Mar 23, 07 12:04pm
Dr Lim Teck Ghee, the man who was at the centre of the bumiputera
equity controversy last year, has reasons to feel vindicated.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told Parliament that
the government hopes to achieve the 30 percent bumiputera corporate
equity target in three years.
Lim had earlier suggested that the government had already exceeded
the 30 percent bumiputera share in corporate equity, and argued this
could be as high as 45 percent - more than double the government's
estimates.
However, the government has strenuously denied this. According to
official statistics, the bumiputera share in the corporate sector is
around 18.9 percent.
In his written reply yesterday in Parliament, Abdullah did not
explain how the government would be able to make up the shortfall in
three short years.
The prime minister also did not say whether the government's
preferential treatment for the country's bumiputeras will continue
after 2010.
Lim, a former World Bank official, argued that the target can indeed
be reached much sooner than 2010.
"When that target achievement announcement is made, I am sure that
the findings of the Asli report on corporate equity distribution will
be vindicated," he said, referring to the Asian Strategy and
Leadership Institute report which sparked the bumiputera equity
debate a few months ago.
Statistical spin-masters
At the height of the controversy, Lim quit his post in Asli when the
think-tank retracted the controversial report after coming under
intense pressure.
Lim said that the prime minister's announcement "sets the stage now
for the civil service statistical spin-masters to work towards a
clear date for that target to be achieved."
"I am optimistic in light of the recent brouhaha that this milestone
will finally and definitively be reached soon."
However, he said there were several other concerns Abdullah should
now address.
"One is to ensure that during the remaining three year life span of
that condition, it is the bumiputera poor that will become the
beneficiaries of the quota condition, and not the politically
connected and already wealthy."
Lim said that this would require greater transparency and disclosure
by the government in pursuing the target, especially in its New
Economic Policy (NEP).
"The other is that the corporate equity condition is a small part of
a large system of racially privileged entitlement. That larger system
needs to be dismantled if the country is to go forward as a united
and cohesive nation."
A gift to young Malaysians
The NEP was enacted in the 1970 as part of a bold blueprint to reduce
income disparity among different ethnic groups. This include a wide
range of measures including the 30 percent bumiputera equity target.
It was given a shelf life of 20 years but the policy continued after
1990 under a different name - the New Development Policy - to be
implemented up to 2000.
The National Vision Policy was set to be implemented between 2001 and
2010. However, the government in the Ninth Malaysia Plan unveiled
last year, revived the NEP targets.
Debate over the NEP target became heated after two studies - the Asli
report and a University Malaya research - showed that the target had
been reached.
The government, maintaining that the figure was 18.9 percent as at
end 2004, said the NEP policy will continue until 2020.
"The best gift Pak Lah can give to young Malaysians on the eve of the
50th anniversary of Merdeka is to define a new and historic direction
for the country in which all Malaysians, regardless of race,
religion, political affiliation, class and region, will be treated
equally; and the poor and vulnerable are provided resources and
special attention to help them improve their lives." said Lim.
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