PUTRAJAYA: The government’s affirmative action to help the Malays will not achieve its objectives if the Malays themselves do not want to change their character and value system.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government had introduced many policies and provided support to the Malays through the affirmative action.
He said the affirmative action included giving opportunities and support to them but because they were the same Malays unwilling to change for the better they had failed.
“That’s because you don’t change the character of the person. I don’t like to say this about my own race but I have to say this. I have to tell them that you are wrong. Affirmative action is about support but the changing of character is something that we have to concentrate on. We have realised that affirmative action alone cannot make a success out of the Malays.
“The most important thing is the character of the people, the value system of the people. The value system is wrong, and with that value system that they have, it will not bring success to them,” he said in an interview with selected media organisations at his office here.
He said it was important for the Malays to change the value system that they held on to and practised, especially that which was not suitable for success.
“If we do not work, we do not have an income. If we do not strive, we do not progress. When I say the Malays are lazy, people get angry with me, but that is the truth. If we do not want to work, others are ready to work. In the end, foreigners will own this country. Now, we already have seven million (foreign workers) in Malaysia.
Dr Mahathir said that for the Malays, the best value is the Islamic value as it proposes many good things but still many don’t follow that.- Bernama
