Dodging incessant attacks from Pakatan Rakyat MPs, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz today challenged the opposition to move a motion in Parliament to abolish Malay special rights.Looking unfazed by the verbal attacks, the Padang Renggas MP pointed out that it would required a constitutional amendment.
"It is clear that the federal constitution enshrines the special rights of the Malays and I don't mind thinking inside the box and defending the bumiputera special rights as long as I am the people's representative.
"But should you want to do away with this policy, it is not up to me to change it but the two-thirds majority of the Parliament.
"The bumiputera special rights can be abolished if the two-thirds majority of the Parliament want to do away with it, but the question is are they ready?" he asked
Nazri said this while winding-up his Budget 2009 speech and stated that it was the non-bumiputeras - and not bumiputeras - who questioned policies associated with Malay rights.
"The ones that always complain about this policy are the non-bumiputeras. If the bumiputeras complain about this then it is something else.
"We must ask the bumiputeras are they ready to do away with this policy and should they be ready, it can always be amended in the Parliament," he said.
Anwar: Systematic oppression
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim clarified that Pakatan MPs were not questioning the special position of the Malays and urgued however that the policy was often used to disguise systematic oppression of the majority of poor Malays.
"We from the Pakatan agree that the special position of the bumiputeras including those from Sabah and Sarawak are enshrined in the constitution and no one is questioning that.
"What we are questioning is the hypocrisy in the policies. It is often used to enrich only a few bumiputeras at the expense of the vast majority of poor bumiputeras here and those in Sabah and Sarawak," he said.
Nazri agreed in part with Anwar, saying that there were culprits - but limited to a few.
"I agree that with the Yang Berhormat. A few swindles occur here and there but there is an old Malay proverb. Don't burn the net just because of one mosquito," he said.
Hindraf ban
Apart from the special rights issue, another matter that took Nazri's time in the House today was on the recent government ban on the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
"Issues (like discrimination and marginalisation) carried by Hindraf are genuine and the government must address the concerns raised by them instead of playing up racial sentiments to instill racial hatred among Malays and the Indian community," said Khalid.
Hindraf was deemed an illegal organisation by Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar last month after members of the group visited cabinet ministers' Hari Raya open house at the PWTC - to hand over a memorandum to release all ISA detainees, including five Hindraf leaders.
The incident then received widespread coverage in the Malay-based mainstream media which depicted the group members as rude and insensitive towards Malays.
Hindraf activists and Pakatan leaders however viewed the coverage by these media of the incident as an Umno-led campaign to incite racial hatred among Malays and Indians.
Nazri however said he disagreed and said it was shallow for the Pakatan representatives to assume that the government had banned Hindraf based only on the open house incident.
"It is a shallow analysis to think that we banned Hindraf only based on the open house incident. We were fast to act against Malay groups like Al-Arqam, (Islamic militant group) Jemaah Islamiyah and Ayah Pin.
"But when we act on a minority group you call it (racial) discrimination. We have been very patient with them compared to the other groups and I believe the open house incident exceeded the threshold of our patience," he said - malaysiakini
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