No race is ‘second-class’ in Malaysia, BN, PR leaders say - ( M4L4YS14 )

PETALING JAYA, Sept 11 — No ethnic community in Malaysia should be treated as second-class citizens or made to pay more taxes than another, several politicians have said, agreeing that every race has fairly contributed to the economy.

The politicians, from both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR), said the “special rights” accorded to the Malays in the Federal Constitution does not mean that those of other races should be treated as less important citizens.

PAS’s Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad said the “special rights” were instead meant to help the country’s dominant race in rural areas.

“But of course it is being manipulated by BN particularly Umno,” the lawmaker said.

“It’s a case of betrayal that is being done by Umno towards the Malays,” he added.

When contacted recently, MCA’s Labis MP Datuk Chua Tee Yong agreed with Khalid’s remarks that the special standing of Malays does not mean second-class citizenship for other races in the country.

“We are all citizens of Malaysia, there are no second-class citizens per se but we understand (what is stated) in the Constitution (concerning) the Malays’ special rights,” Chua said.

Race relations in Malaysia have always been a sore point, blamed largely on the Umno-heavy government for allegedly crafting lopsided national policies that favour the Malays, who make up some 60 per cent of the country’s 28 million people.

The “social contract”, an unwritten deal said to be agreed upon before the nation’s Independence in 1957, is purportedly a quid pro quo trade-off with the indigenous Bumiputera communities for granting citizenship to the immigrant Chinese and Indians and has been repeatedly touted to defend the special rights of the Malays.

More progressive government leaders who have dared to speak out against this deal have often found themselves on the receiving end of criticisms in Malay-majority Malaysia.

The issue has also long been a sore point among minority ethnicities like the Chinese and Indians, who feel as if they are continually being treated as second-class citizens even though born and raised locally.

Last week, former Umno politician Datuk Zaid Ibrahim suggested that Chinese Malaysians are a vital part of Malaysia’s economy, even saying that without them, the country would face bankruptcy.

“I am ok with Chinese as 2nd class but they should not pay as much taxes. Maybe half of the Malays. This will bankrupt the country though,” he wrote on his Twitter page.

PKR’s Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli disagreed, however, with Zaid’s singling out of a single race, saying the economy is an eco-system that every race contributes to fairly.

“I don’t think that any politician should compartmentalise any issue from a race perspective,” The PKR strategy director said.

MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu concurred, saying that picking on ethnic backgrounds would not advance the cause that all citizens should be treated fairly.

“That is true simplistic view of the economy of the country. Those who migrate to Malaysia, has contributed to the wealth of the country in different terms.

“I would admit that SMEs (small and medium enterprises) 90 per cent of them are Chinese.

“[But] All of us (Malay, Chinese, Indians) contribute to the country’s economy, just different economic sectors,” he said.

“We are all equal,” he added. “It is unnecessary to make such a comparison. The country would not go bankrupt without Chinese, or Malays, or Indians. It’s just too simplistic.”

Many have long questioned the federal government’s retention of affirmative action policies that they argue benefit only the Bumiputera majority — and in particular the Malay community — long after their original purposes should have been achieved.

The New Economic Policy (NEP), mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s father and the country’s second Prime Minister Tun Razak Hussein, has been the most cited example of unfair policies.

Introduced in 1971, the NEP had an ambitious and noble goal to redress the socio-economic gap between townspeople that were largely Chinese, and the rural Malays and other Bumiputera, within the span of two decades.

It ended officially in 1990, but the key aspects of its Malay/Bumiputera-preferred action plan remain in place in various forms years later.

Najib had sought to dismantle the preferential treatment with his New Economic Model (NEM) shortly after taking office in April 2009, which aimed to shift the racial-based structure into a needs-based one, but was forced to launch a stripped-down version after the policy was panned by pro-establishment supporters.



 
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