JOHOR BARU, Dec 31 — A former Johor DAP leader has hit out at Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (PPBM) pursuit of a race-based agenda, saying that it goes against Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) plan for a new Malaysia.

Dr Boo Cheng Hau claimed PPBM was resurrecting Umno practices.

“It is utterly racist to unconstitutionally segregate Malaysians according to their ancestral origin, race and religion,” he said in a statement on his personal Facebook account yesterday.

Boo’s post was accompanied by a Malaysiakini article on PPBM president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s assurance hours earlier that the implementation of a new Bumiputera agenda as part of the PH government’s core policy must contribute towards economic growth with benefits enjoyed by all Malaysians.

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Boo, a former Johor Opposition leader and state DAP chief, said both PPBM and Umno should learn from South Africa’s once all-White National Party that now denounces White Supremacy.

He also asked how the Capetown Malays fared now as equal South African citizens compared to being non-white Bumiputeras during the country’s Apartheid era.

“Indonesia has done likewise to eliminate the classification of Pribumi and Non-Pribumi,” said Boo in reference to the country’s integration policy after the racial riots in 1998, pointing out that such classification is against PH’s aspirations of a new Malaysia.

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The 54-year-old former Skudai assemblyman’s statement came on the final day of PPBM’s annual general meeting in Putrajaya where Muhyiddin assured the non-Malays that they would not be “robbed” of their rights in order to give the Malay community an edge within the context of the new Bumiputera agenda.

This follows the Pagoh MP’s opening speech on Friday that PPBM will pursue a new national Bumiputera agenda that will truly uplift the Bumiputeras, as such initiatives launched during the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration had failed to fulfil their objectives.