LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

A couple of speakers at the recently concluded Chinese Economic Congress struck the right 1Malaysia chord.

SP Setia Bhd president and chief executive officer. Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, called upon non-bumiputra companies to allow their bumiputra counterparts to tap into their industries before asking bumiputras to open up the so-called bumiputra sectors. He asked them to share expertise, knowledge and skills with bumiputras. Non-bumiputras, he emphasized, must learn to give.

Widening income inequality is a major obstacle to the unity and solidarity that 1Malaysia envisions.

Since Merdeka(Independence) in 1957, the top 20% of income earners in Malaysia have benefited much more from economic growth than the bottom 40%. It is significant that the report of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) on the New Economic Model (NEM) admits that, “ The bottom 40% of households have experienced the slowest growth of average income, earning less than RM 1,500 per month in 2008.”  The wage trend in Malaysia recorded only an annual 2.6% growth during the past 10 years, compared to the escalating cost of living during the same period.