ANAS ZUBEDY
With
Special Position, it is so important for Malaysians to understand its
roots, its evolution and the real reasons for its institutionalisation.
Not many people know that the constituent elements of the Special
Position of the Malays--- land reservations; public services positions;
educational scholarships; and trade licences--- were spawned during
British rule as a way of protecting the people of the land who were
being marginalised by the colonial economy. They were integrated into
the Constitution of independent Malaya in 1957 mainly because the
conferment of citizenship upon a huge segment of the non-Malay populace
on incredibly liberal terms --- in the twinkling of an eye, from 15 % of
the citizenry, Chinese and Indians became 40%---- intensified the
vulnerability of an abysmally poor people.
It
is irrefutably true that the expansion and enhancement of Special
Position through the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1970 was a major
factor in the economic and social transformation of the Malays. Within
40 years, absolute poverty within the community has been
reduced drastically (in 1970, 49.3% lived below the poverty-line; in
2010, it was 3.2%) and the Malays have emerged as a significant
component of the middle and upper echelons of society. It
is this massive transformation that has brought stability and relative
peace and inter-ethnic harmony to the country. It has allowed a
functioning, though fettered, democracy to take root.
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