JOHOR BARU, May 4 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should review the provisions under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution to eliminate rent-seekers under the guise of addressing economic imbalance for the Malays and Bumiputera.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim today said the affirmative action policies under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution needs a new look so that it will really benefit the Bumiputera as well as the non-Bumiputera who are marginalised or economically disadvantaged.
“Cartel and monopolistic policies with all the approved permit privileges must be abolished, as it has only benefited a few crony Malay elites in the upper class.
“The priority must now shift to safeguarding the interests of millions of poor and backward Malays throughout the country,” Hassan said in a statement.
The PKR politician added that Malaysians from other ethnic backgrounds who are similarly disadvantaged should be included.
“Those who have the same fate as the disadvantaged Malays and Bumiputeras must also be defended equally.
“If we manage to implement this, only then can we call Anwar’s unity government a ‘Madani’ government,” he said.
Hassan was commenting on the affirmative action policies for Malays and Bumiputera under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution that is said to be controversial and has always been subjected to political opposition against its reforms.
He said the policy of affirmative action that recognises the special position of the Malays was never a capitalist economic philosophy.
He explained that if the policy was implemented in a class approach that is similar to the socialist approach by giving priority to the Malays, then the particular race would have been freed from poverty and being economically disadvantaged a long time ago.
“What happened during the 66 years since we gained independence was that the dominant Malay party Umno took a capitalist economic development approach, especially under the administration of the then fourth prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for 22 years before the 2018 general election,” he said.
Under Dr Mahathir, Malaysia implemented large-scale privatisation on government-owned companies in the 1980s and 1990s.
Entities such as the National Electricity Board and the Telecoms Department were changed from state to privatised ownership or control.
Hassan claimed that through privatisation, Dr Mahathir succeeded in producing a handful of successful Malays to become wealthy corporate figures.
But the PKR man added that millions of other Malays remained as lowly-paid, blue-collar workers in the cities and poor farmers and fishermen in the rural areas.
In addition, he added that since achieving independence in 1957, Umno, which was the strongest Malay party at the time, should have implemented a class approach in dealing with poverty and economic imbalance.
“If such an approach was done, then the fate of the Malays will not be like it is today,” Hassan said.
