KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi emphasised that the New Economic Policy is no longer in existence today.
"The NEP is a policy which is no longer in existence. The objective of this policy has been to eradicate poverty, as you all know."
He said during an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily at his private residence in Kuala Lumpur that the way the NEP was implemented had triggered the dissatisfaction among many people, including some Malays, adding that Malaysians needed a more transparent policy and open market.
He said, according to the UN Millennium Development Report, Malaysia is one of the countries that have drastically reduced the poverty rates. Nevertheless, the media have hardly reported on the country's success in reducing poverty.
"If you want to show the country's poverty in order to overthrow the government, or make the people very angry with the government, you can always show this kind of pictures on the TV every day. You can show the pictures of people lacking food supply, but that will be very unfair to the government, for the country's overall poverty rate has dropped!"
Postmortem on election defeat
Abdullah said Barisan Nasional would hold a general assembly next February to discuss the outcome of the March 8 general elections, and to overcome the weaknesses that have attributed to BN's humiliating defeat in the elections.
He said all BN component parties must stand on the same front to confront the opposition instead of engaging in infighting. He also said BN must stress the importance of collective responsibility and that any decision-making process must be done based on common understanding, while the philosophy and principle of power sharing must be protected at all times.
"We seldom met in the past, and therefore always quarrelled. But the situation has improved now. We are working harder to increase the number of meetings, including weekly Cabinet discussions to solve problems."
He said if BN were to make a decision with a show-of-hand, this is not called collective responsibility, as small parties are always the losers while UMNO and MCA are the winners.
"We must see the fact that when members of all BN component parties get together, we are all BN members. We must see Barisan Nasional as a big family, as the unity and strength of BN, coupled with the people's acceptance of BN, have made BN this powerful."
He also emphasised that BN hopes to re-establish its own image, and beef up the interaction among the component parties as well as the people's support for it. As a multiracial political alliance, BN must ensure that all component parties work closely together, for endless quarrels will only give rise to more divisions.
He said most component parties within BN are ethnic-based parties, such as UMNO, MCA and MIC, which have been steered towards the preservation of the interests of their respective ethic groups.
"Therefore I always openly emphasise that BN must set up a mechanism that allows us to meet regularly and discuss earnestly on issues related to various races."
Different tolerance levels
Abdullah said he himself has different levels of tolerance. For certain things, he could be very tolerant, so much so that some people are not able to accept it or are feeling unhappy.
He said this character of him could be seen from newspaper reports. Whenever something serious happens, he will normally not make any response within the first two days.
He pointed out that these issues could involve legal aspects, and sometimes we need to consider how other people have come to accept the incidents or the developments of these incidents.
"Take the latest yoga issue for instance. My daughter came over to ask me why I did not give a statement on this particular issue. Many people also sent me SMS to ask why I did not issue a statement."
He said anything could happen in Malaysia, and he must ensure that under whatsoever circumstances, Malaysians do not need to suffer the fears of starvation or feel that their safety is being intimidated.
"You can refrain from buying clothes, cars or shoes, but you must have enough food to eat."
He said food and safety are very important matters, and this is why agriculture must continue to exist.
"That's why we must keep on innovating and stressing education and human resource development. We must harness the latest technology and not fall behind. Our universities must be able to meet the current needs of the society and must no longer employ the curricula 20 years ago."
The prime minister said unless a leader knows how to handle racial issues, he will not be a successful leader.
"If a leader only takes care of a single ethnic group's interests, he will not become successful."
BN can recover from its wounds
He believes that BN and UMNO will recover before the next general elections, but as how they will perform in the elections, he said that will have to depend on DPM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who will take over as the prime minister soon.
On what makes him think BN and UMNO will recover, Abdullah said, "We have already captured quite many seats now!"
When asked to comment on the trend that many non-Malays are now leaning towards the opposition, he said BN component parties must work together closely and contribute their individual strengths towards BN.
"UMNO, BN, Gerakan, MIC and other component parties must work together. We must share our respective strengths. All component parties must trust BN, or it won't be able to operate at all."
He said MCA and Gerakan Rakyat must work harder to recoup the support of non-Malays. (Translated by DOMINIC LOH)
courtesy malaysiatoday
NOBODY JUMPED AT THIS STATEMENT - SINCE WHEN, IT ENDED? MANY IS ON & UMNO(BN) IS STILL ON IT! Is Pak Lah laughing at you?
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