Tough Choices

It was a gathering of 16 young people and 2 giants that helped shaped the Malaysian political landscape.

It was an informal dinner organized by the Young Turks Club for the Norwegian intellectual, Tan Sri Just Faaland and his assistant, Dr. Rais Saniman. Both of them were involved in the structuring of the New Economic Policy (NEP), (which was formulated in response to the racial riots in May 1969) with Just Faaland being an adviser on the formulation of the NEP and Rais Saniman, one of the Young Turks of his time, only 28 years old, when he was serving the Razak Administration.

But their respective involvement in the formulation of the NEP provided the bedrock of political stability that Malaysia enjoyed since 1971, till today.

And Malaysians appreciated the NEP much more, when they saw what economic disparity did to the Chinese community in Indonesia, during the recent economic crisis. The pent-up resentment saw crimes of hatred and violence continuously perpetrated against the Chinese community, which made up about 3% of the Indonesian population but held 80% of its wealth.

Without the NEP, what happened in Indonesia, could have easily happened in Malaysia. There's no doubt about that.


Both Faaland and Saniman are being put in charge of advising the Prime Minister on tweaking the policies surrounding the NEP, for the 9th Malaysia Plan. They've been meeting everyone from Ministers, civil servants, policymakers, etc. except for young people - the people in the age group which is going to live in and run Malaysia post-2020.

It was a humbling experience being there, being amongst some of my brightest and most accomplished peers, in our age group.

Some of the faces were very familiar to me, some were not so familiar and some were entirely new faces. A few of them are intimidatingly bright and opinionated, for their age. We came a variety of backgrounds, but as our dinner host, Zack, said to Faaland and Saniman, we had one thing in common - a shared commitment to making this country a better place. And almost all of us there, had done our respective parts in both words and deeds.

I expected a brainstorming session and I stayed up the night before, thinking of all the main points that I felt should be tweaked, to ensure better implementation of the NEP - taking into account, the relentless competitive and globalized environment that we live in.

My effort came to nothing, because there was no brainstorming done with Faaland and Saniman, after the dinner. There were lots of discussions amongst ourselves on the current issues and policy obstacles facing Malaysia and some light anecdotes from Faaland and Saniman, relating their experience of serving under some great leaders like Tun Razak, Tun Ismail Ali, men of vision with integrity and ability, who are crucial to shaping Malaysia, in its early days.

It was a glorious time to be alive, the animated Saniman told me. The group that helped formulate the NEP and that helped Tun Razak in its implementation were a young group, (called the Malay Forum) mostly in their 20's and 30's.

They were the leading thinkers, politicians, bureaucrats and professionals of their time and their job was to stitch up the torn fabric of Malaysian society caused by the racial riots and to help shape a system where wealth was equitably shared, amongst all the major races in Malaysia.

Some of them, are still with us today - our former PM, Tun Mahathir Mohamad, our current PM, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, Dato' Shahrir Samad, Royal Professor Ungku Aziz and a few others.

It is rare indeed, for a group of policymakers to be able to conceptualize, formulate and implement such a crucial national policy and see it work over the next 34 years - enough time to see it both succeed in some areas and fail in some others.

But that particular policy called the NEP, ensured that this complex multi-racial country could be governed in peace and experiencing relatively high economic growth, for more than a quarter of a century. From almost no Malay middle-class pre-1971, it was responsible for creating a large Malay middle-class, consisting of educated professionals and entrepreneurs, as well as large Malay-owned business corporations.

It somewhat lessened the economic disparity between the major races and the creation of a large Malaysia middle-class, made severe political conflict over the distribution of wealth, almost impossible.


As a policy to make multi-racial Malaysia "work" as a country, the NEP is perhaps unrivalled in its success - there are many other countries, which would have torn each other to pieces in civil war and internal conflicts.

Many subsidies, suppressed wages and artificial policy "injections" were made to ensure that this became a great country to live in. There were many hidden "costs" that had to be absorbed by all in the country - some which has compromised our position and put this country in a fragile spot, to face future challenges.

The NEP has proven to work for the first 34 years, but the question is: will it work for the next 30 years?

It was obvious from the dinner time conversation that there were chronic areas in Malaysia that needed working on.

Our education system is in shambles, our new sources of growth are unclear, our healthcare and petrol subsidies is huge (in the billions) and unsustainable and our water system needs to be badly revamped. Racial polarization in schools is worse than ever, amongst the younger generation and this will affect our long-term competitiveness, if we cannot pool otgether the best of our collective resources to collaborate. The civil service machinery, in Faaland's words, "were not equipped to help politicians to make the right policy decisions, for the benefit of the country."

He continued and said: "The amazing irony about Malaysia is that it still works, despite so many things that do not work". What a sobering statement - it really made me think. Yes, we've been lucky - but for how long will Lady Luck stay by our side, if we don't buck up?

It was obvious that before the next election, tough choices have to be made by the Abdullah administration, on certain crucial policy crossroads. And that if we miss the opportunity to make some overdue course corrections, the ramifications to Malaysia, our generation and our children's generation would be severe.


But as Zack pointed out to us: How do you wean off the citizenry from subsidies which they've grown accustomed to and have accommodated their lifestyle? How do you modify the rights and privileges of the Bumiputras, in a manner that would suit the globalized world, we have to compete in?

And if the Government does choose to bite the bullet, will it cause their political downfall, or at least the downfall of the PM that would be brave enough to institute such changes?

It was clear that there was a need to educate UMNO and other Barisan component parties on the effects of globalization and how it constraints our own national policy-making and the dynamics of our national competitiveness, if we choose not to refine some parts of the NEP, (that have been proven to be weak and counter-productive) that are making us weaker - as a people and as nation.

Tough choices and decisions to be made - and yet the possible outcomes are so unclear. The reality and the options open to Malaysia, are chilling. The good old days are over, we realized. After this, shall come the growing pains of trying to be a truly developed country, in substance.

And we shall need the buy-in, of those who have not been aware and oblivious to the trouble that's coming, brought about by globalization. Persuasion has to be attempted, albeit with a realization that crucial changes made, will sometimes, have to be "diluted" to cater to the political base, which the country's leadership stands on.

Faaland reminded us of our responsibilities and possibilities - and told us that the decisions made now, are crucial to Malaysia's future and that history is currently being made, be it for better or worse. Most importantly, he reminded us not to give up on our efforts for Malaysia - for it will take the collective strength of all, to keep Malaysia "working".


The dinner ended quietly on that grim note, with us saying goodbye to Faaland and Saniman and each other.

As I left the restaurant, my shoulders felt heavy. I pondered over what's coming in Malaysia's future and silently prayed in my heart that this generation will have to strength to steer the country through challenges, in the next 20 years - despite the weakness, constraints and compromises of our political elders.

Because we need to, for our children to inherit a better Malaysia, than the one we will. May God give us strength and luck, for what's coming.