Bumiputera (Malaysia)
It was an effort to defuse interethnic tensions following the 13 May Incident in 1969 and to placate the Malay majority through granting them a privileged status over Malaysian Chinese and Indians.
[2] Although the policies have succeeded in creating a significant urban Malay and Native Bornean middle class, they have been less effective in eradicating poverty among rural communities.
[7] In the book Buku Panduan Kemasukan ke Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam, Program Pengajian Lepasan SPM/Setaraf Sesi Akademik 2007/2008 (Guidebook for entry into public higher learning institutions for SPM/equivalent graduates for academic year 2007/2008), the Malaysian Higher Education Ministry defined bumiputra as follows, depending on the region of origin of the individual applicant:[8] In addition to the interpretation given above, a broader definition of bumiputera include groups such as native Indonesians, Malaysian Siamese,[10] Muslim Indian Malaysians, Peranakan and the Kristang people of Portuguese-Eurasian descent.
[11] Most of these encompass communities that were established in southeast Asia prior to the period of British colonial rule which saw large-scale immigration from China.
[12] At the time of Malaya's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, the population included many first- or second-generation immigrants who had come to fill manpower needs as indentured labourers, among rich Chinese merchants and settlers who brought their wealth and investment into Malaysia.
Article 153 itself expressly forbids particular forms of discrimination; clause 5 states that "All persons of whatever race in the same grade in the service of the Federation shall, subject to the terms and conditions of their employment, be treated impartially," while clause 9 states: "Nothing in this Article shall empower Parliament to restrict business or trade solely for the purpose of reservations for Malays."
"[16] In the 1970s, the government implemented the New Economic Policy (NEP), designed to be a more aggressive form of affirmative action for the bumiputera than Article 153.
Article 153 provides specifically for the use of quotas in the granting of scholarships, positions in the civil service, and business licences, as well as native reservations of land.
[citation needed] Former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad have both suggested that Malays should depend less on government assistance.
Following debate of the act to create the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), the government founded an agency to preserve bumiputera interests.
[17] In July 2017, Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the government would consider the request of the Muslim Indian community to be recognized as bumiputera, in what is seen as a move to woo voters in the lead-up to the upcoming general election.
[15] In a report titled 2012 Investment Climate Statement – Malaysia published by the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (US Department of State), under the heading "Ethnic Preferences", part of a paragraph describes the reality of the bumiputera policy as follows: "Many of the preference policies are opaque, with details of implementation largely left to the various ministries and civil servants within those ministries.
The NEM [New Economic Model] proposes reforming ethnic preferences in business ownership and social safety net programs.
Admission to public universities was not based upon a common examination such as the SAT or A-Levels, but rather upon a two parallel systems of either a one-year matriculation course or a two-year STPM (Malaysian Higher School Certificate) programme.
These scholarships are given on the basis of SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, the equivalent of O-Levels) results, ethnic group, and certain quotas.
"[22] Lee closed with "Meanwhile, whenever there is a failure of economic, social and educational policies, you come back and say, oh, these wicked Chinese, Indian and others opposing Malay rights.
"[23] At the 2004 annual general assembly of the United Malays National Organisation, which is the largest member of the governing coalition, deputy chair Badruddin Amiruldin cautioned against questioning the bumiputera's special rights, which met with approval from the delegates: "Let no one from the other races ever question the rights of Malays on this land.
Johari Baharum, parliamentary secretary of the Prime Minister's Department, stated that the PSD scholarships would remain quota based.
"[28] In 2006, the Minister of Higher Education, Mustapa Mohamad, stated that he wanted public universities to recruit more non-bumiputera academic staff to "strive for world-class institutions", which may have signaled a move toward less racial discrimination in academia.
