Bumiputra part 2.
Legitimacy of special rights
Bumiputra privileges and quotas are based on article 153 of the
constitution which states that : 'It shall be the responsibility of
the Yang di Pertuan Agong to safeguard the special position of the
Malays and the legitimate interests of other communities in
accordance with the provisions of this Article'. Malaysia is a
constitutional monarchy hence the responsibilities of the YDP are
regarded as the responsibilities of the state.
Clause 5 of article 153 specifically reaffirms article 136 of the
constitution which states: 'All persons of whatever race in the
same grade in the service of the Federation shall, subject to the
terms and conditions of their employment, be treated
impartially.'
Clause 9 of article 153 states 'Nothing in this Article shall
empower Parliament to restrict business or trade solely for the
purpose of reservations for Malays.'
Article 89 of the constitution (clause 2) states: 'Except as
expressly authorised by this Constitution, there shall be no
discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion,
race, descent or place of birth in any law or in the appointment to
any office or employment under a public authority or in the
administration of any law relating to the acquisition, holding or
disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any
trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.'
Controversy
The Bumiputra laws stand out as an unusual public policy where
preferential actions benefit the majority race of a country, and
some argue that the advantages afforded to bumiputras border on
outright racism. Others argue that the Malaysian situation at the
time the policy was introduced where a minority ethnic group
widely regarded as non-native controlled most of the locally-owned
sector of the economy, due in no small part to colonial legacies
which had assisted Chinese migrants to become dominant in the
business sector to the point that Malays were largely excluded from
economic life, other than as subsistence farmers, small-scale
fishermen, and laborers was an unusual and deeply unstable
situation. The government also argues that the legal and economic
advantages are necessary for Malaysia to reduce ethnic conflict.
The NEP, in particular, was spurred by large racial riots on May
13, 1969.
Another controversial aspect is that the Orang Asli of peninsular
Malaysia are not considered Bumiputra under the Federal
constitution. As their settlement predates that of the Malays, this
is considered unfair by many, especially as they are also much
worse off than the Malays. As such, various groups including
SUHAKAM, the Malaysian Commission of Human Rights have called for
the government to recognise Orang Asli as Bumiputra [1] Others
argue that the Orang Asli are in fact considered bumiputera
[2]
Early debate
In the 1965 session of Parliament of Malaysia, Singapore's Chief
Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who subsequently became the Prime Minister
of an independent Singapore on 9 August 1965, questioned the
implementation of Malay rights as proposed. Lee asked, "How does
the Malay in the kampong find his way out into this modernised
civil society? By becoming servants of the 0.3 per cent who would
have the money to hire them to clean their shoe, open their
motorcar doors?" and "How does telling a Malay bus driver that he
should support the party of his Malay director (UMNO) and the
Chinese bus conductor to join another party of his Chinese director
(MCA) how does that improve the standards of the Malay bus driver
and the Chinese bus conductor who are both workers in the same
company?"
Lee closed with "Meanwhile, whenever there is a failure of
economic, social and educational policies, you come back and say,
oh, these wicked Chinese, Indian and others opposing Malay rights.
They don't oppose Malay rights. They, the Malay, have the right as
Malaysian citizens to go up to the level of training and education
that the more competitive societies, the non-Malay society, has
produced. That is what must be done, isn't it? Not to feed them
with this obscurantist doctrine that all they have got to do is to
get Malay rights for the few special Malays and their problem has
been resolved."
It soon became clear that the PAP's campaign for a Malaysian
Malaysia under the Malaysian Solidarity Convention as an indirect
challenge against the racial policies was not well received by the
ruling Alliance, led by the United Malays National Organisation
(UMNO). Amidst the escalating communal issues in the state of
Singapore, and the problems regarding the persistent neglect of the
Federal Government concerning the economy of Singapore, Lee
announced Singapore's separation from Malaysia on 9 August 1965,
hours after the Malaysian Prime Minister, made a similar
announcement in the Malaysian Parliament.
Education
In 2004, Mohd. Johari Baharum, parliamentary secretary of the Prime
Minister's Department, stated that the PSD scholarships would
remain quota based. He added that there were no plans to convert
this to a merit based system, and that the total value of the PSD
scholarship since 1996 was 2.4 billion Ringgit. [3] There have been
reported cases of students who failed to get PSD scholarships, but
were later admitted to leading universities.
