【经济学人】马来西亚的种族特权系统丨2017.6.25丨总第912期

WHAT government would not like to reduce racial disparities and promote ethnic harmony? The tricky part is knowing how. One country that claims to have found a way is Malaysia. Since 1971 it has given preferential treatment in everything from education to investing to bumiputeras—people of indigenous descent, who are two-thirds of the population but poorer than their ethnic-Chinese and -Indian compatriots.

没有哪个政府不想减少种族差异，促进民族和谐，但是关键问题是如何实现。而马来西亚声称自己已经找到了解决方法。自1971年以来，马来政府就给予当地有土著血统的人群从教育到投资各方面的优待，马拉西亚土著人口占马来总人口的三分之二，但他们比当地的华裔和印籍人口的生活境况都要差。

• Compatriot: n.同胞，国人

• preferential treatment：优待

On the face of things, this system of affirmative action has been a success. The gap in income between Malays (the biggest bumiputera group) and Chinese- and Indian-Malaysians has narrowed dramatically. Just as important, there has been no repeat of the bloody race riots of 1969, when Malay mobs burned Chinese shops in Kuala Lumpur, prompting the adoption of the policy. And the economy—typically an instant victim of heavy-handed government attempts at redistribution—has grown healthily.

表面上来看，平权法案制度是成功的。马来人（马来西亚最大的土著部落）和华裔、印裔马来西亚人之间的收入差距已经显著缩小。此外，·类似于马来暴徒在吉隆坡烧毁中国商店的种族暴动行为，自1969年起，再也没有出现过。经济通常会受到政府在重分配方面实行高压手段的影响，但是马来西亚的经济却在稳健的增长。

• affirmative action：平权法案；又称优惠性差别待遇、积极平权等，是指防止对“肤色、宗教、性别或民族出身”等少数群体或弱势群体歧视的一种手段，将这些群体给予优待来消除歧视，从而达到平等。

Small wonder that some see Malaysia as a model. South African politicians cited it when adopting their plan for “Black Economic Empowerment” in the early 2000s. More recently Indonesian activists have been talking about instituting something similar there. Malaysia, meanwhile, keeps renewing the policy, which was originally supposed to end in 1991. Just last month Najib Razak,  the prime minister (pictured), launched the latest iteration: the catchily named Bumiputera Economic Transformation Roadmap (BETR) 2.0,  which, among other things, will steer a greater share of government contracts to bumiputera businesses.

有些小国家开始模仿马来西亚的做法。南非的政客们在21世纪初期通过《黑人经济振兴法案》时，就援引了马来西亚的《平权法案》。最近，印度尼西亚的积极分子一直在讨论推行相似的政策。同时，马来西亚也不断革新这个实际应于1991年就废除的政策。就在上个月马来西亚总理Najib Razak（见图）又推出了这个法案的最新版，新版法案的名字很吸引人：《土著经济转型路线图2.0版本》，除了其他方面的原因，这个法案将给马来西亚土著生意人带来更多的政府项目。

• Black Economic Empowerment：为了全面提高黑人融入经济的程度，南非政府颁布了《黑人经济振兴法案》(Black Economic Empowerment，BEE)，被划为“黑人”的人群在就业、贷款、股权收购、竞标等方面可以享受法定的优先权利。

• Iteration: n.迭代，新版软件

• Catchily: adj. 有吸引力的，欺骗性的，时断时续的

• Money for old rope

• 唾手可得的权利

Yet the results of Malaysia’s affirmative-action schemes are not quite what they seem. Malays in neighbouring Singapore, which abjures racial preferences, have seen their incomes grow just as fast as those of Malays in Malaysia. That is largely because the Singaporean economy has grown faster than Malaysia’s, which may in turn be a product of its more efficient and less meddling bureaucracy. Singapore, too, has been free from race riots since 1969.

然而，马来西亚的《平权法案》并没有完全得到预期的结果。马来西亚的邻国新加坡拒绝了种族优待法案的实施，但是经济也照常增长，并且其速度不亚于马来。出现这种局面大部分是因为新加坡的经济增长速度比马来西亚快，而这也许因为新加坡的高效和干涉力度较小的官僚机构。而新加坡自1969年以来，也没有再出现种族暴乱。

If the benefits of cosseting bumiputeras are not as clear as they first appear, the costs, alas, are all too obvious. As schools, universities and the bureaucracy have become less meritocratic, Chinese and Indians have abandoned them, studying in private institutions and working in the private sector instead. Many have left the country altogether, in a brain drain that saps economic growth.

如果优待马来西亚土著得到的好处没有一开始那么明显的话，那么代价实在是太高了。现在很多华裔和印籍人已经离开了不再精英化管理的学校，大学和官僚机构，转而选择在私人机构学习，在个体行业工作。还有的人举家离开马来西亚，这样的人才流失对经济是个不小的打击。

• Cosset:v. 宠爱

• Saps: v.破坏

• Meritocratic: adj.精英的

• brain drain: 人才外流

Steering so many benefits to Malays—developers are even obliged to give them discounts on new houses—has created a culture of entitlement and dependency. Malays have stopped thinking of affirmative action as a temporary device to diminish inequality. As descendants of Malaysia’s first settlers, they now consider it a right.

福利政策已多倾向于马来人，房地产商甚至有义务给买新房的马来人打折扣，这也创造了一个补贴帮扶的社会氛围。作为马来西亚第一代定居者的子孙，马来人不再认为《平权法案》是一个减少不平等的临时工具，而是他们的一项权利。

The result is that a system intended to quell ethnic tensions has entrenched them. Many poorer Malays vote reflexively for UMNO, the Malay party that introduced affirmative action in the 1970s and has dominated government since then, for fear that another party might take away their privileges. With these votes in the bag, UMNO’s leaders can get away with jaw-dropping abuses, such as the continuing scandal at 1MDB, a development agency that mislaid several billion dollars, much of which ended up in officials’ pockets, according to American investigators. Minorities, in turn, overwhelmingly support parties that advocate less discrimination against them.

旨在平息民族矛盾的种族优待体系导致马来人处于了有利地位，（期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）因为手握特权，所以巫统的领导人不会因为滥用职权而受到处罚。据美国调查员调查，巫统的领导挪用马来西亚政府投资基金几十亿美元的公款，其中大多数的钱都进了这些官员的腰包里。少数民族反过来会极度支持那些不歧视他们的政党

• UMNO：马来民族统一机（The United Malays National Organization,简称巫统，UMNO）：马来人政党。成立于1946年5月11日。1987年4月因党争而分裂，被法庭判为非法组织。1988年2月马哈蒂尔在原巫统基础上重组“新巫统”（The New United Malays National Organization）。1996年，从巫统分裂出去的“四六”精神党重返新巫统后再次还名为“巫统”。

• Quell: v.平息，制止

• Mislay: v.误放，丢失

• Entrenched: adj.根深蒂固的，不易制止的

• jaw-dropping: adj.令人瞠目结舌的，令人惊叹的

• 1MDB：马来西亚政府投资基金1Malaysia Development Bh

The ambition to improve the lot of Malaysia’s neediest citizens is a worthy one. But defining them by race is a mistake. It allows a disproportionate amount of the benefits of affirmative action to accrue to well-off Malays, who can afford to buy the shares set aside for them at IPOs, for example, or to bid for the government contracts Mr Najib is reserving for them. It would be much more efficient, and less poisonous to race relations, to provide benefits based on income. Most recipients would still be Malays. And defusing the issue should pave the way for more nuanced and constructive politics. Perhaps that is why UMNO has resisted the idea for so long.

改善马来西亚贫困公民生活的志向是非常有价值的，但是把这个定义成种族问题是错误的。《平权法案》造成福利的分配不成比例，就像那些可以买得起上市公司股份的马来人都可以得到福利，或Najib先生给这些人投标政府合同的机会。如果以收入为标准来发放福利，那么这样做会更有效率，并且对种族关系不会有害。接受福利的主体人群还是马来人，解决这个问题是为了在提出细致和有建设性政策前做好准备，这也是巫统一直坚持这个想法的原因。

• Accrue: v.逐渐增长，累积

• Defuse: v.使无害，预防

翻译 ▍艾艾 小西瓜 Myob

审核 ▍sta.

图文编辑 ▍leone

责任编辑 ▍毛毛