KJ: How will UN convention against racism affect bumiputera rights?

PARLIAMENT | Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin has questioned the impact of Putrajaya's plan to sign unratified UN human rights conventions and how this would affect bumiputera special privileges.

Khairy said the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, for example, bars signatories from enforcing "positive discrimination" policies after the goals for which they were implemented were met.

As he pointed out, however, Article 153 of the Federal Constitution clearly spells out the special status given to the bumiputera.

"Are you saying that Article 153, which clearly gives special status to one group of people, must have a time limit?

"I'm not saying that I agree or disagree, but do we realise the implication (of ratifying this convention) on our policies?

"We did not ratify this (in the past) for good reason – to keep us in line with our Federal Constitution, which gives special status to one ethnic group," he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Khairy said this while debating a motion to use Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's speech at the recent UN general assembly as a basis for foreign policy.

Later, when Chang Lih Kang (Harapan-Tanjong Malim) was debating the same speech, Khairy asked whether the former agreed with abolishing Article 153.

Chang did not respond to this directly, saying that he only supported the conventions and that there was an option to "ratify with reservations."

Chang (photo) then shot back and asked Khairy whether he agreed with the ratification of the convention, to which Khairy replied: "I agree, but we have to discuss it."

'Dead knots'

Meanwhile, during the wrap-up of the debate by Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, Khairy said there were certain "fixed" constitutional provisions "and not Article 153 specifically" that needed royal assent for amendments.

These fixed provisions, he said, would become obstacles to ratifying certain UN conventions.

Saifuddin replied that the government knew its limits, and what was important was that hard questions were being asked and that steps 

were being taken.

"We will not be ratifying conventions until the dead knots are undone."The matter now is that when previously we didn't take steps, now we ask the hard questions and look for answers," he said.

The Rembau MP retorted that it was not fair to say the previous BN government did not take any steps in the past, and warned that the new Pakatan Harapan government would arrive at the same destination. - Mkini