Malayur News

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 — MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek today said Utusan Malaysia did not represent all Malays, despite Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin claiming the Umno-owned daily was the voice of the community.

“Utusan does not even have the same circulation as The Star even though there are more Malays. We never say that The Star represents the voice of the Chinese,” he said of the leading English daily that is owned by MCA.

MCA had called for a boycott of the Malay daily after it proposed a “1Melayu, 1Bumi” movement to curb Chinese political power in the country.

But Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin said today that its partner in Barisan Nasional (BN) should not worry that Utusan’s call would create chaos as “it is just the expression of a community’s feelings.”

“Even the non-Malays have said that there are sensitive reports in the non-Malay media. If we ask why such stories are reported, they will say that they reflect the feelings of the Chinese and Indian communities,” Muhyiddin said.

However, Dr Chua told The Malaysian Insider that no one could be said to represent the voice of an entire community and that “Muhyiddin was making a statement of fact” that Utusan Malaysia was pushing a Malay agenda.

“Just like if I said I wanted Malaysia to be the third Chinese country in the world, everyone will say that this does not represent the Chinese community in Malaysia,” he said.

“Utusan is not an official government paper even though it is majority owned by Umno. The prime minister has already said that it does not reflect BN’s stance,” said the former health minister.

He added that the “1Melayu, 1Bumi” agenda ran contrary to PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia slogan of inclusivity.

Government leaders including Najib have sought to distance themselves from the newspaper’s call last week, claiming the exhortation made in the Umno-owned daily was the personal opinion of the newspaper’s editors.

Perkasa patron Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also spoke out against the idea, saying it would be “disastrous” if it came to fruition.

The elder statesman said such a movement would eventually result in a two-party system, which would be dominated by the Malays and the Chinese on opposing sides of the divide.

Despite its patron’s statement, Perkasa said it would be willing to lead such a “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” movement.