Perkasa Lashes Out at Najib, Nazir for Raising NEM Again

By: Malaysia Chronicle

As expected, Perkasa has lashed out at Prime Minister Najib Razak and his brother Nazir for raising the issue of the New Economic Model which Najib had previously promised was just a trial balloon and would not threaten the New Economic Policy favoured by Perkasa patron Mahathir Mohamad.

However, Pakatan Rakyat leaders were unimpressed and cautioned against another ‘sandiwara’ or play-acting to manipulate the feelings of the various ethnic groups in the country.

“Perkasa is speaking right on cue but basically the noise is just a waste of everyone’s time. The whole show including the so-called progressive speeches made by Najib and the rush by the MCA leaders to please him is the usual sandiwara,” Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

“If Najib is serious, he would detail the NEM first. At the moment he is asking the Chinese to support an empty plan that has not been fleshed out at all. And the wonder of it, MCA has not thought to ask the PM when the NEM will be delivered. You can see now that Ibrahim has spoken out, Najib may put the NEM on back-burner again and the MCA will look like fools.”

Malay support will be lost if NEP dismantled

Tian was referring to the MCA-organized Chinese Economic Congress, where top political and economic leaders had gathered. Some of them like Nazir, the CIMB chief, ACCIM secretary-general David Chua and SP Setia president Liew Kee Sin gave speeches that pulled few punches.

Nazir said the NEP had been “bastardized” by corruption into a version far different from what the originator had envisioned. The NEP was launched in 1971 by his father, second premier Abdul Razak Hussein.

The original aim of the NEP was to eradicate poverty and distribute wealth fairly but due to decades of Umno political dominance, the plan has been abused to promote special rights for the Malays so that the party could maintain its political dominance.

The endemic corruption spawned by the abuse of the NEP has led many foreign investors to call for its repeal. When Najib came to power in April last year, he proposed the more inclusive NEM, which is due to dismantle many of the protective barriers in the NEP that investors have long complained about.

However, that did not stop Ibrahim Ali from ticking off Nazir. The Pasir Mas MP also warned Najib that if he did not maintain the NEP, then Umno would lose the support of the Malays at the next general election.

"Nazir is talking nonsense," Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali told a press conference on Sunday.

If nothing is done, Malays will react. They might be silent now, but they will show their displeasure at the next general election. The Malays will reject Umno outright.