Opinion: Are bumiputera privileges being abused?

By P Gunasegaram

Focus must turn to the ground

The question in the headline is legitimate, notwithstanding the debate between PM Anwar Ibrahim and outspoken PKR MP Hassan Abdul Karim where Anwar maintained that the constitution will be protected reported in this article titled No need to review Article 153 on bumiputera privilege.

Hassan did not question the constitutional provisions protecting those interests, as reported in this article titled Review if bumi privileges work at 'inclusive' congress but merely questioned if they were effective. He asked for this to be discussed at the forthcoming Bumiputera Economic Congress (BEC) from Feb 29 to March 2.

That’s a perfectly justified request. After over half a century of affirmative action any such congress should be asking how much has the bumiputera ground been helped and how can they be helped more effectively.

But first, the constitution. Article 153 broadly says the king has the responsibility to protect the rights of Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak in terms of reservation of quotas in respect of services, permits etc, and the legitimate interests of other communities.

Article 153 (2) reads: “Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, but subject to the provisions of Article 40 and of this Article, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall exercise his functions under this Constitutions and federal law in such manner as may be necessary to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and to ensure the reservation for Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak of such proportion as he may deem reasonable of positions in the public service (other than the public service of a State) and of scholarships, exhibitions and other similar educational or training privileges or special facilities given or accorded by the Federal Government and, when any permit or license for the operation of any trade or business is required by federal law, then, subject to the provisions of that law and this Article, of such permits and licences.”

Lest the power of the king be misunderstood, let's state Article 40. (1) here: “In the exercise of his functions under this Constitution or federal law the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or of a Minister acting under the general authority of the Cabinet, except as otherwise provided by this Constitution;”

From these two sections it is plain that the constitution provides for special rights for bumiputeras - it does not use that term as it was not in existence then - but uses Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak. While the king exercises his functions, he takes advice from the executive. Thus, in effect, the government institutes action for bumiputera rights, drawing its powers from the constitution.

So, have those measures been effective? Yes and no. Many Malays have been lifted out of poverty and into the middle class. But a small minority of them has benefited more, much more, becoming millionaires and even billionaires, the obvious targets of Hassan’s ruminations.

Using the New Economic Policy or NEP and its various but similar subsequent reincarnations, connected bumiputeras have become enormously rich from patronage and corruption.

We have the approved permit kings, monopoly monarchs, concession moguls, contract robber barons, industry oligarchs and so on. And there are the non-bumi compatriots who had the good fortune of being similarly connected personally to those in power.

Fortunes have been made by the administrative requirement (but not explicitly required in the NEP), that bumiputera equity in anything substantial must be at least 30%. This unfortunate measure, which bears no relevance to perhaps 95% of bumiputeras, became the de facto measure of the success of the NEP. By simply flipping the shares, obtained at concessional prices, people have become fabulously rich overnight.

By making sly adjustments to measurement criteria and failing to assign government equity stakes according to the racial composition of the country, this 30% requirement is still used to enrich some bumiputeras on the contention that the quota has not been achieved.

Remember, the original twin prongs of the NEP were to eradicate poverty irrespective of race and eliminate the identification of race with occupation. For this to continuously happen as a tool of social change, cheap quality education must be made available to everyone. But educational standards have slid instead.

Infrastructure and development must take place too in rural areas where services which enable a better quality of life must be provided. Otherwise, continued overcrowding into towns takes place, turning sections into urban ghettos and marginalising the kampongs.

If the BEC has made noise over such basic matters, I have not heard them. That’s not surprising, because the BEC is a child of Umno set up to provide extreme largesse to this group of privileged members called Umno delegates.

According to this report the Umno general assembly has some 2,648 delegates, Wanita Umno 950 delegates, Umno Youth 967 delegates, and Puteri Umno 958 delegates, making a grand total of over 5,500. They have voting power.

I bet most of them will be avid attendees at the BEC. Their main aim: to ensure that they - not their constituency of under privileged bumiputeras - will get contracts, kickbacks and handouts from the government. This is what Umno leaders do to get support from the delegates.

The whole system is flawed. When a few thousand people are fighting to get their share of the loot from the government, effectively the people's largesse, will they even give thought to the underprivileged? No! When and how is Umno, the country’s most corrupt party, going to think of the Malay masses?

Are bumiputera privileges being abused? They certainly are. Not by your ordinary bumiputera of whom more than 60% are poor but by the elite bumiputera who wants even more for himself. Who else would ask for 30% bumiputera equity as a continuing requirement in government policy and make it THE measure of economic restructuring?

Hassan Abdul Karim and many other right-thinking bumiputeras want that changed so that the bumiputeras on the ground and struggling are helped, not the ones who are already fabulously rich.

PM Anwar must have the guts to accommodate that at the BEC instead of continuing to pander to Umno’s patronage and corrupt ways. Surely he must want to help the majority of bumiputeras who are poor instead of handouts to the rich. When will he match words to action?

(P Gunasegaram laments the state of the nation where conscience is not followed by commitment.)

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