https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2021/09/10/not-yet-a-failed-state-malaysia-is-decaying-rapidly/

意見記事の末尾には　こう書いてある。

Originally published by Nikkei. Imran Shamsunahar is an external relations executive at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

日経アジアや更にそれを引用しているFMTの見解じゃなく、筆者(external relations executive at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.)の見解だ　ということは了解だ。

その筆者の見解としては　人種差別化政策が根本的原因である　と言いたいようだ。

The collapse of Pakatan Harapan can be attributed in part to Malaysia’s highly racialised political culture, an ugly byproduct of the New Economic Policy, or NEP, one of Malaysia’s most consequential policies passed some 50 years ago.

Following race riots in 1969, the Malaysian government passed the NEP in July 1971 as a way to reduce poverty and restructure glaring economic imbalances between the Bumiputeras and non-Bumiputeras.

Initially intended as a short-term policy, the NEP laid the foundations for a never-ending series of affirmative action policies targeting the Malays. Thirty percent of corporate equity was to be reserved for the Malays, while quotas were established in many professions. Government licences and contracts were also to be reserved for Malay businesses, normally channelled through Malaysia’s ubiquitous government-linked companies, or GLCs.

50年前の1969年に起こった人種間暴動を契機に、1971年に貧困解消を目的として導入したthe New Economic Policy, ( NEP)では　ブミ優先政策が導入されたが、　それは短期政策で終わらずに、その後長い期間に渡って　次々と追加政策が繰り返され、そのことで　競争を阻害し　腐敗を生む要因になった　と分析している。

日本では　国鉄、郵政など「民営化」が進められたが、マレーシアでは　「ブミ化」　が進められた　という違いがある。

Avenue to the middle class

To be sure, there were successes. For many Malays, such as my father, the NEP was their avenue to the middle class. The Malay share of the total middle class jumped from 12.7% in 1971 to 27% in 1990.

確かに、NEP により　マレー系の中間層クラスは増加した　ことは事実だ。

However, Bumiputera-dominated states remain the poorest in Malaysia, as a large chunk of government assistance under the NEP was ultimately channelled to well-connected Malay businessmen rather than the deserving poor, creating a crony capitalist system where a Malay elite class subsisted off government rent.

でも　マレー系が中心の州は　相変わらず　マレーシア全土中で貧困州のままじゃないか。

結局　マレー系の中でコネがある一部がNEPの恩恵に預かり、残りは縁故資本主義システム下で貧乏なままだ。　(Crony capitalism: 縁故資本主義)

Malaysia’s entrenched cronyism has ultimately been a detriment to the well-being of average Malaysians, who have seen an artificial rise in their cost of living. Corrupt practices within supply chains often increase the price of goods and services for consumers, whether through higher costs of doing business or reduced marketplace competition.

Practices of favoritism in government procurement have also led to a degradation of public institutions, including schooling and government agencies, forcing many to go for costlier private alternatives.

Beyond the economic cost, the NEP ultimately had a corrosive impact on the larger social fabric of Malaysia. Relations between the races in Malaysia deteriorated as non-Bumiputeras resented being hobbled from birth when it came to university admissions, government scholarships and housing.

In response to this system of institutionalised discrimination, thousands of non-Malays have since emigrated abroad to countries such as Singapore and Australia, bleeding Malaysia of vital capital and skills.

Concurrently, a whole generation of Malays born in the NEP era came to see these privileges as an unquestionable birthright, egged on by Malay elites eager to preserve the patronage system that sustained them.

This could be seen, for example, through Mahathir’s persistent claims that the Malays were poor due to their inherent “laziness”, utilising a colonial-era trope to justify continued government intervention.

NEP past due for reforms

Among Malaysian pundits, there is increasing recognition that the NEP is past due for reforms, if not to be replaced entirely with a needs-based policy to support the most vulnerable, regardless of ethnicity.

While acknowledging the real increase in the Malay middle class, 50 years of institutionalised racism in Malaysia has ultimately fostered a culture of crony capitalism, an unproductive rentier class and inflated costs of living.

Ultimately, Malaysia’s system of heavy state intervention, coupled with its adherence to a system of Malay privilege, has created distorted markets primed to serve the needs of a small Malay elite.

This system has stifled productivity growth, cursing Malaysia’s manufacturing sector with an overdependence both on cheap migrant labour, to the detriment of advancing local technological capabilities, as well as on foreign capital with little technological diffusion.

Malaysia’s underdeveloped industrial base is symptomatic of the country’s premature deindustrialisation, as local and foreign investors have over time shifted from manufacturing to service sectors such as property development, logistics and financial services.

Despite this, no administration in power has sought to challenge this status quo, fearful of angering the electorally vital swing vote of peninsular Malays fearful of losing their preferential system. Not a failed state, but a decaying one for sure.

こういう意見記事が出ても　マレー系の国であるマレーシアでは　ブミ優先政策が変わることはない　だろう。

なにぶん　マレーシア憲法にも　マレー系優先　の旨明記されているのだから。

以上　(9/9記)