The Malaysian Insider
19 June 2015

The Malays “won’t be better off” if opposition parties take over Malaysia in the next general election, said veteran journalist Datuk A Kadir Jasin, but neither will they be “worse off”.

But those who knew how to take advantage of opportunities would benefit from a new non-Barisan Nasional government, said Kadir, the former group editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times.

“The opposition pact cannot sideline Malays and Muslims if in the long term they want to govern fairly and preserve national peace,” Kadir wrote in his latest blog posting.

Kadir said that he had written this assessment as a response to the numerous questions he received over what will become of the Malays if the Barisan government was to fall in the next general election.

Kadir said the Malays would still have leverage in the new government by virtue of their dominance of the police, army and civil service.

“If the Chinese used their economic strength and the Indians used their dominance in the professional classes to influence any new government, the Malays can also balance this out with their strength in the civil service.”

Based on the experience of how Pakatan Rakyat ruled Selangor and Penang, Kadir said, Malay Muslims did not lose the rights and special position accorded to them in the Federal Constitution.

“There were no big changes to the Malays and Islam since 2008. We have seen how the Malays in Kelantan are poor under the PAS state government.

“After PAS entered the opposition pact, the Malays of Kelantan remained the same – backward and poor.”

Kadir said the opposition would continue to hand out “goodies” to the Malays and Bumiputeras in return for their support, a tactic which they copied from the BN.

“Whoever rules Malaysia would need Malay and Bumiputera support not just because they are the majority but their population is rapidly expanding compared with the Chinese and the Indians.”

Kadir said that the Chinese and the Indian communities, specifically the business and professional classes, would try to influence the economic policies of the new non-BN government.

“They will demand for more rights and greater say in policies related to the economy, education and labour. They will certainly want more involvement in government-linked companies that are now dominated by Bumiputeras.

“This is where Bumiputera power will be the most threatened. The opposition will certainly not give priority to Bumiputera entrepreneurs who are seen as proxies to BN parties and will use the excuse of corporate failure to sideline Bumiputera executives.”

Kadir added that concession agreements and easy loans would be reviewed or cancelled by a PR administration just like what was being done with water and toll agreements in Selangor. – June 19, 2015.