27 July 2013
\nThe Malay Mail<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 \u2014 With racial tensions in Malaysia coming closer to a boil, PKR\u2019s Nurul Izzah Anwar has outlined the urgency of taking focus away from society\u2019s racial divisions to embrace needs-based affirmative action that cuts across ethnic lines.<\/p>\n
The PKR vice-president admitted the move may be construed as means to water down the Malay identity but insisted that this was the way forward to stop the endless racial clashes from ripping the social fabric.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need affirmative action, but it has to be based on needs. Some say it weakens our Malay identity, but it\u2019s all about getting the crowd of people to see it objectively,\u201d Nurul Izzah said in an exclusive interview with\u00a0The Malay Mail Online<\/em>\u00a0recently.<\/p>\n The Lembah Pantai MP and outspoken \u201cPuteri Reformasi\u201d observed that impoverished Malays appear more easily influenced by racist rhetoric, particularly when they feel they are lagging behind others.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a large pool of the Malays, especially in urban centres or the rural areas, feel they\u2019ve been left out from the economic development of the country, it makes them more susceptible to racist rhetoric,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Malays, who form 60 per cent of the 28 million-strong population, are constitutionally defined to be Muslims.<\/p>\n Nurul Izzah stressed that it was important to focus on class issues like the economy and crime that cut across all ethnic groups, instead of representing communal interests that the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and its predecessor \u2014 the Alliance party \u2014 have done for more than half a century.<\/p>\n You need affirmative action, but it has to be based on needs. Some say it weakens our Malay identity, but it\u2019s all about getting the crowd of people to see it objectively. \u2014 Nurul Izzah Anwar<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Racial divisions have shaped the Malaysian political landscape over the decades. Pro-Bumiputera affirmative action policies were implemented since the 1970s, but opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has argued that such measures benefit the well-connected Malay elite at the expense of ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n The social impact of race-based economic policies and politics \u2014 where BN\u2019s component parties Umno, the MCA and MIC represent the Malays, Chinese and Indians respectively \u2014 is more complex.<\/p>\n Inter-racial and inter-religious relations have been uneasy, with the row between Muslims and Christians on the word \u201cAllah\u201d exploding in 2010 when the High Court ruled that the Arabic word did not belong exclusively to the former. A church was firebombed and other places of worship were desecrated.<\/p>\n Malay rights lobby Perkasa had once even suggested that Malay-language bibles which contain the word \u201cAllah\u201d be burned. The right-wing group also recently demanded that Putrajaya expel the Vatican\u2019s first ambassador to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino, for his views on the \u201cAllah\u201d issue that it deemed provocative.<\/p>\n Racial hostilities deepened when a Chinese pair of bloggers uploaded a photograph of themselves eating \u201cbak kut teh<\/em>\u201d (a soupy pork dish), together with a Ramadan greeting, on Facebook several weeks ago. They were swiftly charged with sedition and even denied bail.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat kind of issues are the Malays facing?\u201d said Nurul Izzah. \u201cThey don\u2019t have any financial control over their lives. They\u2019re trying to make ends meet every single day. This kind of issue is easier for them to grasp, rather than other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n She noted that a survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center, which was released last February, showed that the majority of Malay respondents viewed \u201cAllah\u201d as a word that belonged solely to Muslims.<\/p>\n The eldest daughter of Opposition Leader and PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also said that the \u201cmake-up\u201d of PKR made the PR lynchpin the \u201cnatural choice\u201d to push forth multiracial politics. PKR\u2019s two allies \u2014 the DAP and PAS \u2014 are viewed as mostly being a Chinese party and conservative Islamic party respectively.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a good set of young leaders,\u201d said Nurul Izzah.<\/p>\n She named PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli \u2014 who shot to fame after exposing a national cattle-farming scandal and subsequently won the Pandan federal seat in Election 2013 \u2014 whom she described as \u201ccourageous\u201d.<\/p>\n Nurul Izzah also highlighted other young party leaders like Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, Bukit Katil MP Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin and Bagan Serai MP N. Surendran.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re on the right track,\u201d she said. \u201cKeadilan (PKR) must safeguard the future of multiracial politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: 27 July 2013 The Malay Mail KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 \u2014 With racial tensions in Malaysia coming closer to a boil, PKR\u2019s Nurul Izzah Anwar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[930],"tags":[88,55,1503,38,850,104,646,178,53,181,61,316,1637,699,1636,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-5353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-penerbitan","7":"tag-kuala-lumpur","8":"tag-lembah-pantai","9":"tag-malay","10":"tag-malaysia","11":"tag-melayu","12":"tag-nurul-izzah","13":"tag-nurul-izzah-anwar","14":"tag-pakatan","15":"tag-pakatan-rakyat","16":"tag-parti-keadilan-rakyat","17":"tag-pkr","18":"tag-pr","19":"tag-provocation","20":"tag-racism","21":"tag-the-malay-mail","22":"tag-umno"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6423,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions\/6423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nurulizzah.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhttp:\/\/www.themalaymailonline.com\/malaysia\/article\/nurul-izzah-needs-based-affirmative-action-can-calm-racial-sensitivities#sthash.CTZlZJa3.dpuf<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"