KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — A group of former civil servants has chided Malay-Muslim coalition Ummah for insinuating that Malays always expect handouts and preferential treatments, insisting that more and more from the new generation are the Opposite.
In a statement, G25 said many Malay graduates with technical and professional qualifications even prefer to make it on their own by venturing into small businesses, ranging from food stalls to high tech start-ups and taking all the risks, often with non-Malay partners.
“These demands are hurtful not only to other races but us Malays too as we certainly do not like the world to get the impression that by virtue of our race, we do not have to work hard and compete as the government will give us everything from the day we are born to the end of our life.
“The speakers should know that more and more from the new Malay generation are confident they can stand on their own feet,” former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim said.
The pro-moderation group said young Malays do not expect government handouts, while stressing that government assistance should prioritise real needs and not ethnicities.
“In fact Malay businessmen themselves often complain about the preferential racial treatment in government economic policies because they tend to benefit those with political connections and exclude those who are genuine entrepreneurs and risk takers,” Sheriff said.
“The convention comprised former senior education officers. Of all people, it's shocking that they have the sterile idea that spoon feeding is a virtue. Any expert on culture and civilisation can tell them that this is the worst value that any race can have,” he added.
In a Malay-Muslim lobby convention on Saturday, former educator Datuk Raof Husin had demanded that scholarships be only restricted to the Bumiputera, claiming Malays were losing out to their minority counterparts in the race for professional jobs as a result of not getting all the federal scholarships.
