Perkasa: Affirmative action for all, but 30pc Bumi quota remains
The Malaysian Insider) – Perkasa declared today it supports needs-based affirmative action but insists that the 30 per cent quota for Malays and Bumiputeras remains in place as they are still lagging behind economically.
“If there is still a wide income disparity between the Bumiputeras and other races in the future, this can affect the country’s security,” Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said despite 40 years of pro-Bumiputera affirmative action under the New Economic Policy (NEP).
But the Pasir Mas MP also pledged that the Malay rights NGO will fight to make sure all races are not economically disadvantaged.
The Perkasa president went through great pains to state that his organisation is not racist, and that it generally supports a “needs-based” affirmative action for all Malaysians, especially the poor.
“Perkasa’s struggle is based on the tenets of the Constitution, the country’s social contract. It does not mean we are racist.
“We support affirmative action, to ensure that all races are not left behind economically … we support any move of the government to eradicate poverty,” he told reporters here.
Perkasa today hosted its first-ever Chinese New Year open house, which kicked off with an impassioned speech by Ibrahim telling invited Chinese guests that his group is not a racist organisation.
He charged that Perkasa had been grossly misunderstand in the past, and declared today’s gathering as proof that the Chinese community understood the group’s goals.
“Perkasa is not racist, but we are an organisation that fights for the unity of all Malaysians. We are defending the Constitution, just as Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Cheng Lock, and V. Sambathan did,” Ibrahim told a 350-odd crowd of mostly elderly Chinese.
