According to Human Rights Party (HRP) leader P Uthayakumar, the former premier’s stand was akin to the Malay proverb of a mouse deer being trampled to death in the midst of two clashing elephants.
Based on his interpretation, the two elephants were the Malays and economically superior Chinese whereas the mouse deer represented the poor Indians. “Mahathir, the prime minister for 22 long years conceded that almost all those (Malays) who succeeded benefitted from the NEP.
“The whole of Mahathir’s view vis-a-vis Umno’s position reminds us of the Malay proverb ‘gajah sama gajah berlaga, pelanduk mati ditengah’,” said Uthayakumar.
He argued that while the entire framework of the NEP was crafted to ensure that the Malays matched the successful Chinese who controlled some 70% of the nation’s economy, poor Indians were also conveniently lumped in the same non-bumiputera category with the abovementioned segment of the Chinese community.
“Thereafter being the soft targets, segregated and excluded from the mainstream development in Malaysia,” he said, adding that Umno justified this based on Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.
The article provided for the safeguarding of the special position of the Malays, which Uthayakumar claimed, had been “stretched to the brim” over the past 54 years and in the process, victimising the Indian poor.
“It must be emphasised that neither special rights nor special privileges (as widely proclaimed by Umno) has ever been provided for in Article 153 (1) of the Federal Constitution or any law in Malaysia.
“But what Umno has successfully and completely sidestepped is the second limb of Article 153 (1) that is ‘the Yang Di Pertuan Agong shall safeguard the legitimate interests of the non- Malays’.
“If at all this special position may be a specification for affirmative action policies for the Malay poor, it was never intended to be implemented as Malay-Muslim supremacy as it is today and oppressing and segregating especially the Indians in the process,” he said.
Uthayakumar, a lawyer by profession, asked where in the Federal Constitution or other laws was it stated that the deserving Indian poor could be discriminated, segregated and excluded?
‘From womb to tomb’
Claiming that the discrimination, segregation and exclusion were almost 100%, starting from the womb and ending in the tomb, he cited several examples.
“Being denied birth certificates, Permata kindergardens, places in the 12,440 vacancies in fully residential MRSM Colleges, almost 98% of full overseas and local PSD, Petronas, Yayasan, GLC scholarships, 98% of civil service jobs and 100% of the 200,000 places in UITM is for Malays only.
“Even foreign Muslim students are allowed entry into UITM but not fifth generation Malaysian- born deserving Indian students,” he said.
“In almost all other areas like securing direct government contracts, becoming vendors and suppliers to government agencies and GLCs and in the private sector, government and GLC panelship for professionals like lawyers, doctors, architects, engineers and accountants, Indians are also segregated and excluded,” he added.
As far as Uthayakumar was concerned, Malaysian Indians were segregated and excluded in almost every aspect of their lives.
“This level of racism and religious supremacy does not exist in any other part of the world,” he said.
In a blog posting yesterday, Mahathir defended the NEP, introduced in 1971, against its critics, including his former deputy and current opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
He accused the opposition of giving the impression that the NEP was the most deplorable policy ever conceived and implemented in Malaysia.
The former premier said that non-bumiputeras had also benefitted from the policy, which some claimed helped cement the Malay superiority concept, due to the trickling down effect.
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