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Singapore, too, has been free from race riots since 1969.
而新加坡自1969年以來，也沒有再出現種族暴亂。
If the benefits of cosseting bumiputeras are not as clear as they first appear, the costs, alas, are all too obvious.
如果優待馬來西亞土著得到的好處沒有一開始那么明顯的話，那么代價實在是太高了。
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.
現在很多華裔和印籍人已經離開了不再精英化管理的學校，大學和官僚機構，轉而選擇在私人機構學習，在個體行業工作。
Many have left the country altogether, in a brain drain that saps economic growth.
還有的人舉家離開馬來西亞，這樣的人才流失對經濟是個不小的打擊。
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.
福利政策已多傾向于馬來人，房地產商甚至有義務給買新房的馬來人打折扣，這也創造了一個補貼幫扶的社會氛圍。
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.
作為馬來西亞第一代定居者的子孫，馬來人不再認為《平權法案》是一個減少不平等的臨時工具，而是他們的一項權利。
The result is that a system intended to quell ethnic tensions has entrenched them.
旨在平息民族矛盾的種族優待體系導致馬來人處于了有利地位。
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.
唯恐其他黨派會掠走他們的特權，很多貧困的馬來人一而再地給巫統投票，巫統在20世紀七十年代執行平權法案，并自那以后一直主宰政府。
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.
因為手握特權，所以巫統的領導人不會因為濫用職權而受到處罰。據美國調查員調查，巫統的領導挪用馬來西亞政府投資基金幾十億美元的公款，其中大多數的錢都進了這些官員的腰包里。
Minorities, in turn, overwhelmingly support parties that advocate less discrimination against them.
少數民族反過來會極度支持那些不歧視他們的政黨。
The ambition to improve the lot of Malaysia's neediest citizens is a worthy one.
改善馬來西亞貧困公民生活的志向是非常有價值的。
But defining them by race is a mistake.
但是把這個定義成種族問題是錯誤的。
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.
《平權法案》造成福利的分配不成比例，就像那些可以買得起上市公司股份的馬來人都可以得到福利，或Najib先生給這些人投標政府合同的機會。
It would be much more efficient, and less poisonous to race relations, to provide benefits based on income.
如果以收入為標準來發放福利，那么這樣做會更有效率，并且對種族關系不會有害。
Most recipients would still be Malays.
接受福利的主體人群還是馬來人。
And defusing the issue should pave the way for more nuanced and constructive politics.
解決這個問題是為了在提出細致和有建設性政策前做好準備。
Perhaps that is why UMNO has resisted the idea for so long.
這也是巫統一直堅持這個想法的原因。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
