KUCHING: The 12th Malaysia Plan’s (12MP) objective of ‘A Prosperous, Inclusive, Sustainable Malaysia’ must not lose focus on the needs and unity of all Malaysians regardless of social status, race or religion.
Sarawak United People’s Party Kota Sentosa branch chairman Wilfred Yap said this is crucial for the advancement of the nation as a whole.
“This is because without unity and solidarity, it will translate into more race-based policies rather than need-based policies.
“One such example of a recent regressive race-based policy is the 51 percent Bumiputera equity rule for freight forwarding companies,” he said in a statement yesterday (Sept 29).
He hoped that no minority group or community would experience any loss or be deprived of progress under the 12MP.
“The set targets for boosting economic growth and equitable distribution of our nation’s wealth under the 12MP should focus on rapid growth and expansion of the economy.”
He hoped that all affirmative action programmes under the 12MP would consider all stakeholders fairly and equally as long as they were in the B40 households, adding that these should be based on market-friendly and market-based criteria and take into consideration their needs and merits.
“Attention should be on capacity building while simultaneously finding ways to integrate more need-based assistance to achieve the goals under the 12MP,” said Yap, who is also SUPP Public Complaints Bureau chief.
He also hoped the current government would embrace the fundamental principle of just and fair accommodation, consultation and compromise amongst all the stakeholders (races) as the basis of all policy targets and timelines in the implementation of the 12MP.
