Tawfik Ismail says Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s decision to focus on policies such as Malaysia Incorporated was at the expense of policies aimed at fostering unity.
00:01A former UMNO MP says Dr. Mahathir Mohamad must share the blame for the deterioration of race relations,
00:08a decline the former Prime Minister claims accelerated after he resigned in 2003.
00:14Taufik Ismail said Mahathir's decision to focus on policies such as Malaysia Inc.,
00:20which encourages closer collaboration between the public and private sectors,
00:25sidelined initiatives aimed at fostering unity.
00:28He said the nation's founding fathers, Tunggu Abdurrahman, Tan Cheng Lok and Viti Sambanten,
00:34had built a coalition of patriots to ensure all communities contributed to nation-building.
00:40However, Taufik said when Mahathir came to power in 1981,
00:44policies aimed at repairing race relations after the 1969 racial riots became less of a priority,
00:51with his administration instead exploiting legal safeguards for Malay rights to promote greater Malay dominance.
00:59On May 8, Mahathir said the racial divide seemed more pronounced now than during his tenure,
01:04attributing it to the lack of a unifying national language and the persistence of race-based political parties.
01:11Political scientist Wong Chin Huat of Sunri University said the perceived racial calm during Mahathir's tenure stemmed from his authoritarian rule.
01:21He said Mahathir subscribed to the belief that Malaysia belongs to the Malays,
01:25disregarding the perspectives of minorities and framing national unity as contingent upon their assimilation.
01:31So thank you for watching for the following this video and that's a great discussion.
01:33Well, I m Tunggu Abdurrahman, Tunggu Abdurrahman, Tunggu Abdurrahman, Tunggu Abdurrahman,
