‘Do away with race-based policies’

Gerakan Youth calls for a serious review of race-based affirmative action so that it does not stray from the original intent of eradicating poverty and ensuring equal distribution of wealth.

KUALA LUMPUR: Race-based affirmative action is a thing of the past, admitted two Barisan Nasional Youth leaders – Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Gerakan counterpart Lim Si Pin, today.

Lim, in his speech at the Gerakan Youth conference, said: “If we continue to advocate affirmative action for the majority, who is going to take care of the minorities and the needy?

“It is time to question whether we still (need) affirmative action based on ethnic lines. It will remain a noose around our necks if we do not deal with it (raced-based policy) with decisiveness.

“If we continue to enrich the few who do not need it and ignore the poor, then we will create instability,” said Lim, who reminded the government it would face “dire consequences” if it failed to listen to the masses.

He said he was not calling for such policy to be totally abolished, but a serious review to go back to its original intent to eradicate poverty and equal distribution of wealth.

Khairy, agreeing with Lim, said that even now the government is looking at changing the policies in regard to affirmative action.

“It is changing; now we are making sure that our priority is the lowest 40 percent based on income. These are the groups we must help regardless of whether they are Malay Chinese, Indians or other races. (Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) has expanded this, within Umno too,” said Khairy.

“It is no longer about race. Within Umno we are supporting this, because we know those at the bottom 40 percent deserve assistance.

The change in affirmative action will help some of you understand that economic transformation is happening,” said Khairy.

He added that reforms alone are not enough and merely repealing the Internal Security Act will not do.

“As far as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (is concerned), the current changes are not enough.

We have to go further. Why are we scared of a free media? Do we lack confidence that we can’t face the free media? Let the media regulate themselves.
There’s no need for the Home Ministry and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to regulate,” he said.

‘Young voters returning to BN’
Khairy also called for a Freedom of Information Act that counters the Official Secrets Act. “There are certain things we cannot reveal to the public… but we must show there are no secrets within the government, ” he said, adding that Section 15 of the Universities and University Colleges Act, which prohibits student participation in politics, must also be done away with.

Earlier, Lim called on the setting up of an independent commission to monitor civil service malpractices as well as police abuses.

Citing an example where a Malaysian who applied for a scholarship was rudely rejected because of her race, Lim said that race issues still prevail in the country and the commission should stop any discrimination in the public service.

Lim also said if the government implements the Goods and Services Tax (GST), it must not tax the ordinary people in areas such as food, domestic transport and essential medication.

Khairy, meanwhile, said that if BN wants to be relevant to the young generation, it must stop telling voters to be thankful for what it did in the past but tell them what it can do for them now.

“We have to ask ourselves difficult questions: are we a relic of the past? Do we really feel and understand what young Malaysians want? Or do we want Malaysians to be thankful for what we have done in the past? If the older BN leaders want to keep on using such arguments, they should go home, close shop and just sleep,” said Khairy.

“We need to to show to them we have a proposition, we have policies to address their problems. We don’t want rhetoric but we need to be solution providers. That’s important,” said Khairy, adding that based on by-election results, young voters are coming back to BN.