Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad believes the new government he leads comprise of leaders who were less blighted by racism.
However, at the ground level, Mahathir said racial sentiment continues to run deep despite the change in government.
“At the top level, there’s less racism in this government.
“But at the ground level, the racial feeling is still very strong,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Mahathir, who once led Umno and BN for 22 years, came out of retirement in 2016 to lead Pakatan Harapan against his former party.
He led the coalition to end Umno and BN’s 61 years in power. Malaysia had not seen a change in government since its independence.
Umno had for the longest time warned the electorate that the defeat of BN would lead to the rights of Malay Muslims to be undermined, a claim Harapan has long denied.
Mahathir, however, is himself leading a race-based party in the form of Bersatu, although it does accept non-Bumiputera members with limited rights.
He had argued the move to make Bersatu a bumiputera-based party was necessary to convince an electorate gripped by Umno’s message, to switch sides.
The three other Pakatan Harapan partners – DAP, PKR and Amanah, are multi-racial parties.
Harapan and its ally Parti Warisan Sabah won 121 seats out of 222 seats in Parliament during May 9 general election.
The coalition now has 125 Parliament seats after three independents joined PKR while Upko, a former BN party, sided with Warisan. – MKINI
Over 100,000 back UiTM alumni to restrict admission to Bumiputera students
KUALA LUMPUR— The Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Alumni Association (PAUiTM) has garnered over 100,000 signatures so far backing its objection to Hindraf 2.0’s demand that the government open the university to non-Bumiputera students.
Alumni association president Datuk Mohd Zaini Hassan told Malay Mail that the petition, which can be found on the Change.org platform, will be delivered to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Education Minister Maszlee Malik and the Institutional Reforms Committee.
“We don’t have a set target. We just want to see how far we can go. We started around [7am today] and if you see the momentum, the numbers shot up this afternoon.
“I’m confident by tonight we can get more than 100,000 [signatories]. Right now, we don’t have a cut-off date but at the very least, I think we’ll keep the petition going for about one week,” said Mohd Zaini, adding that getting 100,000 signatories would be an achievement in itself.
Earlier this afternoon, PAUiTM and six other NGOs also lodged a police report in Shah Alam against Hindraf 2.0, accusing the latter of insisting UiTM opens its doors to non-Bumiputeras.
It was reported that the alumni’s secretary Shukri Ishak said Hindraf 2.0’s actions can be seen as seditious and if the authorities do not act quickly, it would give the wrong message to the Malays and might also lead to racial tension.
“We lodged a police report at around 11am together with six other NGOs. We sent our message through our police report today that [Bumiputera rights] are in the Federal Constitution. Please don’t touch them.
“We don’t want certain parties to play up issues involving the Constitution and we have had a massive response agreeing with us, even from non-Bumiputeras. Don’t mess with the system,” said Mohd Zaini.
Yesterday, Hindraf 2.0’s leader P. Uthayakumar and around 30 members of the organisation submitted a 25-point demand to the IRC.
Hindraf 2.0 is a different organisation from the original group Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) led by Uthayakumar’s brother P. Wayta Moorthy. The latter had supported Pakatan Harapan in the run-up to the election.
The group, among others, demanded that UiTM be opened up to non-Bumiputera students and a 15 per cent mandatory intake of the B75 group into education institutions such as Permata kindergartens as well as universities and colleges.
In response, PAUiTM opposed the suggestion, claiming the university was built as an educational institution for the Malays and Bumiputeras. – MALAY MAIL
Muslim groups oppose local elections, fearing more non-Malays in power
KUALA LUMPUR — A coalition of Muslim NGOs has opposed Putrajaya’s plan to bring back local council elections, claiming such a system would allow more non-Malays and non-Muslims to hold power in the country.
Aminuddin Yahaya, the secretariat chief of Ummah, said giving the public the third vote would allegedly only benefit non-Malays.
“If this happens, then non-Malays will dominate not only city administrations but will have power over all the country’s wealth by owning all local councils,” he said in a statement.
The vice-president of Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) pointed to statistics that showed that there were more non-Bumiputera in urban areas compared to Bumiputera.
“The non-Malays already control the economy, and now they will also control finances in cities. Will they then fight for Islam and Malays with the billions of ringgit collected? I am not confident,” he said.
He also alleged that having non-Malays as mayors will push the Malays into public housing or squatter areas, or leave them marginalised in suburban areas.
In addition, he suggested that there will be more non-Muslim houses of worship compared to mosques if non-Muslims were to take power in local councils.
Last week, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said Malaysians can expect local council elections within the next three years.
Malaysia held local council elections during the early years of independence, but they were suspended in 1965 amid the Confrontation with Indonesia.
The suspension, which was never lifted, was made permanent with the Local Government Act 1976. – MALAY MAIL
MKINI / MALAY MAIL
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