KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has criticised Barisan Nasional’s (BN) focus on racial entitlement, telling Time magazine in an interview published this week that using the race card would not benefit those who really needed help.
The de facto leader of Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) remarks come after the government announced last week a slew of new aid for Bumiputeras, even as Malaysia’s central bank’s forecast for Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2013 dropped from 6 per cent to just 4.5 per cent.
“Economic advancement and progress will suffer and we will lose competitiveness because of the brain drain ... Using the race card is not helping Malaysia but just family members and cronies,” Anwar told Time.
“This is 2013 and nobody is questioning your right to help those who need help, but it should not be based on race.”
In its report the magazine suggested that state-backed entitlements for the Malays will “come at a cost” for a Malaysia already marred by bigotry and political persecution.
Despite promising reform against Malay entitlement in the past, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has backtracked to seek support from hardliners in his party Umno amid internal polls next month, the magazine reported.
“Najib is in a contest with hardliners for the hearts and minds of his party,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told Time.
In the May polls, BN not only failed to recapture its coveted parliamentary supermajority but also lost further ground to Pakatan Rakyat (PR), when it took 133 seats to the opposition pact’s 89.
Despite the poor performance, party leaders have agreed to leave the party’s top two positions uncontested in the party election this year, in order to preserve stability in Umno.
There were, however, rumours in recent months that his deputy in the party and Cabinet, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, might make an unprecedented bid against him in the internal polls backed by party hardliners.
Consequently, Najib had detailed on Saturday a far-reaching New Economic Model (NEM) that is set to offer the dominant Malay community access to tens of billions of ringgit in aid and contracts.
In a high-profile announcement, Najib trotted off a list of over RM31 billion in various loans, contracts and programmes that will be made available to the group, with the stated aim of strengthening Bumiputera economic participation and boost their ownership of commercial property.
Last week’s firm commitment towards uplifting the lot of the Malay community — which Najib described as integral to charting the country’s fortunes — follows recent criticism against the Umno president for failing to fully acknowledge the support the group had extended to the ruling BN during the recent general election, the magazine reported.
Muhyiddin announced yesterday that he will only defend his current post, and backed Najib to continue leading the party and the nation.
However, Malay rights group Perkasa had this week urged Putrajaya to pump RM1.4 trillion into the Bumiputera community to ensure the success of the revamped NEM announced by the prime minister last week.
Among others, the fiscal injection includes the formation of another iteration of asset manager Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), under which non-core government-linked companies (GLC) should be placed for the benefit of the country’s dominant community.
Perkasa also told Najib that he need not be apologetic over the NEM as it is the government’s obligation to repay the Bumiputera for their support in the recent general election.
A total of 146,500 Umno members will cast their votes for the top leadership of the party, adopting the “electoral college” system which merges the election systems from the United States and the United Kingdom.
