Malays reject NEM, Perkasa tells PM
Datuk Seri Najib Razak was told bluntly in the face by Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali that the Malays have rejected the New Economic Model (NEM), which the prime minister later clarified has yet to be finalised.
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak was told bluntly in the face by Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali that the Malays have rejected the New Economic Model (NEM), which the prime minister later clarified has yet to be finalised.
Ibrahim, who chaired the Malay Consultative Council (MPM) congress yesterday which passed a resolution rejecting the NEM, was relentless and at times scathing when he fired his salvo towards Najib before some 1,500 council members at PWTC last night.
“I am sad to say, Datuk Seri, the congress has rejected the NEM,” said the Pasir Mas MP while looking at an unsmiling but composed Najib, who is due to table the NEM as part of the 10th Malaysia Plan on June 10.
Ibrahim did not stop there in his speech at the MPM closing ceremony, where the resolution was handed to Najib.
“The congress was a very heated affair. If I did not change my speech text, it can be seen as a vote of no-confidence towards you.
“This will be a situation where the mainstream media or blogs will definitely put pressure on the PM to sack me but I don’t care because I am not in the government or an Umno member,” he said
The MPM congress passed a 31-point resolution essentially demanding the preservation of race-based affirmative action as expounded by the New Economic Policy (NEP), under the new economic regime.
The umbrella body, comprised of 76 Malay NGOs and led by Malay rights group Perkasa, deliberated for hours before unanimously agreeing that the Najib administration’s move would dismantle what they see as inherent Malay rights.
Many of the participants at the congress slammed the NEM and its framers, the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC), for betraying the social contract which they claimed recognises the special economic rights of the Malays.
“We did a dissection of the NEAC at the congress and some are non-Malays. We have to have Malays on the council so they know the Malay soul,” said Ibrahim in a tirade against the council whose members were handpicked by Najib himself.
The country’s sixth premier has been left with no choice but to go ahead with the unpopular decision of dismantling the NEP amid pressure to resuscitate the nation’s softening economy.
