Selangor Bersatu Youth has taken a swipe at MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun for challenging DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to stop the government from holding a bumiputera congress next month.

Its chief, Adif Syan Abdullah, claimed that this call against the 2018 Congress on the Future of Bumiputeras & the Nation (KBN 2018) was not only extreme in nature, but also unconstitutional.

“Such a statement should not have been uttered by a senior MCA leader.

“This shows the MCA vice-president is desperate, and shows the MCA’s true colours of not having a sound mind and being ignorant of the Federal Constitution,” he said in a statement.

Yesterday, Chew urged Lim to stop playing the race card ahead of the Balakong by-election, and said that if Pakatan Harapan truly stood for unity, then he should put a stop to the “congress of bumiputera.”

“If he really cares about unity, I hope that he can go and stop Bersatu from organising the congress of bumiputera. This is what I think he should do,” she said outside the Balakong MCA campaign operation room.

Lim had earlier remarked that Harapan’s use of the coalition logo in the by-election showed that it stood for racial unity – as opposed to MCA’s use of its own party logo, which showed that it only represented the interests of a single ethnic group.

Commenting further, Adif reminded MCA that former premier Najib Razak had chaired the Bumiputera Economic Council, which was founded after the establishment of the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Council on September 2013.

“At the time there did not appear to be any resistance, criticisms or even comments from MCA leaders,” he said.

’Still a need to empower bumiputera economy’

In the context of a ‘new Malaysia’, Adif said, the congress must be held to set the agenda for bumiputera economic empowerment.

“How does Malaysia expect to develop without developing the bumiputera economy, in a situation where 60 percent of Malaysians are Malays?

“MCA’s move to stop discussions on the bumiputera economic interests only further confirms that it is no longer relevant in the current political scenario,” his statement read.

Adif further claimed that MCA appears to have an anti-Malay or anti-bumiputera tendencies, and that its latest call is an indication that the party has intentions to abolish existing bumiputera privileges.

The Economic Affairs Ministry announced on Saturday that KBN 2018 will be part of the government's efforts to formulate a new bumiputera empowerment agenda.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is set to officiate the Sept 1 congress, which will feature presentations by the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia and the Malay Consultative Council.