Opposition leader Boo causes a stir at assembly

JOHOR BARU: State Opposition leader Dr Boo Cheng Hau caused quite a stir at the state assembly after he equated “bumiputraism” with the South African apartheid policy which discriminated against non-whites.
Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, who was visibly annoyed with Dr Boo’s choice of word, said that the state assemblyman was merely using the comparison to seek public attention.
“To me, his aim is to provoke negative feelings within some of the members of the public by using such terms in the assembly. It is very provocative,” he said.
In his 15-minute speech, the Skudai assemblymen alleged that some banks, in charging different interest rates to bumiputra and non-bumiputras were practising discrimination.
He said that the interest rates were differentiated according to member (bumiputra) and non-members (non-bumiputras).
“The non-bumiputras are charged a higher interest rate without taking into account their socio-economic status,” he said.
Dr Boo, who previously studied in Jamaica for five years, also said that the worse apartheid aspect was that socio-economic, education, cultural and language were based on “ketuanan” or “kebumiputraan”.
Abdul Ghani explained that certain banks such as Bank Rakyat that operated as a cooperative, gave better benefits to members compared to non-members.
“There is some differences there and coincidentally, the bank practises the syariah way of doing business,” he said, adding that there were also Malays who were non-members and they did not enjoy the benefits given to members.
Abdul Ghani explained that “ketuanan” carried the meaning of the owner (tuan) of the land that is the King (Raja Melayu).
“When the British left Malaya, which was their colony, they returned it to the owner (tuan) of the land that is the King,” he said, adding that the term “ketuanan” did not carry political elements.

tunku : bank charging different interest rates? which bank is doing that? i have not heard of this.about bank rakyat gave better benefits to members compared to non-members that is different as bank rakyat is a cooperative bank, of course more benefits given to the members. do not compare malaysia with south africa apartheid system.how will you call it apartheid when the so called discriminated group is the one who rule(economically) and own the businesses in this country ? again ketuanan melayu is being brought up, what about karpal's statement "singh is king" ? again and again this issue is being manipulated by the opposition.enough of this nonsense and get your feet on the ground and face the economy challenges that is our main concern now.