falling by the day and lower than
Abdullah when he called for the 12th general election in March 2008, the
only outcome for BN-Umno in GE13 is nothing short of political
disaster.
Chua Jui Meng is PKR vice-president and Johor state chief. He is also a former MCA vice-president and an ex-Cabinet member.
