Recently there has been an interesting Teraju clip being circulated on Facebook. I mentioned Teraju in my article here, comparing it against what Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak initially wanted to do with the New Economic Model (NEM) but later reversed. First published in theSun on 26th August 2011.
How far the Economic Reform?
In these politically turbulent times, even the government is having difficulty dealing with itself. But to make serious and effective reform, it has to stick to its vision and not be waylaid.
In the movie “Primary Colors” that is loosely based on the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton, his opponent in his speech says, “This is a terrific country but sometimes it goes a little bit crazy… if we don’t watch out and calm down, it may all spin out of control… The world is getting more and more complicated, but politicians explain things to you in simple terms so you can get your oversimplified explanations on the evening news.
“Sometimes they give up and start slinging mud at each other and it’s all to keep you excited and keep you watching, like a wrestling match. It’s staged and it’s fake and doesn’t mean anything… it seems it’s the only way to keep you all riled up…”
This, to me, seems a most apt depiction of the situation we are currently faced with in Malaysia. The issues that rain down upon us are oversimplified to fit into bite-sized stories. The worst part is that it’s all about public positioning, many a time staged to keep people continually fascinated by the political intrigue that has come to define us.
Can Pemandu cut it?
But let’s face it. Whether it is Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat who helms the Federal Government, it will be a gargantuan task to tackle the deep-set problems Malaysia faces today. Either side would be forced to deal with an oversized civil service, institutions that have eroded through the years, and the constant tension between pushing for an equal society and liberalised economy vs. demands to maintain the system of patronage and cronyism under the guise of the Bumiputera policy.
Pemandu in its current form is the Prime Minister’s solution to all things rotten in the country, with a host of initiatives that form an alphabet soup of sorts. We have the GTP, ETP, NKRAs and NKEAs (Malaysians should know what they stand for by now, should they not?) that cover a wide array of policy issues, including the most pressing ones such as education, corruption and human capital development.
How successful this will be remains to be seen. Some initial hiccups evident to an external observer are: first, the possible replication of duties and responsibilities, where roles overlap between that of Pemandu and that of the civil service (ministries and government agencies). Second, as pointed out by Greg Lopez in his article “Malaysia – a simple institutional analysis” (New Mandala, Australian National University website on Southeast Asian issues), these signature policies have ironically neglected the importance of institutional reforms.
NEM and Teraju
Finally, and probably the most significant of the lot, is the growing inability to negotiate between a more open economy and the demand to maintain a controlled and quota-ridden one. The New Economic Model (NEM) uses terms such as “liberalised sectors”, “a level playing field”, “market led” and “competitive environment”, and makes bold statements like “More competition and pushing ahead with liberalisation will need to be complemented by a system that recognises and rewards merit… greater recognition of merit for gaining access to opportunities…(which) denotes the level and quality of individual as signalled by his or her performance” (NEM Part 1).
It is clear that these goals are being shelved in order to return to the same kinds of policies the NEM was critical of in the first place. A good example is, following demands by the like of Perkasa, the subsequent formation of Teraju which has as its objective to “lead, coordinate and drive the Bumiputera agenda” as part of the country’s plan towards “becoming a high-income, developed, resilient and competitive nation”.
Hence, most recently, Teraju insisted that pre-qualifying criteria were included for the RM50 billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project and sale conditions of prime land worth over RM2 billion by UDA Holdings, in order to ensure “growth with equity”. It seems that Teraju has also been in consultation with other stakeholders like Prasarana, which will operate the MRT.
It will be interesting to know which party is really driving major decisions such as these, which have crucial impact on us all. The MRT especially so, since it will one day serve millions of Klang Valley residents, and top-notch quality (and not whether the Bumiputera composition of the chosen contractor) is essential to ensure safety of its commuters.
In the movie, the opposing candidate says, “I want to start having a conversation about what sort of country we want this to be in the next century.” We can only hope for such a leader who can champion bi-partisanship. Because more important than partisan politics today is the need to address Malaysia’s economic issues. And so, can the government withstand its own policies from getting derailed?
