KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government under the leadership of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is serious about implementing economic policies based on the needs of all people rather than races, said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today.
Anwar, who is chairman of the parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance, however, said this would not touch on the quota issue and the special rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“So, if quota is provided for by the constitution, I do not question; or the existence of universities like UiTM. But our approach should be comprehensive because if we have a deep sense of concern, (if) poor Malays, poor Chinese, they are (we call them) poor people,” he said.
He said this at a press conference after attending the Malaysian Economic Symposium themed “Malaysian Economy: Now and the Future” in Parliament here.
Anwar, who is the Member of Parliament for Port Dickson, said economic policies that are not based on race would also be among his priorities if he is given a chance to lead the country in the future.
“So what I need is to accelerate the process, but I am equally, if not more committed in terms of reducing inequality and elevating the position of the poor, and also check on this unbridled capitalism of helping the few conglomerates at the expense of the vast majority.
“It is not something of ‘Anwar’s programme’; it is of Pakatan Harapan’s, which has now started under Tun Mahathir,” he said.
The inaugural Malaysian Economic Symposium is co-organised by the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, The Backbencher Council (BBC) and the Caucus on Reform and Governance, and hosted by the Malaysian Parliament.
The symposium is slated to be an annual event that acts as an engagement platform with the stakeholders on the direction of Malaysia’s economy and review of the nation’s economic performance.
Among the other speakers at the symposium were Bank Negara Governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, Economic Affairs Ministry Deputy Secretary-General (Macro) Zakiah Jaafar and Dr Edmund Terence Gomez of Universiti Malaya’s Economics and Administration Faculty.
— NNN-BERNAMA