Anwar says BN using race card to instil fear

http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_217818.html

Anwar says BN using race card to instil fear
Plan to reform NEP will help all races; Malays will not be left behind

By Reme Ahmad March 18, 2008, YAHOO
_________________________________________

FIRM ON HELPING MALAYS

'We are committed to help the Malays, there is no question about it. You
cannot question the credentials of (Selangor Menteri Besar) Tan Sri Khalid
as a Malay and a bumiputera manager and entrepreneur.

But instilling this climate of fear and insecurity is only a ploy to cater
for
the interest of the few Umno leaders.' - DATUK SERI ANWAR
_________________________________________

KUALA LUMPUR - OPPOSITION leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday assured Malays that
their rights will not be marginalised under a proposal to reform the
affirmative-action New Economic Policy (NEP).

But he also promised that under the Malaysian Economic Agenda being
formulated by the three-party opposition coalition, the Chinese, Indians and
other minorities would not be left behind.

Datuk Seri Anwar instead accused Umno and Umno-owned newspaper Utusan
Malaysia of trying to create a 'climate of fear' by telling the Malays that
they would be marginalised in the five states won by the three-party
alliance.

The mass-selling Utusan newspaper has been running stories and letters from
readers raising concerns that with the Umno-led coalition Barisan Nasional
(BN) weakened, Malay rights would be abandoned.

'Utusan, owned by Umno, is continuing to use the race card,' Datuk Seri
Anwar told a news conference yesterday.

The paper, he added, also ignored a charge by the opposition that the NEP
was being abused to enrich the leadership of Umno, and not the members of
Umno.

The alliance of opposition parties Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic
Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) has been on the
defensive over the NEP ever since Penang's new Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng
and Selangor's new Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the NEP in its
current form would be abandoned.

This had raised fears among Malays - who make up two-thirds of the country's
population - over the future of 'ketuanan Melayu' (Malay supremacy).

Last Friday, about 1,000 Umno-led Malays demonstrated in Penang, as did
several dozen others in Selangor, to voice their concerns.

How the opposition handles the NEP issue is crucial to its standing, as it
might alienate Malay voters if they felt that their rights would be eroded
in the states controlled by the opposition alliance.

At the same time, the alliance also has to take in the concerns of Chinese,
Indian and other minority races who had voted for it. The opposition could
risk these voters feeling betrayed if they felt the much-abused NEP was
going to be left alone.

The opposition appears to be trying to tread the middle ground, with Datuk
Seri Anwar accusing Umno and the Utusan newspaper of playing up Malays'
fears.

He said: 'We are committed to help the Malays, there is no question about
it. You cannot question the credentials of Tan Sri Khalid as a Malay and a
bumiputera manager and entrepreneur.

'But instilling this climate of fear and insecurity is only a ploy to cater
for the interest of the few Umno leaders.'

Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib had on Sunday described Tan
Sri Abdul Khalid as an ungrateful person for saying that the NEP benefited
only a few.

He said the Selangor Menteri Besar seemed to have forgotten that the policy
helped many Malays, including Tan Sri Abdul Khalid himself, to become
successful.

The Menteri Besar had replied: 'I support the concept of affirmative action,
but affirmative action today is not based on race, but on needs.

'It means that the Malays will be helped, the Chinese will be helped and the
Indians will be helped.'

Datuk Seri Anwar also took another shot at the ruling coalition yesterday,
claiming he had been approached by BN leaders about the possibility of them
defecting to the opposition alliance.

He dismissed, however, talk that he had been trying to 'buy' BN politicians
into joining the opposition coalition.

'People have come and approached me - Umno leaders, Sarawak and Sabah and
other component parties. But not one dared to raise the issue of price with
me.'

Asked if he would accept them, he replied: 'Yes, if they accept our agenda.
I have discussed with quite a number (of them).'
____

http://themalaysianinsider.com/mni/8-pm-news-flash-anwar-offers-rival-plan-to-ne\
p.html

Anwar's double whammy: New plan to replace bumiputra policy, Opposition
moves to formal alliance, signals 2-party system has arrived

. New plan called, Malaysian Economic Agenda, will replace NEP,
keep Malay agenda, draw up new agenda for Chinese, Indians
. Opposition leaders continue to throw govt off-balance with bold
moves - Selangor chief minister visits site of demolished Hindu temple

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 - Anwar Ibrahim and the Opposition continued to throw
the government off-balance with bold pronouncements yesterday.

The de-facto Opposition leader told Singapore's only Malay-language
newspaper, Berita Harian, that the PKR-DAP-PAS will formalise their alliance
in a few days and will then replace the New Economic Policy with a landmark
Malaysian Economic Agenda (MEA), a colour-blind initiative aimed at lifting
the fortunes of all Malaysians.

The move to formalise the alliance will be cheered by Malaysians who
believed that the gains made by the Opposition on March 8 would lead to a
two-party system here. It will also shred like wet tissue the argument by
the Barisan Nasional that the Opposition alliance is akin to a sham
marriage.

Even more important, the MEA will pose a major challenge to Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's reform credentials. By proposing to do
away with affirmative action for one race, Anwar is setting the bar very
high for a coalition which has been allergic to any talk of dismantling the
NEP.

In the interview with Singapore BH, Anwar said the Opposition alliance had
been working on the MEA for the past one year.

"I would like to assure the Malays that the Malay agenda will remain but we
also have to sketch a new agenda for Chinese and Indians," he said. On his
website, Anwar said the MEA can be implemented at state level to reduce
race-based affirmative action policies and replace it will a more
competitive, merit-based system.

"This will immediately increase foreign investment, improve the state's tax
revenue and begin to promote equity and income parity," he argued.

Political analysts say that the Chinese and Indian voters deserted BN in
droves because they felt that the ruling coalition had turned a deaf ear to
their grievances over the NEP. BN's ability to respond to an imaginative
idea like the MEA will be watched closely by the communities.

It is unclear how Malays will react to the removal of NEP from the Malaysian
vocabulary.

But Anwar believes that even the Malays will accept that there has been a
distortion in implementing the NEP.

Another PKR leader who captured the imagination yesterday was Selangor
Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

He visited Kampung Rimba Jaya in Shah Alam - the site of Sri Maha Mariamman
Temple which was demolished in November last year. This act of pulling down
the temple a few days before Deepavali ignited anger among Indians across
the country.

Mayor Mazalan Md Noor said the temple would be rebuilt soon on 10,000sq feet
of land.

"The developer has been directed by the state government to provide the land
and RM40,000, the cost of the building construction. It is up to the temple
committee and the developer to decide when to start the temple
construction," he said.

Earlier in the day, Khalid announced that he would propose that every
household in the state gets 20 cubic metres of water supply free monthly. It
is expected to be implemented starting next month. Based on the estimated
one million domestic users in Selangor, an exemption of water rates for
usage of up to 20 cubic metres translates to a monthly value of RM11.4
million.

At a time when those in the lower-income bracket are groaning under
inflation, the savings of RM11 per month per household will be welcomed.