How the Malay elite hijacked Malaysia

There is a growing clampdown on press freedom in Malaysia. Online news portals operate in the fear that their licenses won’t be renewed or shutdown the then provocative The Malaysian Insider in 2016. Most domestic news portals practice self-censorship due to harsh defamation laws that gravely hinder investigative journalism. Nothing has been officially done to investigate allegations against former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz and family members involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

There is no Freedom of Information legislation, and only scant details of Auditor General reports make public news. The standard operating procedure of government appears to be just allowing embarrassing news about corruption to publicly blow over and be forgotten by the public.

The anti-corruption framework is weak, grossly under-resourced and potential MACC prosecutions need approval from the Attorney General, who is a political appointment.

Many within the civil service caught undertaking illegal acts are not reported to anti-corruption investigators. Many scandals are just swept under the carpet to protect prominent people and the reputation of the institutions involved. This creates the belief among many in powerful positions they will not face any sanctions or justice, if caught out undertaking corrupt or illegal activities.

The cancer of crony capitalism

The depth and extent of crony capitalism practices have been well documented. It extends from Malaysia’s largest corporations down to class F contractors or petty traders, where may citizens are trying to scratch out a living.

Over the last 50 years, the establishment has looked after its own. Royal households have been given lucrative timber and other business concessions. Politicians have built up business empires and networks of associates benefitting from inside information and favoritism. A small group of connected businesspeople have been given choice monopolies, concessions, restricted business operating licenses, and allowed to takeover public assets and convert them into private assets by reigning prime ministers.

Crony capitalism is starving any sense of equality of business opportunities in the economy. Companies succeed through connections, not vision, superior products and competitiveness. So much of the economy is restricted to a few, market opportunity is certainly not equal for all. Even existing successful businesses are being forced to devest to Bumiputera equity holders, as was seen with the freight forwarding regulations, requiring companies with operating licenses to have 51 percent Bumiputera equity.

This has resulted in the Malay establishment becoming a class of rent-seekers, taking little, if any risk in their business undertakings. Some of those who fail have been bailed out. Not all Malays are equal. Many Malays themselves distinguish Bumiputeras from UMNO-putras, who are given unfair privileges. The 12^th Malaysia Plan has been framed in such a way that it will benefit the connected, rather than equally among Bumiputeras, and other Malaysians. Malay businesses without connections are most likely to get little, if any assistance.

The ability of the Malay establishment to restrict economic opportunity has assisted in creating a patriarchal society based upon reward and punishment. Malaysia has slipped from the 3^rd to the 6^th largest economy within ASEAN since 2015.

Tearing down secularism

Although Malaysia has a primarily secular constitution, Article 3 states that Islam is the religion of the federation, but other religious may be practiced in peace and harmony. The supreme governing body of Malaysia is the parliament, which is made up of the Yang Di-Petuan Agong or king, the Dewan Rakyat or lower house, and the Senate or upper house. With the government coming from the lower house by popular vote, government is inferred to be of a secular nature.