FORMER MCA vice president Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker went viral on social media after he urged the unity government of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to discontinue the Bumiputera Economic Congress, which has scheduled its next meeting for January.
@pearlking25♬ original sound – Pearlking25
While his comments attracted a lot of buzz on social media platforms, particularly on TikTok, former UMNO man Datuk Zaid Ibrahim joined the debate on the X platform responding to his comments.
MCA‘s Mr Ti spoke on why NEP should be abolished. NEP, as formulated originally has long gone—nothing to abolish. What remains is the Malay Bumiputra’s first policy. That’s what is pulling the country down. Preferential treatment implemented without examination of transparent and…
— Zaid Ibrahim (@zaidibrahim) December 8, 2023
But apparently, Zaid got it wrong since Ti Lian Ker said he did not speak about the NEP at all.
DEB ended in 2000. I didn’t mention DEB at all in my speech. All I said was “stop riding on the Malay race to steal from the country”.
Here is what have said: https://t.co/dteDJlwaTO
— #unAfraid (@tilianker) December 9, 2023
Zaid’s response to the speech is a long message that appears to have gone in the wrong direction.
Nevertheless, the controversy started after Anwar said the government is set to organise a bumiputera economic congress next year in January 2024 to determine a new direction for the agenda.
According to Bernama, Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat that the previous plans to empower the Bumiputera were only focused on their participation in the economy sector and were based solely on equity ownership but he will plan to eliminate the focus on selected companies to enhance programmes that will involve more entrepreneurs as well as small-and-medium companies.
This did not go down well with Ti, who lashed at the idea, saying the Bumiputera Economic Congress has been in existence for over five decades but has failed to produce the desired results.
Instead, he noted it has become a platform for the greedy to enrich themselves at the expense of the commoners, especially the Malays. He also urged the government to start with a new Malaysian Economic Congress for all.
Moreover, Zaid also attacked Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli for what he calls “the plans for needs-based policies”.
“Before this government came to power, we heard of plans to replace preferential and discriminatory policy with ‘needs-based policy’. Where is that policy now? Has the Economy Minister formulated the plan?” he wrote.
“Mr Ti is correct to say that another Malay Economic Congress will not contribute anything useful to the country except to the members of the Congress.” – Dec 9, 2023
