A leading opposition figure today said the country was losing out economically to regional rivals because of long-running policies favouring ethnic Malays.Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia’s ability to attract foreign investment had been compromised by keeping the country’s affirmative action policies in favour of the Malay majority.”That policy is obsolete… We are losing our competitiveness. Malaysia is less competitive than the 1990s,” Anwar, whose PKR party is formally led by his wife, told reporters in Hong Kong.
“Foreign investments, we have lost. Growth, we have lost. Attractiveness, which is key to an emerging market, is lost.
“Not to China and India, but to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia because of our obsolete policies. If you persist in pursuing this agenda, you do it not only at the expense of the Chinese and the Indians, but also of the Malays.”
Malaysia has pursued the policies for Malays and indigenous groups known as bumiputeras since the 1970s to close a wealth gap with the minority Chinese community.
In recent months, the government has been shaken by rare public demonstrations which erupted last November, including against alleged discrimination against Malaysia’s ethnic Indians.
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