The New Economic Policy (NEP) will be reviewed by the Government to ensure that it fulfils the needs of the people and the direction of socio-economic development of Malaysia, says Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.

The review of the NEP, an affirmative action policy that was crafted in the aftermath of the May 13 riots in 1969, would be carried out in line with the aspirations of a New Malaysia in ensuring sustainable economic growth and a fair distribution.

“In line with that and our New Malaysia aspirations, major national policies will be reviewed, including the NEP and the NEM (New Economic Model) to ascertain if they are still relevant in ensuring sustainable economic development and distributive justice,” he said.

In a written reply in Parliament yesterday, he said following the change of government on May 10 after the 14th General Election, the preparation of the 11th Malaysia Plan mid-term review was realigned with new directions and aspirations of the Pakatan Harapan government.

“It is also important to ensure that all Government efforts will truly bring benefit or a positive impact to the people without any leakages, misappropriation and abuse of power,” he said.
Azmin also said the 12th Malaysia Plan between 2021 and 2025 will focus more on a detailed and comprehensive development strategy for Malaysia.

The written reply was issued to a question from William Leong (PH-Selayang) who asked on the 11th Malaysia Plan mid-term review and whether the Govern¬ment would review key policies and existing economic development plans such as NEP and NEM.

Announced in 1970, the NEP had a two-pronged strategy to eradicate poverty and restructure society to correct economic imbalances between the Malays and bumiputra with their Chinese and Indian counterparts. It was to cover a period of 20 years.

It was replaced by the National Development Policy in 1990 by the then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with the objective of ensuring that all sections of society benefit from the country’s economic growth.

For years, the NEP had come under fire for allegedly being biased towards the majority race.

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