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KUALA LUMPUR - OPPOSITION leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday assured Malays that their rights will not be marginalised under a proposal to reform the affirmative-action New Economic Policy (NEP).
But he also promised that under the Malaysian Economic Agenda being formulated by the three-party opposition coalition, the Chinese, Indians and other minorities would not be left behind.
Datuk Seri Anwar instead accused Umno and Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia of trying to create a 'climate of fear' by telling the Malays that they would be marginalised in the five states won by the three-party alliance.
The mass-selling Utusan newspaper has been running stories and letters from readers raising concerns that with the Umno-led coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) weakened, Malay rights would be abandoned.
'Utusan, owned by Umno, is continuing to use the race card,' Datuk Seri Anwar told a news conference yesterday.
The paper, he added, also ignored a charge by the opposition that the NEP was being abused to enrich the leadership of Umno, and not the members of Umno.
The alliance of opposition parties Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) has been on the defensive over the NEP ever since Penang's new Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Selangor's new Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the NEP in its current form would be abandoned.
This had raised fears among Malays - who make up two-thirds of the country's population - over the future of 'ketuanan Melayu' (Malay supremacy).
Last Friday, about 1,000 Umno-led Malays demonstrated in Penang, as did several dozen others in Selangor, to voice their concerns.
How the opposition handles the NEP issue is crucial to its standing, as it might alienate Malay voters if they felt that their rights would be eroded in the states controlled by the opposition alliance.
At the same time, the alliance also has to take in the concerns of Chinese, Indian and other minority races who had voted for it. The opposition could risk these voters feeling betrayed if they felt the much-abused NEP was going to be left alone.
The opposition appears to be trying to tread the middle ground, with Datuk Seri Anwar accusing Umno and the Utusan newspaper of playing up Malays' fears.
He said: 'We are committed to help the Malays, there is no question about it. You cannot question the credentials of Tan Sri Khalid as a Malay and a bumiputera manager and entrepreneur.
'But instilling this climate of fear and insecurity is only a ploy to cater for the interest of the few Umno leaders.'
Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib had on Sunday described Tan Sri Abdul Khalid as an ungrateful person for saying that the NEP benefited only a few.
He said the Selangor Menteri Besar seemed to have forgotten that the policy helped many Malays, including Tan Sri Abdul Khalid himself, to become successful.
The Menteri Besar had replied: 'I support the concept of affirmative action, but affirmative action today is not based on race, but on needs.
'It means that the Malays will be helped, the Chinese will be helped and the Indians will be helped.'
Datuk Seri Anwar also took another shot at the ruling coalition yesterday, claiming he had been approached by BN leaders about the possibility of them defecting to the opposition alliance.
He dismissed, however, talk that he had been trying to 'buy' BN politicians into joining the opposition coalition.
'People have come and approached me - Umno leaders, Sarawak and Sabah and other component parties. But not one dared to raise the issue of price with me.'
Asked if he would accept them, he replied: 'Yes, if they accept our agenda. I have discussed with quite a number (of them).'
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