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The special position of the bumiputeras as prescribed under Article 153 of the Constitution is limited in scope to only the reservation of reasonable quotas in three sectors - public services, educational places and business licences.
Hence, the present rampant racial discrimination practiced at almost every level of our national life are mostly in violation of the Constitution. Examples of these violations are:
Racial discrimination in the appointment and promotion of employees in publicly-funded bodies, resulting in these organisations becoming almost mono-raced bodies. These bodies include the police, the civil service, the army and various semi-and quasi-government agencies. Imposition of compulsory share quotas for bumiputeras in non-bumiputera companies. Imposition of compulsory price discounts and quotas in favour of bumiputeras for housing. Completely lop-sided allocation of scholarships and seats of learning in clearly unreasonable proportions that reflect racial discrimination. Blanket barring of non-bumiputeras to publicly funded academic institutions (that includes the Mara institutions).
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Barring of non-bumiputeras from tenders and contracts controlled directly or indirectly by the government.
Our Constitution provides for only one class of citizenship and all citizens are equal before the law. The presence of Article 153 does not alter this fact, as it is meant only to protect the bumiputera from being ‘squeezed out’ by other races by allowing the reservation of reasonable quotas in certain sectors of national life.
However, this Constitution has now been hijacked through decades of hegemony by the ruling political party resulting in the virtual monopoly of the public sector by a single race.
The ensuing racism, corruption and corrosion of integrity of our democratic institutions have brought a serious retrogression to our nation-building process in terms of national unity, morality, discipline and competitiveness of our people.
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