Dr M says the Chinese are the real masters of the country

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Jul 21, 2009

(The Malaysian Insider) KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — In what appeared to be a veiled criticism of the prime minister’s economic reforms, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad played the race card in a posting on his blog yesterday by claiming that non-Malays, and particularly the Chinese, were the real masters of the country.

While he did not name the prime minister, Mahathir put up a stout defence of the NEP with well-worn arguments in what appeared to be an expression of concern over the current administration’s economic liberalisation policies.

“Because they (the Malays) are willing to share their country with other races, the race from the older civilisation of more than 4,000 years and who are more successful, as such today whatever they have now is also being taken away from them,” he wrote in what appeared to be a reference to the Chinese community.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak has announced reforms to the capital markets, taking away the 30 per cent Bumiputera requirement, sparking concerns among some Malays that government protection for them was being taken away.

The prime minister also announced recently the setting up of a merit-based scholarship programme in what was seen as an attempt to appease the non-Malay communities who have been complaining of unfair distribution of aid for top students.

But Mahathir argued in his latest blog post that 39 years after the NEP was introduced, the Bumiputera share of the corporate pie remained at just 20 per cent while the Chinese share stood at 50 per cent even though they consisted of just 26 per cent of the population.

“The Bumiputera property holdings are only 15 per cent while the rest are held by non-Bumiputeras because urban property is worth more than rural property.

“Non-Malay leaders who put themselves in the shoes of the Malays, if they are honest, will feel the disappointment of the Malays in seeing nearly all business and industry in the hands of the non-Malays.”