Mahathir one of the causes of disunity, says DAP man

 

Mahathir Mohamad was the main driver of putting the elites first, says P Ramasamy of DAP.

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was accused today of being one of the factors for the existence of disunity in the country.

Perai state assemblyman P Ramasamy of DAP said Mahathir had been “singing an old tune” about prioritising the Malays as being in the country’s best interest.

“Mahathir continues to state the same thing repeatedly, but many people may have already grown tired of these statements,” he said in a Facebook post this evening.

He said that Mahathir was one of the main drivers of a system that put the Malay and Umno political elite at a great advantage, referring to the New Economic Policy and its aftermath that was under Mahathir’s stewardship.

“Malays are poor because their own elites want to remain in that situation (as the political elite) so they may continue to exploit the country’s resources using their positions,” he said, adding that he did not believe the Chinese and Indian communities wanted to seize the rights of the Malays.

Mahathir had said in a recent interview that special privileges of the Bumiputeras must be maintained as they cannot compete with the Chinese.

But Ramasamy, who is a deputy chief minister of Penang, said Mahathir cannot deny the reality that politicians and others linked with Umno “including his own family members” had acquired a lot of material advantages.

The reality is that it is the Malays who exploit other Malays, but continue pushing the blame to other people to avoid any push-back that would threaten their status-quo.

Mahathir’s comments on Bumiputera-first policies came after a finance ministry announcement that a 51% Bumiputera ownership requirement for freight forwarding companies will be enforced next December. - FMT