“The business sector of Malaysia is dominated by the Chinese. Non-Chinese cannot find good jobs there. If the government does not take Malays, they will be jobless,” he wrote.

He also ranted against vernacular schools and ethnic groups keeping their identities, lauding instead the assimilation of minorities in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Similarly, he pointed to the United States where descendants of migrants can no longer speak their ethnic language.

Dr Mahathir was earlier responding to DAP’s P. Ramasamy who is accusing him of being racist for distinguishing the descendants of migrants from China and India as “orang asing” or “outsiders”.

“As I said I am not racist. I am a national of the country called Malaysia. I have a right to a fair share of the wealth of this country.

“The real racist is Ramasamy. He is against Malays and does not want them to even have a small share of this country. In the name of multiracialism, he wants everything for the other races,” he said.

Dr Mahathir also slammed non-Malays for wishing to identify themselves as Malaysian Chinese or Malaysian Indians, allegedly unlike Malays who only identify as Malaysian.

“But in Malaysia, Chinese Malaysians habitually speak Mandarin and Indians speak in the Indian provincial dialects.

“Only Chinese live in the urban area. The Malays cannot — too expensive,” he said, noting that while his ancestors were from India, he chose to identify himself as a Malay.

He later stressed that Malays were not being racist when they spoke of each other since they are of this country.

Dr Mahathir’s racial remarks today came after he joined Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) led by Datuk Ibrahim Ali last month, which was formed as the political extension of his Malay supremacist group Perkasa. MM

Muhyiddin set for overnight detention at MACC HQ

The MACC confirmed that it had detained former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin at 1pm at its headquarters after he presented himself to have his statement recorded regarding the Jana Wibawa programme and related issues.

“The MACC has also obtained permission from the Attorney-General’s Chambers to prosecute Muhyiddin in the Kuala Lumpur Court on March 10, 2023.

“Muhyiddin, who is also Bersatu president, will face several charges under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001,” read the MACC’s brief statement.

Malaysiakini has managed to confirm that the former prime minister will be detained overnight. He went in for questioning at 11.15am and has yet to exit the building.

Earlier, MACC chief Azam Baki reportedly confirmed that Muhyiddin will be charged tomorrow but refused to elaborate.

The Bersatu president appeared before MACC investigators on Feb 16, where they recorded his statement pertaining to the probe into two of the party’s bank accounts, which have been frozen.

MACC had frozen the bank accounts to facilitate investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act. The two accounts reportedly contained about RM40 million. MKINI

MALAY MAIL  /  MKINI

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