MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong has criticised Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for justifying pro-bumiputera policies by claiming that other ethnic groups – particularly the Chinese Malaysians – were already wealthy.
"During Mahathir's first tenure as prime minister from 1981-2003, he had exercised similar race-oriented policies.
"The premier would not ease up on reinforcing the fallacious stereotype that 'the Chinese are the wealthy ones' in order to rationalise the neglect of the interests of Chinese Malaysians,” he said in a statement today.
"Whenever he starts talking about 'the Chinese are rich', he is knowingly attempting to segregate us Malaysians.
"He is playing with fire by uttering such fictitious remarks," he stressed.
Wee was responding to Mahathir's interview with Channel News Asia, in which the premier claimed that Chinese Malaysian students overseas were more well off than Malay students.
"When I was in the United Kingdom, I met a number of Chinese students. They were there because their parents were able to pay for their studies.
"But I find that Malay parents, by and large, cannot afford to have university education for their children," Mahathir was quoted as saying.
Not along ethnic lines
In his statement, Wee stressed that wealth disparity does not always occur along ethnic lines.
"It does not matter if it is a Malay, Chinese, Indian or any race, each race has members on both ends of the income spectrum.
"A sensible government ought to comprehend that it is paramount that all citizens are treated fairly; the needy and vulnerable should be provided with a solid social protection network regardless of their ethnicity," he said in a press statement.
Wee also disputed the belief that pro-bumiputera policies had eradicated racial animosities.
"Be reasonable and think: how can one expect policies set forth by apartheid ideologies resolve any ill-feelings that exist in a multiracial society?"
'Don't use Chinese as sacrificial lamb'
Wee also questioned if Mahathir's statement was to test the waters for the reintroduction of the same economic model he practised 22 years ago.
"This is yet another strong indication of the comeback of Mahathirism, and a failure to rid Malaysia of racial politics.
"The majority of the six million Malaysian Chinese in 2018 is working class, not dissimilar from how most Bumiputeras are wage-earners.
"The Chinese mostly depend on frugality, hard work and self-reliance in an attempt to accumulate wealth," he said.
The Chinese Malaysian community, Wee added, also values education above all else, and strives to give the best education to their children regardless of how little money they possess.
"As such, I urge Mahathir to stop using the Chinese as a sacrificial lamb in his attempt to further his racial ideologies," he said.
Meanwhile, DAP's Tanah Rata assemblyperson Chiong Yoke Kong (photo) also stressed that poverty cuts across ethnic lines.
"Even though there are Chinese Malaysians students who can further their study abroad, but there are many Chinese students who also cannot afford to even study at local colleges or universities due to poverty," he said.
As such, Chiong said the issue of poverty must be addressed holistically and not along racial or religious lines.
"Poverty exists among all races regardless of they are Malay, Indian, Chinese, Orang Asli, Kadazan or Iban.”
Chiong also noted that poverty exists due to corruption and the oppression of the people by those in power, which he claimed was aggravated during Najib Abdul Razak's tenure as prime minister.
He added that conflicts due to wealth disparity were not between ethnic groups, but between the haves and have-nots.
"Wealth disparity among race is only a political rhetoric that is always misused by politicians to point figures at a particular race.”
