The Chinese are the biggest taxpayers

The Chinese are the biggest taxpayers
Dr Collin Abraham
Mar 31, 06 3:07pm



It is perhaps timely that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, speaking at a Forum on
the Future Challenges of the Malays recently in Alor Star, should have
stated that ?Malays have to acknowledge that the Malay community
contributed the least to making Malaysia a model country and to its current
status in the world ?(The Sun, Monday, March 27, p 10).

Tun Mahathir went on to explain that because the Government needed taxes
form the people to develop the country and since the Chinese community made
the ?biggest contribution? in taxes, therefore, although the country had
?progressed and prospered under the leadership of the Malays, such progress
was built on the hard work of the other races (mostly Chinese)?.

While I believe Tun?s statement must be given very serious consideration
indeed, (Tun, more than any other Malaysian, knows what he is talking
about) nonetheless it is also my contention that not all concerned
Malaysians would agree with his views particularly that the Malays were
behind (in the payment of taxes) because of their ?culture and attitude?.

This is not the place to go into a theoretical and academic discourse as to
why the Chinese are the ?biggest? taxpayers and the Malays the ?smallest?.
In reality, I believe the very premise of this question itself misses the
point that such disparity exists not only between the two groups but indeed
within the Chinese community itself.

Therefore, if at all the criteria of amount of taxation paid is to be the
determining factor in ascertaining ?contribution? to development, then much
more information is needed regarding the proportion of taxes paid in
relation to incomes among the Chinese themselves. Such criteria could
rather be an indication of income inequalities among the Chinese and that
the ?biggest? amounts paid were from the ?super-rich? section rather than
the community as a whole. This in turn may reflect on the element of
?cronyism?, patronage and ?unfair? business dealings between the
?super-rich? Chinese businessmen in cahoots with the Malay ruling class and
business elite.

Networks of linkages

Therefore the ?biggest? contribution of taxes from this group may be due to
the success of these many networks of linkages rather than the so-called
?hard work? of the Chinese taxpayers as a whole.

I have previously taken serious issue with the good Doctor on the question
of Malays being economically backward because of their ?culture and
attitude?. I have said, and continue to maintain, that the poor economic
performance of the Malays is due to serious institutional structural
constraints across the political and economic spectrum. Indeed, I am
prepared to ?stick my neck out?, to say that apart from extensive physical
infrastructure development over the years, the main rural social
institutions for economic development through reforms such as land reform,
the democratization of social institutions, and the development of market
demanded skills (including the use of the English language for computer
technology), have remained neglected and there is therefore little, if any,
change since the colonial days.

Basically and fundamentally, because there has been no serious attempt to
improve the capacity and capability of rural workers to compete on a level
playing field, their income levels have remained low or stagnant and hence
it is not surprising that their low income taxation should reflect this
scenario.

It is my humble, yet firm conviction, that the time is now right for these
questions and issues to be seriously taken - before it is too late. The
Malaysian Government cannot evade responsibility for giving the Malays a
false sense of ?protection? through the provision of subsidies as that has
resulted in the sad state of MAS where some 6,000 workers, (30% of the
workforce presumably mostly Malays) will be laid off. I believe it is true
to say that the Government also failed to understand the social impact of
the petrol hike in terms of maintaining the minimum quality of survival
especially among low and middle income wage earners. Regrettably this
pattern of subsidy withdrawal is likely to continue under globalization and
the main group likely to be adversely affected will be the Malays.

Further tensions

Finally, I have to say that the recent ?blurting out? of views on the
pattern of race relations by persons who ?claim? expertise but who do not
have the academic and professional qualifications, are likely to create and
inflame further tensions and feeling of animosity between races
particularly in this situation of economic uncertainties and fears for the
future.

In Sociology, we are taught that when people (especially among low income
groups that those that perceive themselves as being politically
marginalised) have to cope with sudden unexpected changes and
uncertainties, that negatively affect their lives and over which they have
no control, they tend to ?regress? and fall back on religious and cultural
practices that they know, and on which they can rely.

This perhaps is one reason for all the ?hype? about levels of morality,
modernity and dress codes which seems to have become an ?obsession? of
late. This does not help in the quest for political stability and
integration in multi-ethnic and multiracial societies such as Malaysia.


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