International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS)

078.

Panel Title            : THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY IN MALAYSIA DID IT WORK? (PANEL I)

Chair                      : Anthony  Shome

Participants         :

Syahira  Hamidon

Paper Title            : Too Much Help? Rethinking Affirmative Action in Malay Entrepreneurship

Abstract                :

Since the institution of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the aftermath of the bloody events of May 1969, the Government has had mixed successes in developing Malay entrepreneurship. The NEP had done much to create a Malay capitalist middle class but, in thirty years, its most critical objective of lifting Malay equity to 30% of the economy did not happen. Many reasons were alluded to this failure but the fault could be the NEP itself. It had tied itself on a timeframe of a policy that cannot be realistically realised either for its failure or success. It is wishfully a prescriptive accession to assured wealth. But that did not seem an unreasonable ideal for the political demands of the day. The mood leading up to the enactment of the NEP in 1971 was largely one of reflection and appeasement for Malay grouses but it was undoubtedly a quest for solidifying Malay primacy. That it succeeded, and as a milestone of political history it set the tone for affirmative action. As part of that, the Government offered several initiatives but there was not the expected scramble for opportunities. Entrepreneurial endeavours are founded, as this paper will explain, on much more than state generosity. This paper is concerned with what affirmative action means to entrepreneurial growth. It will ask if there was too much help or too little help. The paper will examine whether development assistance provided to Malay entrepreneurs by the government was even necessary or helpful. More critically, why had the Malays lagged behind the Chinese inspite state assistance? What was in Chinese success that seemed so unreachable to the Malays? This paper will argue that had the Malays been given the education, training and skills, it would be possible to breed enough entrepreneurial prowess in those who were naturally inclined to venture into business. Furthermore, this paper proposes to argue that affirmative assistance to an economically-challenged society does little to create entrepreneurship, rather it inspires an even higher competitive resolve among the antagonists. Clearly, the non-Malays who have succeeded in business could be credited with this statement. It is intended that the outcome of this paper will be towards a  rethinking for a more equitable and practical public policy on ways to develop Malay entrepreneurial competitiveness.The methodology of this paper is empirical and is mainly based on existing literature, and from sources of publicly-accessible government reports and planning documents.

Azham  Md. Ali

Paper Title            : Phantasmagoric Accounting in Malaysia: A Case Study of "The Triumph of

  Hope Over Experience"?

Abstract                :

With the aim of detailing issues and problems that confronted accounting in Malaysia during the forty year period beginning from independence in 1957 and ending just before the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis 1997-98 and where the data came in the form of published and unpublished documents and interview findings, the study has found that there were confusion over the identity of the accounting bodies the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA), accountants shortage, the presence bogus accountants, disciplinary quagmire and accounting standards confusion. All in all, it may safely be concluded that the inspiring sounding words in various documents stating out the roles, responsibilities, aims, etc. for the MIA and MACPA were never real. This proved that there was time and again a triumph of hope over experience in the development of accounting in Malaysia. To explain the goings-on, the view of accounting as a social practice imbedded in a socio-historical context is taken up. This is in line with Puxty et al. (1987, p. 273) who have in particular mentioned that the roles of accountancy in regulating economic and social activities in society and the manner in which the institutions of accountancy are themselves regulated are intertwined. This thus leads to the conclusion that the institutions and processes of accounting in different nation-states cannot be understood independently of the historical and political-economic contexts of their emergence and development. Others who have made similar claim include Tinker (1980), Cooper and Sherer (1984), Armstrong (1985, 1987), Burchell et al. (1985), Hopwood (1985) and Miller and O'Leary (1987). By contextualizing accounting in its various aspects, they show accounting to be socially and historically specific. In the Malaysian context, it seems the one important environmental and historical factor leading towards severe debilitation of the accounting experience had involved the powerful elite group comprising of those in the political and economic circles. Though members of this group were very much in the position to make a difference in the accounting arena, they would rather see that accounting and the accountants plus their representative body the MIA stays in a debilitating state.  This is because it was in their interest for such accounting experience to take place. This is as noted by Cooper and Sherer (1984, p. 208). The elite functioning leading towards weaknesses in the accounting landscape is proven further by their doing the unthinkable such as in ensuring the MIA lying low for two long decades, delaying the implementation of accounting standard for goodwill for more than a decade and forming the MASB in 1997 to usurp the MIA's standard-setting responsibility. Seeing how useful it is in explaining the experience of accounting in Malaysia by relating it to the (mis)conducts of elite coming from both inside and outside the accounting arena (including overseas), there is a need for a conceptual work on elite functioning in developing countries. Perhaps the emerging theory may be called an elite theory of accounting malfunction (ETAM)?

Isabelle  Beaulieu

Paper Title            : Rentier State,  Institutions and Political Stability;  The Cases of Malaysia,

  Singapore and Indonesia

Abstract                :

Malaysia's and Singapore's, political system are remarkably stables - for long periods, Indonesia's has been stable too - and the economic development of theses countries are different but impressive. The political stability of these cases are not linked to a form of liberal democracy, neither a form of consociational arrangement, or to cultural features. To better understand these cases we have to look at the rentier state theory and its institutions, especially for Malaysia and Indonesia, but also for Singapore to evaluate this argument. My work is inspired by recent publications regarding rentier state, institutions and political stability (Mehlum, Moene and Torvik. 2006; Robinson, Torvik and Verdier. 2006; Smith. 2004; DiJohn. 2002).  The rentier states' revenues come from international markets in form of rent and public expenditures are really important in this type of state; they are more autonomous from their society because they do not collect much taxes from their citizens; the civil society is exercising less pressure for representation and changes. Numerous studies predict institutional problems for rentier states, but the rent can be a tool for the governments. They can choose to finance and consolidate state institutions and finance public policies. The rent and the political institutions made it possible for these cases studies ¬ even in some ways for Singapore too- to adopt developmental policies, escaping national debt problem in comparison to other countries, and investing into infrastructures and public services. My research uses conventional indicators such as: export activities, taxation structure, public investments, public policies, and public laws. In brief: the government's revenues and expenditures as well as the political institutions are supporting the government's actions and policies, and allow it to form strong governments. The analysis of different periods since independence helps to better understand how the rentier state deploys its actiions and its institutions and provides us with tools to better understand the political stability that go beyond studies that too often emphasise the uniqueness of these cases.

Juanita Marie Elias

Paper Title            : Gender and Ethncity in Malaysian Industrial Relations

Abstract                :

In this paper I look at questions relating to the liberalization of the Malaysian economy. However, unlike scholars who have focussed attention on things like privatization, deregulation and good governance/transparency - the focus of this paper is on labour reform. Specifically, my intention is to establish how labour market and industrial relations policies in Malaysia have remained deeply embedded in localized gender and ethnic divisions. Labour market liberalization has been rooted in a depoliticisation of organised labour - particularly in those low wage female and migrant labour dominated sectors of the economy where multinational investment predominates. However, my argument is that whilst MNCs have played an influential role in shaping these labour reforms (particularly in the 1980s ‘look East' period of Malaysia's industrial relations'), these processes cannot be understood without an appreciation of the role of the state.  Whether we understand the Malaysian state as an example of a developmental state or what Jayasuria calls the ‘regulatory state' - what is clear is that liberalization is not a straightforward transfer of capital and power from the public to the private sector, but a process that reflects the relationship between the state's development priorities and embedded social divisions and inequalities.