“They have been given a lot of chances” – Dr Mamak said…very true but if still lazy corrupt tongkat this tongkat that so better off cut the crap lah
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Mahathir criticises Malay community
BBC, 16th June 2002
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, has launched a strong attack on the majority Malay community, saying it had failed to make real progress despite being given special privileges for more than 30 years.
In a newspaper interview ahead of a five-day meeting of his party the United Malays National Organisation or Umno, Dr Mahathir criticised Malays for being too complacent and unwilling to work hard.
He said that after more than 20 years in office he had failed to change what he called this culture of extravagance.
Malays make up more than half of the 23 million population but receive special privileges because the Chinese minority is seen as having disproportionate wealth.
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Mahathir warns Malays to brace for end to privileges
Kyodo News International, 20th June 2002
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday defended his country’s affirmative action policy but warned ethnic Malays that their rights and privileges are ”far from being safe.”
”The Malays are clearly far from being safe. Do not think that the power of the Malays in the political arena is permanent, that it will guarantee the safety of the Malays forever,” the 76-year-old premier said in a two-hour speech to open the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) annual assembly.
If the special status of the Malays, or ”bumiputeras” as they are also known, is challenged today, he said, Malays will not be able to survive.
”They are not prepared to face any competition at all. They are so afraid of the other communities. Without the experience of competing with others, if the protection is suddenly withdrawn, they will not be able to survive,” Mahathir, also UMNO president, said.
As head of the party that deems itself the custodian of Malay culture, Mahathir put his newly gained political fortune on the line recently when he dared to pry open the three-decade-old New Economic Policy (NEP) to provide more opportunities for non-Malays, although only in education.
The NEP, Malaysia’s affirmative action policy, guarantees Malays 30% corporate equity, easy credit, contracts and projects from the government and places in public universities.
The policy, which came about following the 1969 clashes between the poorer, rural Malays and the economically more dominant ethnic Chinese, is now called the National Vision Policy.
Recently Mahathir stirred up a controversy by changing the race-based quota system for university entrance to a merit-based one. Then he ordered 10% of places to be allocated to non-Malays in government-run colleges and that English, instead of the national language, Malay, be used to teach science and mathematics.
Malay nationalists are up in arms crying treachery. But Mahathir is adamant, saying the NEP has made Malays ”lazy” and prone to rely on ”the easy way and the quick way.”
”Because of that, when licenses are given, they sell the licenses…No work is done other than to be close to people with influence and authority in order to get something because they are Malays,” he told the 2,000 delegates attending the three-day assembly.
”Truly I am ashamed to expose all these, especially in front of the other people, in front of the whole nation and the world. But they all already know all these. I am not exposing anything that they don’t know,” he said.
Mahathir expressed his disappointment that after 21 years at the helm of the country he has failed to change the Malay mindset.
”Mostly I feel disappointed, disappointed because I achieved too little result from my principal task — the task of making my race a successful race, a race that is respected, a race that is honorable, a race that is highly regarded. I beg your pardon because I have failed,” he said.
But despite his criticism of Malays and their over-dependence on government assistance, Mahathir defended the benefits of the NEP although he said it has slowed down national development.
”What slowed down the national development was because the government had to try and try again to balance the economy of the Malays against that of the non-Malays at all levels and in all fields,” he said.
But the NEP, he said, has succeeded in closing the gap between the Malays and non-Malays.
Those who condemned the NEP, he said, have ignored the fact that government scholarships and opportunities have allowed thousands of Malay children to enter universities.
The government has also provided 3 billion ringgit as capital for the National Equity Corp. to initiate unit trusts which succeeded in making 7.28 million Malays shareholders in big corporations with investments totaling 34.89 billion ringgit.
The shares allocated to the NEC were the result of the restructuring of new companies that are required by the NEP to provide 30% of their equity for bumiputera.
”In truth, without the NEP, the unit trusts and the governmental institutions which were managed on behalf of the Malays, today the NEP would achieve only 2% of the target,” Mahathir said.
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Chinese biggest taxpayers: Dr M
Malays have to acknowledge that they contributed the least to making Malaysia a model country
The Sun, Monday 27-03-2006
FORMER prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not mince his words when he says that if Malaysia depended only on taxes paid by the Malays, it would not have achieved what it has today, the Chinese press reported yesterday. He said Malays have to acknowledge that the Malay community contributed the least to making Malaysia a model country and to its current status in the world.
Addressing a forum on the Future Challenges of the Malays organised by the Kedah Malay Assembly Hall in Alor Star on Saturday, Mahathir said there is no doubt the country has progressed and prospered under the leadership of the Malays but that such progress was built on the hard work of other races.
“The government used taxes from the people to develop the country, but who contributed the most in taxes? “The Chinese! Their success in business has made them the biggest contributors in taxes.” He said Malays are behind the others not because they are inferior or lack resources but because of their culture and attitude. He urged them to stress on the pursuit of knowledge.
Mahathir also warned that the New Automotive Policy would be the undoing of Proton, which has suffered setbacks previously. “Proton is destined to fail,” he told reporters later when asked to comment on the policy announced last week. Asked to elaborate, he said: “What more is there to say?”