KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah today proposed that Malaysia adopt a “stakeholder economy” that will do away with long-standing affirmative action policies and focus instead on the real needs of all races.

Calling his plan the National Stakeholders’ Economic Action Plan, or Amanah for short, he said the country needed to undo the shackles of race-based initiatives as they get in the way of equitable distribution of wealth and development.

“Ironically to fight for the welfare of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority in Malaysia, we have to take it outside the NEP,” he said, referring to the New Economic Policy that aimed to economically empower the Malay community when it was in force from 1970 to 1990.

“We need to address the social contract frontally, reaffirm the Federal Constitution, and set the NEP into remission.

“We need to turn the Malay Agenda argument on its head, and treat it as part of the National Agenda,” he said in his keynote address at the inaugural launch of the Economic Roundtable organised by the Mahkota Foundation.

Tengku Razaleigh, who also goes by the moniker Ku Li, described his Amanah Plan as a “definitive blueprint” that aims to unite all races and make sure every Malaysian has a stake in the economy.

He said the nation has been bogged down with institutional problems such as corruption, wastage and inefficiency due to the government’s excessive spending.

The former finance minister also branded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia concept and his various transformation programmes as failures for missing their intended objectives.

“The 1 Malaysia concept which provides the ideological underpinning of the New Economic Model and the national development blueprint introduced by the Barisan government in 2010 was clearly misdirected,” he said, referring to the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

“This was evidenced by the Chinese largely voting the opposition in the 13th General Election, whose support Barisan needed in order for the coalition to obtain a two-thirds majority. Neither was the policy welcomed by the Malays.

“Now the government is diluting its 1 Malaysia concept towards an ambiguous slogan of ‘Endless Possibilities’. This shift will assuage no one,” he said.

Tengku Razaleigh added that his Amanah Plan aims to address the many issues plaguing the country by promoting good governance, transparency of policies and their efficient implementation and the elimination of corruption and wastage by the government and public sector.

He added that it will employ a pro-growth strategy that will make the market work for the people rather than the current trend of focussing too much on capital injections ahead of work.

“We, as an economy and society, do not have much time on our side to dilly-dally and fiddle on the margins of our great national concerns.

“Leaders will have failed the mandate given to them if we are only toying with political slogans and creating myths about our development experience in the NEP and post-NEP yeras that do not hold up to facts,” he said.

Tengku Razaleigh’s proposed economic plan comes a month ahead of the much anticipated 2014 Budget announcement by Najib, which is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament this coming October 25.

The opposition Pakatan Rakyat are also expected to unveil their alternative budget several days before the prime minister’s announcement.