LETTERS: GIVEN the rising anxiety regarding the spread of the deadly Wuhan virus, it can be easy to miss the growing concern and the doubts over the emerging Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV) 2030 that will be introduced in Parliament in the third quarter of this year.
According to a Bernama report, Adviser to the Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Khalid Jaafar said the “SPV2030 is no way a race-based policy but a needs-based one aimed at narrowing the economic gap in the context of income, irrespective of race”.
He added that “to say that the SPV 2030 is a rehash of the New Economic Policy (NEP) is a misconception”.
Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, in his ministry’s latest report card, said his ministry had conducted 390 engagement sessions with various parties to prepare the 12th Malaysia Plan that would crystallise the implementation of SPV 2030.
However, despite their laudable efforts to explain SPV 2030, there is considerable doubt as to whether it will be different and more progressive than the archaic and sometimes discredited NEP.
I recall that those of us who helped design the NEP were happy at that time, that it was meant to eradicate poverty regardless of race.
It was implemented faithfully in the initial stages, but soon got abused with an uneven application and implementation. The non-Malays and indeed many poor Malays felt left out and alienated.
Thus the economy did not realise its full potential. Neither did the NEP adequately achieve national unity in the later years of its implementation!
So the questions that loom large in the minds of many is whether the SPV will also have high aspirations but turn out with low expectations?
There is therefore a need for the planners and political leaders to:
1) set up effective socio-economic safeguards in the 12th Malaysia Plan to ensure that a basic needs policy is implemented fairly and properly; and
2) put in place efficient monitoring systems that will assure the public in a more transparent manner that the government policies are being achieved.
It is vital that we succeed in getting the full support of all sectors of our society. This is a prerequisite for greater national unity and prosperity and progress for all races. No one should feel alienated or marginalised.
The poor and unfortunate will not begrudge equal opportunities for all races who need equal and equitable treatment. Neither will any of our religions and values encourage unfairness.
Thus, I appeal to the government to publicise the principles of SPV 2030 and explain more thoroughly how it will benefit the poor, even before the 12th Malaysia Plan is presented to Parliament later this year.
Only then will the lingering doubts about SPV 2030 and its association with the NEP be erased.
Bumiputeras sadly still constitute most of the poor in our country. We must help them advance. But we must also allow other poor Malaysians to move forward and not stagnate and become anti-social and a drag on our economy.
While the income gap between the B40 and M40 groups should be narrowed, we have to also narrow the income gaps between them and the T20.
How else can we have more equal opportunities, socio-economic and political stability, and stronger national progress?
Given the viruses of polarisation, racism and religious bigotry plaguing our country, SPV 2030 can be the cure to most of our national problems.
But it should not be like the divisive and debilitating NEP, which was often abused in its implementation.
This may be our last chance to restructure our economy to make it serve the basic needs and human rights for our people, for a better Malaysia for all.
TAN SRI RAMON NAVARATNAM
Chairman Asli Centre for Public
Policy Studies
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times