"Shut up for the sake of national interest and harmony!"

This is the strong message from DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament building today, Lim also called on the Umno Youth leader to stop making 'false' claims.

The opposition politician was responding to Khairy's remarks at an economic forum in Kuantan, Pahang, over the weekend.

Khairy, who is Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law, said bumiputera highway concessionaires preferred non-bumiputera consultants to advice them on projects.

"The government hands the contract to carry out a certain project to a bumiputera concessionaire and logically, the consultant chosen should also involve bumiputeras.

"However, the actions of these concessionaires that appear not to be supportive of their own race lead to the benefits - that were supposed to be shared together - falling into the hands of others," Khairy was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia .

"We should not forget that these opportunities are to be shared together with the Malays. They (the concessionaires) however seem to be swayed by short-term profits promised by others."

Khairy stated this in a working paper read by Umno Youth economic bureau chairperson Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

Reezal also disclosed that between 1997 to 2005, only RM1.95 billion from the total RM18.05 billion worth of highway projects involved bumiputera consultants.

He said this only amounted to 10 percent and was clearly not in tandem with the government's call for a 30-percent bumiputera economic ownership.

Don't blame others

Meanwhile, Lim refuted the Umno Youth leader's claim.

He also showed a Berita Harian report which said highway concession consultants are selected based on merits and not along racial lines.

The report quoted a Plus Expressway Bhd spokesperson as saying that when local concession negotiators lack certain expertise, they turn to international companies for help.

"We try to make sure that skills learned from such external help will be transferred to increase our (domestic companies) expertise and scope," the spokesperson added.

Lim also showed reporters Works Minister S Samy Vellu's open tender list for 39 government projects worth RM1.5 billion.

The DAP leader held up newspaper reports which stated that all companies submitting tenders must be bumiputera-owned.

"The main thing is that (Umno Youth) should not blame other races when non-Malays don't get contracts. They (non-Malays) are now being blamed for getting contracts which they did not get and this is unfair," he said.

Recently, Khairy came under fire when he said the minority Chinese community would take advantage of a weakened Umno.

However, the 31-year-old Oxford graduate refused to apologise as he was 'defending' his race.