PUTRAJAYA , AUG 17 — The growth of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.4 per cent was good, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but it could have done better without economic differences between the races.
“If we put more importance on growth without equal distribution, it could lead to tension between the races,” he said after a talk at the Perdana Leadership Foundation.
Malaysia achieved a GDP of 6.4 per cent in the second quarter of the year, driven by higher exports and continued strength in private domestic demand, against 6.2 per cent in the first quarter.
Dr Mahathir said that although the people hoped to be Malaysians instead of being separated by race, the likelihood of people forgetting their racial origin was minimal.
“We in Malaysia must agree to respectively maintain our identity and this is the understanding of the social contract, that we maintain the identity of our original country,” he said.
“Because of this, if people don’t want to change, there will never be true Malaysian status.”
He said the educational curriculum in the country did not emphasise character building.
“Children are filled with all kinds of knowledge but we do not mould their identity and with that, perhaps knowledge has been misused,” he said.
“Stress should be given to the formation of character and moral values in the best possible manner.”
