Editing Bumiputera (Malaysia) (section)

==Opposition to the bumiputera policy==

===Early opposition===
In the 1965 session of [[Parliament of Malaysia|Parliament]], [[Singapore]]'s [[Prime Minister of Singapore|Prime Minister]] [[Lee Kuan Yew]] (who was also a member of that Parliament) questioned the implementation of Malay rights as proposed. Lee asked, "How does the Malay in the ''[[kampung]]'' find his way out into this modernised civil society? By becoming servants of the 0.3 per cent who would have the money to hire them to clean their shoe, open their motorcar doors?" and "How does telling a Malay bus driver that he should support the party of his Malay director (UMNO) and the Chinese bus conductor to join another party of his Chinese director (MCA) – how does that improve the standards of the Malay bus driver and the Chinese bus conductor who are both workers in the same company?"<ref name="lky">{{cite news| url=http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/98/0925/cs2-4.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119173437/http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/98/0925/cs2-4.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=19 January 2013 | work=CNN | title=Memoirs of Lee Kwan Yew}}</ref>

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. They don't oppose Malay rights. They, the Malay, have the right as Malaysian citizens to go up to the level of training and education that the more competitive societies, the non-Malay society, has produced. That is what must be done, isn't it? Not to feed them with this obscurantist doctrine that all they have got to do is to get Malay rights for the few special Malays and their problem has been resolved."<ref>Lee, Kuan Yew (2000). ''The Singapore Story'', Abridged edition, pp. 327–328. Federal Publications.</ref>

===Policy apologists and ongoing opposition===
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. Don't question the religion because this is my right on this land."<ref>{{cite news | first=Ioannis | last=Gatsiounis | title=Abdullah stirs a hornets' nest | date=2 October 2004 | url=http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FJ02Ae05.html | work=Asia Times | access-date=8 November 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804214511/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FJ02Ae05.html | archive-date=4 August 2011 | url-status=unfit }}</ref> In 2004, Mohd. Johari Baharum, parliamentary secretary of the Prime Minister's Department, stated that the PSD scholarships would remain quota based. He added that there were no plans to convert this to a merit based system, and that the total value of the PSD scholarship since 1996 was 2.4 billion [[ringgit]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/30623 |title=malaysiakini.com |publisher=malaysiakini.com |date=7 October 2004 |access-date=6 February 2014}}</ref>

Another controversial aspect is that the [[Orang Asli]] of Peninsular Malaysia are not considered bumiputera under the federal constitution. As their settlement predates that of the Malays, it is considered by many, that bumiputera is about the promotion one religion over another, especially since Orang Asli are much worse off than Muslim Malays. Others argue that the [[Orang Asli]] are in fact considered bumiputera.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.temiar.com/temiar.html |title=temiar.com |publisher=temiar.com |access-date=6 February 2014}}</ref>

On 1 March 2009, [[Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat]], the spiritual leader of the opposition [[Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party]] stated that the term ''bumiputera'' is racist and the policy prevented other races from receiving government aid. Nik Aziz's remarks were made in response to the criticisms and threats made by [[UMNO]] against [[Democratic Action Party (Malaysia)|Democratic Action Party]]'s [[Boo Cheng Hau]], the opposition leader in [[Johor]] when Boo was reported to have compared "bumiputeraism" with state [[apartheid]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Nik Aziz says 'bumiputera' term is racist |date=1 March 2009 |url=http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/19428-nik-aziz-says-bumiputera-term-is-racist |work=The Malaysian Insider |access-date=1 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302051938/http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/19428-nik-aziz-says-bumiputera-term-is-racist |archive-date=2 March 2009  }}</ref>

On 1 February 2015, Swiss academic [[Tariq Ramadan]] reflected on how non-Muslims have been treated as second class citizens. He stated, "I'm sorry but some of your fellow citizens in this country who are not Muslims are facing this discrimination, they are facing injustices."<ref>{{Cite web |last=AR |first=Zurairi |date=2015-02-01 |title=Look in the mirror, Muslim don tells Malaysians critical of Western discrimination |url=https://www.malaymail.com/article/99014 |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=Malay Mail |language=en}}</ref>