DR Mahathir Mohamad, who once pushed for Malays-centric polices as prime minister, has now said he doesn’t believe in ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, the idea that the Malay race should be superior.

Speaking at a forum last night, he said people of all races in the country should work together and that Malaysia had a nice racial balance with each ethnic group having its own identity and role that benefitted the country.

“We shouldn’t disturb the balance, it is just nice. The Chinese basically control the economy. The Malays are able to do better in politics and they are not the ‘tuan’ because they talk about ‘ketuanan Melayu’. 

“I don’t believe in ‘Ketuanan Melayu’.”

Malaysian Indians, he said, still needed help, especially those who were marginalised.

Dr Mahathir, who is now chairman of opposition Pakatan Harapan pact, was speaking at a forum on the impact of China’s investments in Malaysia. 

During his years as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, Dr Mahathir’s administration instituted pro-Bumiputera policies in many areas, including education opportunities and corporate equity.

Malays have also held political dominance through Umno, the lynchpin party of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition that Dr Mahathir once led.

Dr Mahathir hailed Malaysia’s founding fathers of different races for working together to obtain independence for Malaya from the British in 1957.

He said the British had doubts on how people from three major races were going to work together because of their differences in language, religion and culture.

“The British said the poor Malays will rob the Chinese of all their property and nationalise everything. The British concluded that this country would go up in flames. But, our founding fathers Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Cheng Lock and V.T. Sambanthan, decided we should share this country, which was very smart,” he said, referring to the first prime minister, the founder of Chinese party MCA and the former president of Indian party MIC, respectively.

Dr Mahathir said that if any race wanted “to take 100% for themselves”, Malaysia would never grow and develop as a nation.

“We are not yet a developed nation, but compared with other countries who have achieved independence with us, they are far behind us, except for Singapore.

“So the idea of sharing is a great idea and because of that, despite the multiracial population this country has been relatively peaceful and has developed very well.” – August 25, 2017.