Gerakan greets the statement by Tun Dr. Mahathir that non-Malays, particularly the Chinese, were the real masters of the country as disappointing and unnecessary.

“To say that the Chinese are the real masters of the country reflects a simplistic yet distorted understanding of Malaysian society,” said Gerakan Youth Deputy Chairman, Oh Tong Keong.

“This may provoke sentiments among the Malays in that they may feel exploited and oppressed, and the Chinese in that they may feel that they are superior and smarter. These two presumptions are however unfounded and baseless, promoting nothing but the primordial tendency to resort to the dangerous communalism.”

“In a multi-racial society like Malaysia, such observation; that the Chinese are the real masters of the country, is extremely irresponsible.”

Tun Dr. Mahathir recently made a statement defending the country’s affirmative policy and claimed that the non-Malays, particularly the Chinese, were the real masters of the country.

In his article Tun Dr. Mahathir has only made statements and presumptions and he has not given any reasons for them. In other words, he only states the what, without asking why.”

He added, “For the man in the street, he may ‘consume’ such statements and many others will resort to the herd mentality. For those who are informed, this is nothing but political and communal rhetoric.”

“Tun Dr Mahathir says that “whatever the Malays have now, is being taken away from them”. Who has taken what, and how they have been taken has not been explained.

He further said “that 39 years after the NEP was introduced, the Bumiputera share of the corporate pie remained at just 20 per cent while the Chinese share stood at 50 per cent even though they consisted of just 26 per cent of the population.”

Has he forgotten that out of the 39 years after the NEP was introduced, he oversaw 28 years of its implementation?” he asked.