The racial discount comedy

The racial discount comedy

Andrew Sia
Published: Jun 11, 2025 8:43 AM
Updated: 10:43 AM


COMMENT | The Indian Muslim property discount is the funniest racial plan ever hatched in Malaysia.

We've heard about having an Indian Muslim prime minister before, but even he didn't dare push for such a policy.

Instead, it was the Penang state government that announced a five percent property discount for local Indian Muslims.

One netizen cheekily asked in the Malaysiakini comments section, “Will Tun M be entitled to this?” referring to former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Indian Muslims of Penang are famous for their business skills. Many are doing very well as nasi kandar operators, money changers, and gold dealers.

Of course, some Indian Muslims are poor. But why give everyone a blanket discount, including the super-rich?

They are clever and shrewd businesspeople. Indeed, it's well known that one must be careful when ordering nasi kandar - one medium-sized prawn or sotong could shoot your bill way up.

The cartoonist Lat once portrayed nasi kandar bosses with humble sarongs at their shops, only to get into their Mercedes after work! It was tongue in cheek, of course, but it was funny because it rang true.

Similarly, should special help still be given to Malay elites who drive luxury cars?


Racial quota comedy

Since Malaysia is obsessed with racial categories, allow me to take this to its comedic conclusions.

Here are some suggestions:

• Baba Nyonyas who buy property in Malacca will get an 8.88 percent ”lucky” discount, in recognition of their historical role in the state.

• All Indian Muslims buying “sup kambing” (mutton soup) to get a 10 percent discount under the Madani cholesterol promotion.

• In honour of Yap Ah Loy, who rebuilt and saved Kuala Lumpur after the devastating Selangor wars, all his clan people - the Fui Chiu Hakkas - are to receive a five percent property discount in the city. This shall be an NEP or Never Ending Policy.

• One free duck egg will be added to your char koay teow in George Town if you speak Penang Hokkien.

• Local Serani or Portuguese are entitled to buy Amanah Saham Bumiputera to commemorate their ancestors’ conquest of Malacca in 1511.

• Your chicken rice gets an automatic drumstick upgrade if you can speak Hainanese.

• Ten percent property discounts for bumiputera billionaires because Mahathir said elite Malays also “need to be saved”. Oh yeah, they get free big umbrellas too.

Sundarajoo boo boo

The above are jokes but reflect our fixation with race.

Humour aside, human rights lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan slammed the Indian Muslim discount.

“Why is the Penang state government rewarding Indians of the Islamic faith and punishing those of the Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha’i or Sikh faith? If this is not discrimination, I don’t know what is,” he said.

“This is not an apartheid country where certain races are more equal than others,” he added.

The politician who fried up this mee goreng mamak idea is DAP state executive councillor S Sundarajoo.

DAP’s S Sundarajoo


To make it even more ridiculous, the property discount was part of a Madani Home Ownership Campaign (MOC).

Darn, wasn't the “glorious” era under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim supposed to lead us into a “highly civilised” society, instead of sinking deeper into ethnic economic ghettos?

When Sundarajoo tried to justify his proposal, he merely dug himself into a deeper hole.

He clarified that it did not involve properties under the bumiputera quota, in effect, justifying the new racial policy with the old one.

He also claimed that the proposal was to expand home ownership among Indian Muslims “without affecting the rights of other communities”.

But who is he fooling? Surely developers will make up for discounts to one group by charging another group more?

Yet Sundarajoo seemed more worried about Malays getting angry over his half-cooked curry concept and seemed to take the bedrock non-Muslim supporters of the Penang state government for granted.


Need, not greed for aid

This is the root problem with the Madani government - it's too busy chasing birds out there in the bush even as it's in danger of losing the birds it has in hand. By birds, I mean votes.

Chinese and Indian support for PKR have crashed from around 56 percent and 50 percent respectively in August 2024, to just 31 percent in April, Rafizi Ramli revealed.

And despite all of Anwar's tip-toeing around Malay “sensitivities”, that community's support for PKR is only at 27 percent.

All these numbers mean a huge defeat in the next election.

Madani doesn't dare do fundamental reforms of racial policies for fear of “spooking” Malay voters. And this has led Anwar to break some of his earlier promises.

Clearly, official help should be given based on economic need, not based on race. There are also poor non-bumiputera who need help, including Indian Hindus.

This is what Anwar said some 20 years ago when he proposed his New Economic Agenda - to eradicate poverty regardless of race.

If the majority of the poor are Malays, then they will receive the majority of aid anyway.

Anwar then said that the race-based New Economic Policy was “a gimmick” for Umno leaders to rob wealth for themselves.

In other words, racial policies were being abused more to reward greed, rather than need.

In 2019, PKR MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad repeated that the needs-based affirmative action policy mooted by Anwar should be given a chance.

He lamented that those with “vested interests” do not wish to see any change and are constantly inflaming racial and religious tensions for their own selfish ends.

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad


Nik Nazmi wrote that the notion that even successful Malays must have never-ending help implies they cannot compete because they are “genetically inferior”. This, he added, was “ludicrous”.

But PKR is leading the Madani government now. Why doesn't it fulfil the promised reforms?

Even Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in March 2024 that bumiputera housing discounts should be limited only to the poor and not those in the middle or higher-income bracket.

For the Indian Muslim discount, Penang DAP chief Steven Sim had to step in after an uproar to reverse the Sundarajoo boo boo.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow then instructed the discount to be reviewed to extend it to all homebuyers.

Sim summed up the shift as, “DAP consistently champions justice and welfare for all Malaysians, regardless of race and religion.”

Perhaps it's time for the Madani government in Putrajaya to do the same.

ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com