MCA senator Ti Lian Ker has commended Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for having the courage to address sensitive religious and racial issues objectively in the greater interest of all Malaysians and towards creating a more inclusive government.
“I would like to express my support and call upon all thinking progressive Malaysians, irrespective of ethnicity or religious background, to continue to support what is right and uphold the rule of law.
“Call a spade a spade and give credit, credit must be given when it’s due,” he told Malaysiakini.
The former MCA vice-president was responding to Anwar’s statement that the Bumiputera Economic Congress 2024 (KEB 2024) scheduled to take place from Feb 29 to March 2 would be more inclusive.
The prime minister said the congress is expected to have cooperation and joint participation from the Chinese and Indian communities to help tackle the problem of poverty in addition to discussing issues related to the bumiputera economy.
Ti said he understood the difficulties faced by the coalition government in transforming from a Malay-centric political approach to the middle ground.
“Especially at a time when the emotions of the Malays are being hyped up again by extremists from Umno, PAS and Bersatu to capture the majority of Malay votes towards GE16, as the Malay votes will be the primary determinant of the winner of the coming general election,” he added.
Ti said he agreed with Anwar that to tackle national economic issues, a comprehensive and inclusive approach is required.
“It is for this very reason that I raised my concern that a congress solely for the Malays at the expense of the nation will be detrimental and has been proven to be detrimental to the nation when some politically powerful personalities abused their position to force a change or transfer of equity or ownership from non-bumiputera to bumiputera in the name of the New Economic Policy and bumiputera equities, etc.
“This had driven many investors away and also caused good businesses to turn bad when the ownership was changed to a ‘politically driven’ set up that is not business-friendly,” he added.
Ti noted how the late health minister Chua Jui Meng had stated that such political manoeuvrings occurred during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure.
Anwar, who officiated the pre-launch ceremony of KEB 2024 on Wednesday, said he would invite business chamber leaders representing the Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities next week to provide their views and input so that KEB 2024 is not considered exclusive.
“It (KEB 2024) still emphasises the problems faced by the bumiputera… but the coordinated approach of the Madani government should be more inclusive.
“An inclusive approach means talking about the bumiputera economy, there are issues such as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or the poor Indian group that we will deal with together,” he added. - Mkini
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