MEB : First impression in a rush

Well, I gotta sleep early tonight as Man Utd is taking on Bayern 2:45am...and it is a pretty long article to digest.

So the most anticipated MEB is finally out, well a bit of it. As I scan through a very long presentation in the best of Najib administration’s tradition, I have a déjà vu attack, reminding me of the 1Malaysia thingy – plenty of nice things to say but still need plenty of proof in the eating.

The most catchy word is: “konsultasi” which appear 6 times and in para 22.”bahawa era 'Kerajaan tahu segalanya' telah berakhir.” indicated that some VVIP do read the book “Malaysian Politicians Say The Darnest Things”.

I would credit this development to the emergence of Pakatan Rakyat. The phase “Merakyatkan Ekonomi” of the Selangor government seems to provide the inspiration for this “konsultasi” thingy while the Bart Simpson in me suggests that politically this is wise; if MEB does not work, it is not entirely BN’s fault. Not unlike Wawasan 2020, by 2020 whoever that came up with the idea might not be around to explain why it did not achieve the lofty aspirations anyway.

Call me a pessimist. Consultation? BN administration is not known for accommodating different opinion, apart from the ISA and Printing Press Act, we are all too familiar with the conduct of the Speakers of the August House who forever seem to disallow opposition’s motions or dismissing PR MPs for whatever innocuous reasons, like Tony Pua for standing up.

With Hishammuddin not so longer and now Ibrahim Ali warning all and sundry not to threaten rights or grave repercussions would occur. Even an argument over previously a non-issue religious terminology for exclusive usage is evoked and prolonged.

I am skeptical and not too optimistic. Najib’s 1Malaysia project has already been mocked and savaged (and tax payers' money wasted) by religious terrorism and emergence of Perkasa & Co. so I won’t be surprised. Heck even at times I find inconsistency between Najib and his No. 2’s statement.

Contradictions I see is as follows:

34. Keutamaan kita adalah untuk membasmi kemiskinan tanpa mengira kaum. (heard that in a KeAdilan rally before GE12)

38. Sebagai contoh, salah satu pertimbangan penting adalah mewujudkan proses tender yang kompetitif dan telus, dengan peraturan yang tetap dan jelas bagi seluruh komuniti Bumiputera yang terdiri daripada kedua-dua kaum Melayu dan pribumi lain. Ini merupakan pemantapan dasar kita bagi menghadapi keadaan ekonomi baru, di mana keterangkuman merupakan komponen penting di dalam MEB. Secara praktiknya, pendekatan ini bermakna sokongan kepada Bumiputera dipertingkatkan, di mana ia berdasarkan kepada keperluan dan bukannya bangsa.

- how can one talk about the support for 1 race will be strengthen while a comma later the same one says aid would be need base and not race base

- I leave it to the politicians to balance this as this is beyond my comprehension

14. Kita juga telah mengenalpasti beberapa polisi yang telah berjaya mencapai tujuannya pada era sebelum ini, namun kini mungkin menjadi penghalang kepada kejayaan, merencat pasaran dan meletakkan kita dalam kedudukan yang kurang berdaya saing. Sebagai contoh, kerajaan sedang berunding untuk mengubah struktur polisi fiskal yang akan menaksir semula sistem subsidi yang wujud di Malaysia dan meluaskan punca kutipan hasil melalui cadangan pengenalan cukai barangan dan perkhidmatan.


- I thought GST was supposed to be defered until after the next GE? One is suppose to have high income society first before GST, not the other way round

41. …... Kita tidak boleh lagi bertolak-ansur dengan amalan yang menyokong aktiviti rent-seeking dan patronage, yang telah sekian lama menjejaskan matlamat murni DEB. Penyertaan menyeluruh diperlukan, di mana semua rakyat Malaysia dapat menyumbang dan mengambil manfaat daripada pertumbuhan ekonomi - perlu menjadi teras utama bagi sebarang pendekatan ekonomi baru.

why don’t the Najib administration start by not “bertolak-ansuring” with Ibrahim Ali and friends who seems to be screaming for 30% or 60% of the benefit while never once I heard him talking about Malays should contribute 30% or 60% of the effort, risk-bearing and innovation as hard earned success is always sweet and satisfying; and no one can ever take that sense of achievement from you.

A good opportunity for Najib to back up his noble paragraph here:

31. Dalam mengubah pendekatan dengan mengambilkira cabaran-cabaran baru ini, ia memerlukan kita untuk mengubah pemikiran rakyat kita.

( unless there are several class of rakyat in 1Malaysia - nah, not possible, eh?)

If not careful, MEB can go the way of Wawasan 2020 – hardly uttered after the Promoter has left the scene, its lofty and noble callings are trampled upon by those who subscribe to anti-logic, anti-progress and anti-commonsense stances.