Dr M concedes Harapan walking tightrope over race and religion

INTERVIEW | Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad acknowledged that the Pakatan Harapan government is in a Catch-22 situation on the issues of race and religion.

The non-Malays view his administration as favouring the Malays, as well as Islam.

An example of this, according to Mahathir, was the Matriculation intake which since its inception had been reserved 90 percent for bumiputera and another 10 percent for non-Malays.

After complaints about deserving non-Malay students failing to secure a place, the government decided to increase the intake of students in Matriculation from 25,000 to 40,000.

Despite this translating to a net increase of intake for both Malays and non-Malays, dissatisfaction persisted along racial lines as the quota system remained untouched.

"People feel the government is favouring the Malays. But if you ask the Malay-Muslims, they will tell you that the government is not paying attention to Islam,” said Mahathir.

"We have to be conscious of that also, because if we don't attend to that we will lose support from the Malays.

"If Harapan loses support from Malays, we will lose (in the election). If Harapan loses support from Chinese, we will also lose, and even the Indians can play a big role... so we have to be very careful," he told a special media interview in Putrajaya this afternoon.

'Matriculation backdoor for Malays'

Mahathir provided a frank assessment of the Matriculation system, stating that it was created to provide a "backdoor" for Malays to enter public universities as many did not want to go through the Malaysia Higher School Certificate (STPM) route.

"We found Malays don't take the STPM and they cannot enter university. So we provided a backdoor for them… it was designed as a backdoor for the Malays.

"Now the question is a lot of other groups are saying they are doing much better, but they cannot get into Matriculation...

"So now that we have agreed to also give opportunities to non-Malays, the whole idea of trying to increase Malay (enrolment) in universities via Matriculation is nullified because Chinese or Indians also go through the backdoor, and they are not satisfied," he added.

Mahathir said this was not an issue in the past.

"But now somebody brought it up and the press must report (on the matter)," he added.

However, the prime minister believes that race and religious ties were better now.

"But how much better, I cannot say," he added.

He was asked if Malaysia could be a more united nation when he steps down as prime minister or whether the people would continue to focus along the lines of race and religion. - Mkini