Malaysia Rejects Bid To Stop Discrimination System
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AHN) - Malaysia said it would reject any bid to have their system of discrimination in favor of ethnic Malays canceled. Malaysia and the United States are now in the process of negotiating a free trade pact which will cover Malaysian government procurement awarding profitable contracts to Malays or bumiputera. The country's Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said that Washington knew Malaysia's necessity to keep its policies for Malays, who comprise about 60 percent of the population, as its sovereign right. "If government procurement in transparency is what is required, no problem. But if anybody, the U.S. or anybody, wants to impinge upon our rights to put forward or to implement a particular type of policy, that's no go," she told AFP. "If anybody tells us we would like for you to change your policy, the answer is a big fat no." The free trade agreement between two countries is scheduled to be signed by mid-2007. Foreign investors have expressed protest on the transparency in Malaysian tendering processes and the presence of little procurement opportunities. In response, Rafidah said businesses were free to bid for tenders issued internationally. "They can argue till the cows come home because we have our own internal policies, which is based on a socio-economic development premise," Aziz said. The two nations had jus |
