Former deputy premier Musa Hitam said the special position of the Malays has already been eroded by the forces of globalisation and will face further pressures in the coming years.

"I think it has already been eroded. It is a revolution (for there to be) talk of meritocracy. In the old days, once you talk about meritocracy, you are finished, you are in trouble. Now, they debate it," he noted.

In recent years, the government has been under increasing pressure as a member of the World Trade Organisation to give foreign investors equal treatment by removing the bumiputera quotas put into place when the New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced.