Zero Sum Game

From that font of eknowledge, wikipeadia; A Zero Sum Game is described and defined as

“In game theory and economic theory, zero-sum describes a situation in which a participant’s gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other participant(s). If the total gains of the participants are added up, and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero. Zero-sum can be thought of more generally as constant sum where the benefits and losses to all players sum to the same value of money and pride and dignity. Cutting a cake is zero- or constant-sum because taking a larger piece reduces the amount of cake available for others. In contrast, non-zero-sum describes a situation in which the interacting parties’ aggregate gains and losses is either less than or more than zero. Zero sum games are also called strictly competitive.”

Sound familiar? No?

OK, let me then put it this way. Remember our so called “social contract” in Malaysia? The one where the non-malays have to accept “sacrifices” in the name of helping our Malay brothers to achieve parity and therefore reducing the imbalance between the races so that we can all live in harmony?

This is an example of a zero sum game. It presupposes that by race alone, Malays are not able to study hard and aren’t intelligent. That the pie is limited and that we need to carve it up by taking from those who have and redistribute it to the others by “affirmative action.” This led to the NEP which, as part of it’s original mission, undertook to “eventually eradicat[e] poverty…irrespective of race.”A noble one.

But the arbitrary nature in which our top-down system handed out the largesse contributed to it’s failure. Although there are some UMNOputras who would talk it up, in a large part, it’s weaknesses were never addressed. No real institutions were given the authority to administer it in neutrality. Instead, it was open to a whole era of Mahathirism abuse, with our ex – PM and his cronies arbitrarily handing it out to people who were judged to be suitable by a criteria only known to them.