Umno’s Malay papers ignore Najib and Nazir
(The Malaysian Insider) – Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s and his brother Datuk Seri Nazir Razak’s reform message and call for all Malaysians to jointly grow the economic pie at MCA’s Chinese economic congress yesterday was given scant attention in today’s major Malay newspapers.
Neither the prime minister’s nor the CIMB CEO’s speeches made the front pages of Mingguan Malaysia and Berita Minggu, the Sunday editions of the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian respectively.
Mingguan Malaysia demoted Najib’s speech to the third story below the fold on page two while Berita Minggu did not carry any story about Najib and Nazir.
Mingguan Malaysia‘s brief story concentrated on Najib’s call for genuine cooperation and partnership between Malay and non-Malay businesses.
Berita Minggu chose to carry a brief story on the congress which quoted MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek callings for reforms to meet the 30 per cent Malay equity target.
Najib had urged Chinese private sector companies to spearhead the economic reforms laid out in the New Economic Model (NEM) and the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP).
He said the business community had to move away from the “Ali-Baba” mode of partnership if Malaysia wished to achieve a truly equitable distribution of wealth.
Speaking at the same congress, Nazir spoke of how NEP-type affirmative action policies had been abused by Malay and Bumiputera businesses.
The banker spoke about how he felt Approved Permits (APs) for cars should be done away with.
Nazir also pointed out that he he had also come from an immigrant family.
While major Chinese language newspapers gave prominent coverage to the congress, Nazir’s speech was not reported in the two major Malay newspapers.
