'Asking to close Chinese schools won't help BN'

 

Asking for Chinese vernacular schools to be closed down will not help BN's bid to win back their Chinese support base during elections, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said.

In an interview with Mingguan Malaysia, Najib, without naming anyone, said that it would be "contradictory" for anyone to ask about increasing Chinese support and at the same time discuss closing down Chinese schools.

Umno's Petaling Jaya Utara division chief Mohamad Azli had recently proposed that the possibility of closing down Chinese schools be discussed in the forthcoming party annual assembly.

"We must decide what is it (our stand). If our actions result in reducing support for Umno and BN, then whatever we do would not be beneficial," he said.

In the same interview, Najib also claimed that the bumiputra empowerment initiatives under the current leadership were more effective than before.

“The structure and the situation is more in tune now,” he said.

“Before this, there was a ministry (for bumiputra affairs), but it operated in the context of that ministry alone, and now we transcend across all ministries,” he added.

“In context, we are helping bumiputras better and more effectively now.”