News analysis
Myth of the poor Malay persists in Malaysian politics
Urban-rural income gap applies regardless of race; Bumiputera-only statistics misleading
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Nearly three-quarters of Malaysia's Bumiputera - comprising Malays and aboriginal communities - live in an urbania of skyscrapers, labyrinthine road networks and high-speed Internet. And just like urbanites from the country's minority Chinese and Indian groups, they earn significantly more than those who live in rural areas.
Yet the trope of the Malay-Muslim majority languishing economically in the villages while the Chinese enrich themselves in the cities continues to hold sway in Malaysian politics, where winning the Malay vote is the most crucial plank to power.
