The Equal Opportunity Act to curb discrimination with regard to employment will not contravene Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which stipulates the special position of the Malays and indigenous people of East Malaysia, said lawyer Syahredzan Johan.

He said this is because Article 153 only concerned safeguarding the special position in several areas, such as public service and education.

"No, it will not breach the Federal Constitution. In fact, it is in line with Article 8 of the Constitution (which touches on) the right to equality and non-discrimination," he told Malaysiakini in a text message.

"We must remember Article 153 is only for certain areas such as education, civil service, permits and licences.

"And even then, it does not prohibit any legislation that promotes or furthers equal opportunities," he added.

Syahredzan was responding to economist Muhammed Abdul Khalid, who mooted the Act during a forum on Wednesday.

Muhammed said there is racial discrimination in hiring fresh graduates, where Chinese candidates are more likely to be called for an interview than Malays.

He said the results showed that engineering and finance firms prefered Chinese candidates compared to Malays.

He noted that even in Malay-owned engineering firms, Chinese applicants possesed a better chance of landing an interview.

At the same forum, Muhammed claimed the Gini coefficient - the commonly used indicator of inequality - showed that in 2014, household income disparity among the Chinese was at 0.405 percent, indicating a wide income gap within the community.

“This is followed by the Indians, then Malays. Not all Chinese people are rich. About seven in 10 Chinese are workers, just like the bumiputera," he said.