.Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed has criticised the three new proposed laws on national unity to replace the Sedition Act, saying they would cause inequality among Malaysia’s three major ethnic communities.
He said that if passed, the new bills - National Harmony Bill, National Unity Bill and National Unity and Integration Commission Bill - would erase all remaining efforts to balance the economic standing between communities through the New Economic Policy (NEP).
This, he said, is because the new laws would end discrimination based on ethnicity and introduce the principle of meritocracy in giving out government contracts, jobs and university scholarships.
“Of course this is quite fair. But there is a huge possibility that a race that is poor, who does not have an environment that fosters learning, who cannot afford private schools, who does not get enough to eat... this race will not have merit to get and will not get anything.
“They will not even get called to interviews (for such opportunities),” Dr Mahathir wrote in his latest posting on his blog chetdet.com.
The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) last week revealed details of three separate bills to replace the Sedition Act, including one to promote harmony and another prescribing mediation as a means to resolve disputes.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had in 2012 announced that the government would repeal the controversial Sedition Act, a preventive law that critics said have been abused to silence dissent.
Dr Mahathir said that after the three Acts are passed by Parliament, the NEP, which is supposed to reduce economic inequality between races, cannot be implemented any longer.
He claimed that the NEP was still necessary because of the different economic achievements of different communities.
“The achievements of all races are different with the Chinese being ahead of the Indians and Malays and the Indians more or less being ahead of the Malays.”
Dr Mahathir slammed those who claimed that things were bad in Malaysia because the government practised cronyism and discrimination that benefitted certain parties.
He referred to tycoon Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, who last week said Malaysia must address cronyism, racism and religious intolerance if it wanted to compete internationally.
“Was he born rich enough to go and do business in countries that have no cronyism or did he accumulate enough capital in this country first before going overseas to enjoy the benefits of working with a government that does not practise discrimination?” asked Dr Mahathir.
Yeoh was severely criticised by pro-Umno media over his remarks. They claimed Yeoh had benefitted from lucrative independent power producer (IPPs) contracts from the Barisan Nasional government.
“We know that this country is so bad that it gave him the opportunity to accumulate so much capital to go to other countries,” said Dr Mahathir in his trademark sarcasm.
“If he received opportunities, is it wrong for other people to get opportunities from this not-so-good country to get some of the same benefits that this icon also received?" – June 12, 2014.
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