YOURSAY | 'There's no point telling them they're lazy, some work multiple jobs.'

Blaming other races won't resolve issues faced by Malays, says Dr M

Quigonbond: Poor Malays are going to see Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement and say he is completely out of touch.

That there are poor Malays in great numbers is a testament to the failure of the New Economic Policy (NEP) that has enriched a handful of Malays and their crony Chinese/Indian/other counterparts while leaving the rest of the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other Malaysians to bite the dust.

Then they create this monster called 3R (race, religion, royalty) to protect their vested interests.

Now, they find it hard to slay the monster because it has taken a life of its own and is used to great effect by the opposition Umno and PAS and their surrogates such as Ikatan Muslimim Malaysia (Isma), and even by some recalcitrant politicians from Pakatan Harapan.

As a powerful economic affairs minister, Azmin Ali is doing nothing. For that reason alone, he is also not fit to be prime minister whether be it after Mahathir or PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

There is no point telling the Malays they are lazy. Some are already working two jobs, like their Chinese/Indian/other brothers and sisters.

What the government needs to do is to fix the economy, break the monopolies, allow competition, terminate rules that divide the people, so that everyone can come together and use our natural diversity to work together, innovate and create something new that can be sold to the world, and provide the training and support for the needy to uplift them and create new opportunities for them.

This, in turn, means a world-class education system. Here, a Bersatu minister has been virtually useless in his job - doing touch-up paint job to a wall that is blocking progress.

Newday: Mahathir, yes, it has been a long-term dilemma.

But, there is one type of Malay that you have missed discussing on repeated occasions, and those are the extraordinarily wealthy Malays who have assumed the roles of intermediaries and proxies for any business that wants to work here.

They are also of a level of arrogance with their slippery financial gain, such that they are not recognisable as any of the Malays you discuss in your blog.

The only special talents required for their work are just a cunning and conniving nature to achieve a path of fantastic self-enrichment. Due to the existence of these people, projects cost more than double their actual value, without any benefit to anyone else apart from the intermediaries, cheats and cronies.

For some reason, there was an exponential growth in this type of Malays under successive Umno-led BN governments. For some reason, you choose to ignore any conversation about this type of Malay who has probably done more damage to the aspirations of the poor Malays than anyone else.

Why? Because the poor look to these self-enriching intermediaries and see their fabulous and flaunted material wealth and say to themselves: I want to be like that. That is, to be conniving and cunning.

Certainly, that is not a role model for many Malays to follow if we want a strong, ethically-driven economy. I don't know why I am complaining as business and ethics appear to be almost incompatible in this country.

Pegasus: The Malays are not lazy, Mahathir. Many of them work hard delivering food 15 hours a day, seven days a week. Many Grab drivers work 15 hours a day. Market and pasar malam traders work 10 hours a day, rain or shine.

Most of the Malays work hard, but no matter how hard they work, they can only earn a meagre income barely enough to feed their families.

Their fates are like this is because of our poor education system not emphasising English. Not fluent in English has made them less confident, can’t learn skills, and because of that, they can’t get jobs even though some are graduates.

If you want to blame, blame the nationalistic education system that you brought along when you became prime minister the first time. That has messed up many generations of the Malays.

So, please don’t say the Malays are lazy or unproductive. If they are, it is because you made them so.

YTMQ: Indeed, the Malays whom I've come across in the private sector and those who are running businesses without government support are smart and hardworking.

It's those whom you had spoon-fed and still trying to spoon-feed who have become lazy, and in many instances, stupid too.

Your policies represent racism and laziness. You would do this nation a favour by leaving.

Anonymous_be07867c: Mahathir, your double-tongue speaking will not help the Malays. Keep giving them as much as you can using all the apparatus of the country from the cradle to the grave.

How many years you have been telling this and what have you done? You still care about pro-bumiputera affirmative actions.

Please, Mahathir, we are sick of you saying the same for generations, even after giving you the second chance to realise your past mistakes. Our verdict is you can never change.

Fair Play: The Malays will continue to be poor into the next century if their political and religious leaders continue to instil the crutch mentality and tell them what to do, what not to do, when to and how to do it; in every department of their political, educational, social, economic and religious life, from the cradle to grave.

Kangkuong: This is typical of Mahathir. After he pisses off Indians and Chinese by protecting controversial Muslim preacher Dr Zakir Naik and defending the khat issue, he attacks Malays to gain back some brownie points with the Chinese and Indians.

See the pattern? Don’t take us for fools.

I am part Malay, and to say Malays are lazy is not correct. I have lazy Chinese relatives too. The difference is they know how to survive even if they are not as driven as the stereotypical Chinese.

The problem is not being Malay, the problem is the government giving Malays too many crutches, thinking that protecting Malays will help them, but it ends up hurting Malays in the long run.

It has to start with education, including education on family planning, managing finances, et cetera, especially with the less educated, rural Malays and non-Malays.

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