Malaysian Chinese Businessmen Urge Government To Be Fair To All Races

Corporate chiefs from Malaysia's ethnic Chinese minority made a rare plea for racial fairness Monday, urging the government to ensure its economic policies benefit every ethnic community and not just the majority Malays.

The call by Malaysia's main ethnic Chinese trade coalition, which represents 28,000 businesses, touches on one of this multiracial country's most sensitive subjects — affirmative action programs geared at helping the ethnic Malay majority catch up with the more prosperous Chinese by allowing them advantages in education, housing, bank loans, government jobs and contracts.

"We must also allow other races to have opportunities to perform," said William Cheng, president of The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, or ACCCIM.

Minority Chinese and Indians have occasionally called for such policies to be reviewed. But Malay leaders, who hold political power, have repeatedly defended the decades-old privileges as necessary to curb Malay poverty and warned minorities not to question them, insisting that too much public debate could hurt stability.

ACCCIM released internal survey results Monday that showed 39 percent of 256 of its members cited "government policies" as a factor that adversely affects business performance.

ACCCIM officials said the members were mainly referring to red tape that often delays construction projects and other initiatives, but they acknowledged that affirmative action policies were also causing concerns. "We don't (oppose) the government helping the poor, but when (the poor can) stand up already, then we must let them freely compete," Cheng told a news conference.

Many analysts say that the objective of the affirmative action policy has already been met and that the Malays hold a substantial amount of national wealth. The government denies that with both sides providing conflicting statistics to make their case. Cheng stopped short of asking the government to review its policies, stressing that "if we go into detail, we're going to quarrel."

Malays comprise about 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people. Chinese form 25 percent, Indians nearly 10 percent and the rest belong to other minorities. The ethnic communities have coexisted peacefully since racial riots in 1969 sparked by Malay frustration over the Chinese's wealth left at least 200 people dead. (International Herald Tribune)

***** How much more convincing does the Malay leadership need to realize that things are not right and that they simply cannot continue pretending that semuanya ok? Raising the spectre of May 13, every time that the non-Malays convey their dissatisfaction and anger at being openly discriminated is not the solution but is merely prolonging and aggravating inter-ethnic disunity.

The government is doing a great disservice to the nation and its future wellbeing by championing only Malay rights to the detriment of the remaining 40% of the population. It will not be too far from the truth to say that the biggest danger today to Malaysia's security and cohesion is the Umno-led government.
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