Extracted from Malaysiakini

Extracted from Malaysiakini.com

Lecturers: Iban not reaping NEP benefits
Tony Thien
2:33:50 PM Sep 24, 2003

The Iban, Sarawak’s largest ethnic group, have not benefited much from the implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP), charge two academicians.

"The Iban are being left behind in economic development. Government statistics say so," said Universiti Putra Malaysia's (UPM) Prof Jayum Jawan and Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) Dr Richard Mason.

They made the claim in a joint paper entitled ‘The Bumiputera Policy on Dayakism: Looking Back After 40 Years’, presented today at a hotel in Penang.

The Iban form about 30 percent of Sarawak's population of 2.2 million. Together with the Bidayuh and Orang Ulu, they are collectively termed as Dayak and make up almost half of the state's population.

Jayum and Mason cited basic reasons which they believe have led to the socio-economic and political predicament of the Iban.

These are slipshod administration and bureaucracy, lack of understanding and appreciation of the NEP among implementing officials, a deliberate policy of divide-and-rule, and communal inertia.

The paper also apportioned a share of the blame to the Iban, stating that their leaders have found it difficult to co-operate on a political level and to stand united behind a single leader.

As a result, the indigenous communities in Sarawak have not enjoyed the same benefits that implementation of the NEP has brought to the Malays in Peninsular Malaysia.

"Some have been able to reap the benefits while others have not been quite as fortunate. Consequently, one or two ethnic communities are more advanced socio-economically than others," the authors noted in their paper.

Independent mechanism

While praising the federal government for having done "an excellent job" in implementing the NEP, the academics took the state government to task.

They claimed that federal allocations to the state have not been properly dispensed to all the ethnic communities.

"It is the state that decides what goes to whom," they said.

In view of this, they said it is now necessary to establish an independent mechanism as a federal-funded initiative to monitor the implementation of projects to ensure the fair distribution of economic benefits.

"(This will) ensure that bureaucrats and civil servants at the State Planning Unit of the Chief Minister's Department understand the national policy and carry out their duties accordingly and fairly as demanded of an impartial civil service."

Special rights

The paper also discussed the privileges and special rights of non-Muslim communities in Sarawak and Sabah as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, which equates them with the Malay/Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia for this purpose.

The authors said the 'special rights' position alone is enough to ensure that some reasonable portion of the benefits trickle down to the indigenous ethnic communities in Sarawak.

"The people of the multi-ethnic society of Sarawak owe it to themselves to have a fair, caring and responsive political leadership to bring them into the 21st century," they said.

Responding to questions from the floor, Jayum said the Dayak community must be prepared to replace failed leaders. Those who replace them should be ready to stand up for the community’s constitutional entitlements, rights and privileges.

"The new leaders of Sarawak must adopt a more tolerant and accommodative approach to manage the plural state. All have a stake in the well-being of the state. All also have the right to partake in the benefits of development," he added.