FLIP - FLOP PM did not promise Malaysians that 30 per cent bumi quota will be scrapped

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng wants the prime minister to apologise for another “flip-flop”, this time over the scrapping of Bumiputera quotas.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday he had not promised to abolish the 30 per cent quota eventually despite media reports to the contrary.

But Lim (picture) pointed out today it was hard to believe state news agency Bernama, which also carried the alleged misquote, would dare to misrepresent the prime minister.

“As it is hard to imagine a government news department like Bernama daring to misquote or misrepresent what the prime minister said, will the prime minister be compelled to apologise for saying the wrong thing?” Lim said in a statement.

Bernama, several online news portals and the Chinese media reported earlier this week that Najib had called for the eventual removal of Bumiputera quotas.

“We want to do away from (with) quotas but we must support them (Bumiputera entrepreneurs) in a way that would allow them to grow,” Najib told the Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2011 here on Tuesday night.

The prime minister, however, denied yesterday he had meant for such quotas to be scrapped and that he was merely trying to urge Bumiputera entrepreneurs to be more self-sufficient.

“I did not say we want to abolish quotas, but I said we cannot be too reliant on them,” he had said after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting here.

Critics have accused Najib of diluting his New Economic Model (NEM) reforms by creating agencies like Teraju and failing to focus on needs- and merit-based affirmative action policies.

But government officials said the move was necessary as Bumiputera equity in the economy remained low despite the billions doled out since the New Economic Policy (NEP) began in 1971.