KUALA LUMPUR – Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim plans on ensuring an equitable cut of the economic and development pie to ensure the poorest and most marginalised groups, in this sense the Malay community, will not be left behind.
Speaking at the National Professors’ Council Bicara Minda today, Anwar acknowledged the importance of meritocracy but that fairness and justice are equally critical in nation building.
“For me, I’ve always stressed on the concept of fairness and justice. I’ve bantered with my party members on what is fair and just. There are those who say it (fairness and justice) is meritocracy. However, meritocracy has its limits even though it is very important.
“You speak of meritocracy but you don’t speak of fairness. How can you compare the merits of a school in Manek Urai and a premier school in Kuala Lumpur? Where’s the fairness? That’s why there must be a balance between meritocracy, justice and fairness.
“So, in this scenario, we must lift the democratisation of quality education so that we will not just select a few special, premier schools.”
He added that even with a federal administration consisting of roughly 90% Malay-Muslims and can be considered a “Malay government”, the poorest segment of Malaysian society remains the majority Malays.
The PKR president said there are 800,000 unemployed graduates – which is the reason behind Putrajaya’s fear of implementing Undi18 – for fear of having the tables turn against the government at the polls.
Anwar continued to pan the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration saying that they have no direction to uplift the poor and that no efforts are made to improve the education system and strengthen Bahasa Melayu among others.
“The only commitment this government has shown is that they are willing to ‘buy’ people to maintain their power. Even though this is the first purely Malay government, the ones who are suffering are still the Malays.
“For me, a Malay government is not the number of Malays in the administration or holding ministerial posts but the number of policies that help uplift and protect the interest of the Malays.”
Anwar said despite a pure Malay government, the economic equity distribution between the Chinese and the Malays is even greater than in the past, while the Indians are the worst off.
However, the Port Dickson MP said helping the Malay community obtain a better economic and financial position is not a zero-sum game. He assured that if Pakatan Harapan (PH) comes into power, other ethnic communities will not be left behind.
Making a historical observation, he added that it is not good to leave a community poor as it has led to racial riots in the past and in the best interest of all communities, efforts to uplift the economic standing of the Malays without ignoring the needs of other communities is critical.
On how he would manoeuvre a cabinet that will not provoke Malay insecurity, Anwar said political leaders must be wise enough to balance the needs of the party or coalition while listening to sentiments on the ground. – The Vibes, April 10, 2021
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