Navigating Policy and Prejudice: A Conversation with Lee Hwok-Aun on Discrimination and the NEP

Hello all and welcome back to Pathways!

In this video, I had the opportunity to chat with Lee Hwok-Aun, the incredible researcher and creator of Discrimination of High Degrees alongside Muhammed A, conducted while he was at Universiti Malaya.

This was a wonderful conversation that took me through one of the most controversial studies that had ever been authored in Malaysia, one that showed the existence of discrimination across races in the Malaysian job market and disturbed Malaysia to its core even till today, where its repercussions make us ponder and reflect upon things.

This conversation was an incredible one filled with educational insights and lots of interesting thoughts about how Malaysia's New Economic Policy and group-based policies at large intersect with equity and many other things along the way as well.

It was a whole pot of gold, which I'm confident will offer many incredible insights to those of you who are interested in understanding Malaysia and group-based redistribution policies in general, and to understand how and whether and what it would mean if we were to get rid of that policy, even as we consider how likely or even possible it is to do so.

This was a tremendously educational conversation, undertaken only after much reading, study, and learning.

Thank you so much Hwok-Aun for this incredible conversation from which I learned a ton.

Really appreciate it and look forward to catching you again soon!
V.

[bunga_raya]

Hey harmit here, thanks for doing this Victor.

This research method/template is highly relevant to Malaysia's multicultural context and I thank the author for extending the conversation past most people's superficial biases.

I understand the author does not intend to make sweeping generalisations. However I fear the caution intended to depoliticise behavioural analysis prevents the authors from engaging the core of the issue.

Moving towards social policies, if I were in government I'll immediately invite ISEAS to conduct research on discrimination in public employment. On the other hand, a meaningful conversation of social policies can only happen with a discussion of corruption of government apparatus and failures in state building.

Lastly, love the quote at the end 'equality of universal provision of wellbeing'

[jesselee]

Just out of curiosity, Dr. Lee Hwok Aun kept inferring "group" based policies are zero sum game. Seems to me he's shooting himself at the foot.
You can always refer to Dr. Thomas Sowell on what his views are on these kinds of "group" policies.

By nature, I'm pro NEP. If you are savvy in the view of realism as presented by Dr. John Mershiermer, you'll know why.

Ergo, trying infer so much out of a pretty limited study will only make the picture look silly.

Cheers.