Tsu Koon, Najib slammed for rejecting Race Relations Act

He may be right but is he doing anything about it?

Malaysia Chronicle

Despite rising racial polarization in the country, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Koh Tsu Koon said the Najib administration has decided against enacting a Race Relations Act, claiming that there were enough existing laws to deal with the problem.

“The suggestion to enact the Race Relations Act rose following several sensitive issues and racial statements that have been hotly debated by many individuals and given wide coverage in the print and electronic media since the middle of 2008.

The objective of this Act was to prevent and take action against individuals or groups whose remarks or behaviour destroy the relationship between the races,” Tsu Koon said in a written reply to a query from Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh..

“Based on the summary of the department’s report, the Cabinet, in January 2009 already decided that there was no need to enact a Race Relations Act because the existing laws of the country were sufficient to handle these issues. If need be, the current laws can be revised, examined, clarified and amended, as well as carried out more effectively and fairly,” he said.

However, his explanation was panned by opposition politicians, who accused the ruling BN coalition of burying its head in the sand rather than take pro-active steps to reverse the deterioration in racial relations.

They point towards the rising incidences of hate-crimes, even amongst senior civil servants. This year alone, there have been at least four high profile cases where civil servants including Prime Minister Razak’s personal aide Nasaif Safar had uttered remarks that were so racist in nature that the nation was shocked into demanding their immediate sacking.

Two months ago, two school principals – one in Johor and the other in Kedah – had hurled racial slurs against their non-Malay pupils, telling the Chinese to go back to China and likening the Indians to dogs. And earlier this month, the deputy director of the National Civics Bureau was caught describing the Chinese as ‘slit eyes’ and the Indians as ‘drunkards’.

Failure of MIC, MCA, Gerakan to stand up to Umno's racism

Despite initial protests by BN components MIC, MCA and Koh’s own Gerakan, all three parties have failed to insist on punishment for the culprits. Najib, who is also Umno president, recently said that Chinese should not be regarded as kaum pendatang or migrants.

Najib's 1Malaysia all hype?

But few are convinced of the PM's sincerity especially since he had also told his largely Chinese audience at the MCA’s recent AGM that they should be less “demanding”.

“This underscores the failure of the BN structure. In particular, it reflects the failure of MCA, MIC and Gerakan to address national issues and to champion their constituents against Umno's blatant racism. If they cannot even defend their own voters against the most fundamental of rights, what use are they as political parties?” PKR vice president Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It is also a another act of hypocrisy from Najib and further evidence that his 1Malaysia plan is just talk. If he truly wanted to put things right and level the playing field, he would hammer through laws like these. By not doing so, it looks like he is intentionally doing all he can to maintain the status quo and uphold Malay supremacy."