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Malaysia’s growth could be stunted if Putrajaya sticks to racial narrative, sidelines minorities

PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad's remarks on how the Malays were forced to accept orang asing (foreigners) during British rule in exchange for independence is downright insulting and unbecoming of a prime minister who represents all Malaysians, said DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh.

Ramkarpal was referring to the prime minister's speech at yesterday's Malay Dignity Congress, where Mahathir said: “.. Orang asing berasa selesa dengan negara kita dan mereka ingin tinggal di sini. Nak tak nak pun, kita terpaksa terima, kalau tidak kita tidak akan mencapai kemerdekaan (The foreigners felt comfortable in this country and wanted to stay. Like it or not, we were forced to accept or we would not have achieved independence).”

- Malaysiakini

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Racial considerations in national policies will hamper the country’s growth if these result in the neglect of minority groups, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

In an interview with Free Malaysia Today (FMT) the former two-time prime minister said the government must accept Malaysia’s multiracial fabric and factor this into its policymaking.

“People will leave this country,” he said, if the racial considerations are prioritised.

“Whatever you say about the non-Malays, there is no doubt that they have contributed towards the development of this country. If you remove them, the growth of this country will be hampered, it will even turn negative,” Dr Mahathir added.

He said that much of Malaysia’s economic growth can be attributed to the non-Malays, who were able to succeed economically despite being minorities in the country.

However, Dr Mahathir said this growth had also led to an economic gap.

“There’s a need to balance (the wealth) between the non-Malays and the Malays. Because as you know, even if it’s a mono-ethnic country, if there is too big a disparity between the rich and the poor, there will eventually be violence,” he said, justifying this with global movements to tackle income inequality.

“We have to bring (the Malays) up so that there is a balance in terms of distribution of the national wealth between all the different communities,” he added.

On his failed unity government vision when he had been the interim prime minister, Dr Mahathir blamed this on those he claimed were more interested in personal gain than duty.

He said this led to the formation of too many political parties, especially for the Malays, and unstable coalitions.

He said Umno’s previous success since Merdeka was because it was the only significant Malay party and gained substantial support.

However, Dr Mahathir said that after this, “many people found out that you can make money through politics”.