Should Malays, Malaysia's largest ethnic group, receive more special privileges, or fewer? That, in a nutshell, was the focus of debate during the country's recently concluded round of political party conferences. The youth wing of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the ruling, Malay-based party, called for a revival of the spirit of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which first ushered in affirmative action for Malays in 1970. The prime minister and leader of the party, Abdullah Badawi, agreed that the NEP needed fixing, as it had imbued Malays not with the intended spirit of entrepre-neurialism, but with an unfortunate proclivity for rent-seeking. But many Malaysians, both Malay and non-Malay, wonder whether the NEP is needed at all.
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