Leader says Malaysia would be nowhere
without ethnic Chinese
Thu Jun 20, 8:42 AM ET

By JASBANT SINGH, Associated Press Writer

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Challenging the Malay Muslim ethnic majority to work harder,
Malaysia's prime minister said Thursday that the country would be nowhere without the
economically dominant Chinese minority.

Mahathir Mohamad gave the Malay Muslims ?the bedrock of his support ?a
tongue-lashing during his keynote address to the congress of his United Malays National
Organization, saying they had not yet met the hopes of three decades of affirmative action
programs.

"The Malays are still weak, the poorest people, and are backward," Mahathir said.

"If we take out the Chinese and all that they have built and own, there will be no small or big
towns in Malaysia, there will be no business and industry, there will be no funds for the
subsidies, support and facilities for the Malays," Mahathir said.

Affirmative action policies to improve the lives of Malay Muslims were imposed after race
riots in 1969. They guarantee places to Malay Muslims in public universities and government
jobs and make it easier to obtain bank loans and government contracts.

The goal was to bring Malay Muslims to own 30 percent of the economy, but the government
acknowledges that it has not been met.

Mahathir, 76, who has transformed Malaysia into one of the developing world's richest
countries during 21 years in power, has become critical of the programs and says they shield
Malays from improving themselves.

"Learn from the Chinese," Mahathir said in the nationally broadcast speech. "Remember that
when we sell licenses, contracts and other things to them, their cost of doing business
increases."

"We do not have to carry the cost of buying licenses of contracts," Mahathir said. "But even
though the cost to the Chinese businessmen is higher, they can still make profits. Why is
that with lower cost, Malays ... cannot make a profit?"

The government has experimented this year with reducing some of the privileges in
education. Mahathir told a news conference Thursday that if Malay Muslims survive that, he
would consider tackling other programs. He gave no specifics.

Mahathir denied that his comments were brutal.

"I don't think it was brutal," Mahathir said. "I tried to be honest. I wasn't telling anything new,
just repeating what everybody knows but what most people would prefer not to say."

"I don't have any inhibitions," Mahathir said. "I say what I feel like saying."

Malay Muslims account for about 60 percent of Malaysia's 23 million people. Ethnic Chinese
comprise about 25 percent and ethnic Indians some 8 percent, with the rest scattered among
smaller groups.

In the race-based political system, UMNO champions the rights of Malay Muslims and forms
the core of the government with junior Chinese and Indian partners. Since Sept. 11, UMNO
appears to have won back Malay support from Islamic fundamentalist opposition.

Najib Razak, an UMNO vice president and the government's defense minister, told The
Associated Press that affirmative action polices could not be lifted overnight, but that Malay
Muslims must eventually compete to survive.

"There must be a gradual understanding among Malays that the world has become more
competitive," Najib said. "The prime minister is not a populist leader. He wants to achieve
results."