Anwar says it again to no avail

He has said it again,but does anyone listen?

The NEP should benefit all races,not just the Malays.If the government wants to be competitive in the global world it has no choice but tap the potential of all Malaysians as it used to do in the sixties.

By treating all fairly it would also eliminate the greatest problem the country is facing today - racial polarization and disintegration which is a definite path to turmoil and riots.No single party will benefit from such an outcome,in fact all will lose in the final outcome if no efforts are initiated to restore the "love-lost" between the races.

As ordinary citizens,we can see the troubles ahead if present situation continues,why can't the BN leaders?Why are they oblivious to the realities on the ground?Why are they not listening?Why are they blind to the warning signs?

Dr.Chris Anthony

Anwar: Bumi policies affecting investment

AFP
Malaysiakini,Jan 24, 08 3:08pm

A leading opposition figures today said the country was losing out economically to regional rivals because of long-running policies favouring ethnic Malays.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia's ability to attract foreign investment had been compromised by keeping the country's affirmative action policies in favour of the Malay majority.

"That policy is obsolete... We are losing our competitiveness. Malaysia is less competitive than the 1990s," Anwar, whose PKR party is formally led by his wife, told reporters in Hong Kong.

"Foreign investments, we have lost. Growth, we have lost. Attractiveness, which is key to an emerging market, is lost.

"Not to China and India, but to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia because of our obsolete policies. If you persist in pursuing this agenda, you do it not only at the expense of the Chinese and the Indians, but also of the Malays."

Malaysia has pursued the policies for Malays and indigenous groups known as bumiputeras since the 1970s to close a wealth gap with the minority Chinese community.

In recent months, the government has been shaken by rare public demonstrations which erupted last November, including against alleged discrimination against Malaysia's ethnic Indians.

Religious controversies

Anwar added that Malaysia's creeping "Islamisation" was also turning away foreign investors.

Malaysia has experienced a string of religious controversies in recent months.

A Catholic newspaper was banned from using the word "Allah", or "God", in its Malay language section, while a Hindu woman lost her bid to stop the conversion of her child to Islam after Malaysia's highest court ruled that her now-Muslim husband can convert their elder son.

Anwar was sacked from the former government of Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and then jailed for six years following sodomy and corruption charges.

The sodomy charge was later overturned and Anwar was released but he is barred from public office or holding any position with a political party until April because of the corruption conviction.