KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — The ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) will not affect the constitutional articles on Bumiputera privileges, a minister told Parliament today.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, P. Waythamoorthy said this meant there will be no need to amend or abolish Article 153 of the Federal Constitution that governs the special privileges of the Bumiputera.

“The government gives assurance that Article 153 of the Federal Constitution will not be abolished,” he said in response to Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (BN — Pengerang).

He also drew her attention to the Vienna Convention stipulation that allows states to exclude select areas within their domain from the effects of treaties it chooses to sign and ratify.

Azalina earlier asked if Putrajaya could guarantee that the ratification of ICERD would not result in the loss of Article 153, especially its effects on the racial quota system, permits, as well as services.

Various legal experts including the Malaysian Bar have repeatedly stressed that the ratification would not in any way alter or affect the country’s Federal Constitution.

Despite this, groups primarily of the Malay-Muslim nature continue to oppose the government’s plan to formalise the convention, arguing that doing would strip the Bumiputera class of their constitutional safeguards and privileges.

Last week, at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Malaysia’s human rights record in Geneva, Switzerland, Putrajaya affirmed its intentions to accede to international human rights treaties, including the ICERD.