The Hindu Rights Action Force today dismissed the government’s New Economic Model (NEM) as lacking clear and transparent direction to eradicate poverty and economic inequality in the country.
London-based Hindraf leader P Waytha Moorthy said NEM was a mere feel good factor that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak crafted to remain politically relevant.
He questioned Najib’s capability and sincerity in carrying out a fair and transparent NEM to upgrade the lives of 40 percent Malaysians languishing in the lower rung of society, without dismantling the New Economic Policy (NEP).
He pointed out that the NEP was originally formulated to eradicate poverty, restructure and eliminate the economic disparity among various ethnic groups in the country.
He said it was originally meant to eliminate identification of ethnicity with economic prosperity.
However, he alleged that over the past 40 years, the NEP has been “hijacked” to spur a clear affirmative and discriminative policy skewed towards one ethnic group, creating “elite Napoleons”.
“It has proven to be largely useless for the masses. It was not applied for poverty alleviation among all Malaysians regardless of their racial and religious backgrounds. It was manipulated to enrich a few ruling elites and their cronies,” he alleged.
Outline pristine clear road map
In view of this, Waytha urged Najib to outline a pristine clear road map to alleviate poverty and to improve the socio-economic development for every segment.
“For 40 years, Umno controlled everything in the country through NEP, but has the position of the Malays improved except for those of the Umno cronies?” he asked.
The Hindraf leader said if Najib failed to abolish the NEP, then he would be no better than his predecessors.
Waytha also took a swipe at former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his role in “accelerating” the practices of nepotism, cornyism and corruption.
He claimed that these monetary ills have spread to every part of the government, leading to major financial scandals, mega “white elephant” projects, misappropriation of funds, money politics and collosal bailouts.
Waytha said until today, no prime minister had the audacity to reveal how much money was channelled into the NEP.
by FMT
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