Former minister Rafidah Aziz has been accused of being a self-serving politician by Seputeh Umno division vice-chief Mohd Razlan Rafii, based on a column she wrote urging Malaysians to stop playing the “race supremacy” card.

In a statement last night, Razlan claimed that Rafidah had failed to advance the economic interests of the Malays when she helmed the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, but now sought an exit by saying that race is no longer relevant when her “failures” have become obvious.

“It is so blatant that she put her interests first when she was a minister, by appearing as a Malay and using the New Economic Model agenda to her own ends.

“Why discard race? I believe the Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, and even Malays, want their race to exist all over Malaysia.

“This is an example why Malays are often used for personal benefit. After the bumiputera are robbed blind and her failures become obvious, she wants to jettison ‘race’ to show that it is irrelevant.

“This is a person who has failed to educate members of her own race and who has always used race,” he said.

The former Federal Territories Umno Youth chief was responding to a Bernama report yesterday quoting Rafidah.

The report said Rafidah had written, in her debut column in theSun, that the “race supremacy” card is detrimental and counter-productive to Malaysia and its people, and should not be used.

Rafidah said Malaysia would only be highly respected globally with the rise of young Malaysian citizens who are competent and skilled, and whose performance and achievements are regarded as excellent when measured by global benchmarks and standards.

"When they can be proud to carry the Malaysian flag and be recognised by the world as successful Malaysians," she was quoted as saying.