Proposal to eliminate the 'race' column is extreme, says Ibrahim Ali

He said, eliminating the word ‘race’ in any form means to eliminate Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, especially matters involving the rights of the Malays.

Ibrahim also questioned why the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup had not proposed for a national integrated school as a way of cultivating unity.

“What is Joseph Kurup’s aim in proposing this? Maybe it is ‘unity’. What paper can obstruct unity?

“Why doesn’t Joseph Kurup propose for a national integrated school aimed at cultivating unity? The ‘race’ identification is important in a form as the Malay community are still left behind in many matters,” said Ibrahim in a text message to Astro AWANI today.

He added that administration needs to recognize an individual’s name based on race and each country has its own dominant race and religion according to its history.

“There are many other reasons why this should be maintained in each form,” said Ibrahim.

He added, should the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak agree to the proposal made by Josep will only provide space for more Malays to stop supporting UMNO. Ibrahim also urge all Malaysians to carefully evaluate each proposal made.

Earlier, Joseph in his opening speech at the Unity Dialogue session said it was time to eliminate the ‘race’ column in all forms in the country.