THE recent Budget 2018 has made Bumiputeras second-class citizen because it affords equal opportunities to people of all races, said Malay rights group Perkasa.

“We’ve become second-class citizen and Perkasa cannot accept this. So, when Budget 2018 was announced, it was not the mother of all budgets (as claimed by Putrajaya),” said the group’s deputy president, Ruhanie Ahmad in his opening speech at a forum organised by Perkasa last night which was reported by Sinar Harian.

He said it was against Article 153 of the Federal Constitution to provide non-Bumiputeras equal access to the programmes entitled to Bumiputeras.

“It is not because the government does not care about security issues or the social economic sustainability, but it is because the government is putting the Bumiputeras’ struggle equal to those of non-Bumiputeras.

“Although it is not wrong, it is against Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, where all the affirmative action policies and social economic empowerment programmes for Bumiputeras cannot be on the same level as what is provided to other races in the country,” he said.

Ruhanie, who used to be Mara chairman, said he could not accept that the amount of funds allocated to a Mara boarding school was equal to the amount given to Tamil vernacular schools.

“There are only 10 to 12 pupils in the Tamil school. Bumiputeras, as a core race, should be (getting) more.

He said the government’s call to urge Bumiputeras to invest in property trusts was inappropriate.

“We do not want that. We want power of purchase. But right now, who is fighting for the Bumiputeras?

“No one dares to voice it. Because of many issues involving Bumiputeras, no one dares to object either,” he said.

Ruhanie said most of those living at the poverty level in Malaysia were Bumiputeras.

“Go to Pavillion (shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur), and you can count with one hand the number of Bumiputera-owned stores. How many Bumiputeras have stores in there? Maybe one or two, and they are probably only the stalls outside the stores, but Bumiputeras are the main race (in the country),” he said.

Prime Minister Najib Razak last month presented a RM280 billion spending plan for next year, which he had touted as the mother of all budgets.

The proposed budget surpassed this year’s allocation by RM19.45 billion. In contrast, Najib’s first proposed budget, in 2009, was RM191.5 billion.

“This budget is the most vital, as it summarises all the initiatives that have spurred the economy since I took office in 2009,” Najib said.

“Indeed it is one of my main report cards.” – November 19, 2017.