Law Minister Says Bumiputeras Will Steal If They Don't Have Money
"As a politician", she understands while the public at large was unable to do so.
By Sadho Ram — 10 Nov 2015, 01:28 PM
Nancy Shukri says the 'Bumiputera' statement an old one and is being twisted to create racial tension
According to a report in the New Straits Times Online, de facto Law Minister Nancy Shukri will not be taking action against those attempting to smear her name by circulating an old statement initially made two years ago. Nancy, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, believed that the attack on her by certain quarters was due to the upcoming Sarawak by-election.
"It's no surprise that certain quarters or individuals would attack me in this way, by twisting my words to create racial tension. This is politics. Although all I wanted to do is to serve the people better," Nancy told reporters today.
"In fact, it (the statement) was something that had been twisted and went viral two years ago. It recently came back as 'recycled news'. I had explained the case before and there's no need for me to take any action again. There's also no need for me to lodge a police report as spreading rumors and baseless accusations in the social media has become an every day thing. I can't focus on it or reply all the comments, else I won't have enough time to do my job and serve the people," she said.
The Law Minister said she was sad and disappointed with the incident. However, she believed not everyone would be fooled by the false information.
Although, the actual news was reported back in November 2013. However, it was shared over the Internet over the weekend.
The de facto law minister was speaking at a public forum on International Covenants organised by the Malaysian Bar where she defended Putrajaya's move to reintroduce a race-preferential economic policy that drew the ire of Malaysia's minority Chinese and Indian communities, reported The Malay Mail Online.
The de facto law minister said that the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Policy was needed to help fix the unequal wealth distribution among the races that remains prevalent half a century after the country was formed, and which she claimed could lead to a potential spurt in social ills and crime.
themalaymailonline.com
A former civil society activist, the Sarawakian MP for Batang Sadong said the public was unable to understand the necessity for such policy to reverse the imbalance in distributing wealth
"As a politician now, I understand why there is a Bumiputera New Economic Policy... The Bumiputera, they are very marginalised in terms of economy. They're very much lower than other groups. If there is no such policy to balance the economic distribution within Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera, there could be a difficult situation as well," Nancy was quoted as saying by The Malay Mail Online.
While Nancy admitted that the Bumiputera cannot forever depend on help from Putrajaya, and the New Economic Model (NEM) itself does not just simply gift the ethnic group cash handouts, she said:
"If you don't help... social ills will be happening. Because they will be left very far behind, there will be social problems. That's the situation, if they don't have money, what will they do? They will start stealing."
According to The Malay Mail Online, in September, PM Najib Razak had detailed the far-reaching NEM that is set to offer the dominant Malay community access to tens of billions in aid and contracts
In a high-profile announcement, Najib trotted off a list of over RM31 billion in various loans, contracts and programmes that will be made available to the group, with the stated aim of strengthening Bumiputera economic participation and boost their ownership of commercial property.
The commitment towards uplifting the lot of the Malay community — which Najib described as integral in charting the country’s fortunes — follows recent criticism against the Umno president for failing to fully acknowledge the support the group had extended to the ruling Barisan Nasional during the recent general election.
themalaymailonline.com
