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Monday May 12, 2008

No social contract among races, says Ungku Aziz


SHAH ALAM: There is no social contract among the country’s multiracial communities, opined Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid.

The former Universiti Malaya vice chancellor said the social contract was “a fantasy created by politicians of all sorts of colours depending on their interest”.

Ungku Aziz, who did not elaborate on the subject further, said this at a forum organised by the Alumni Look East Policy Society.

The other panellists at the forum, which was moderated by Berita Publishing Editor-in-Chief Datuk A. Kadir Jasin, were former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam.

Speaking to reporters later, Dr Mahathir disagreed with Ungku Aziz and said a social contract did exist although not in written form.

“There is no written social contract. But there was an understanding among the founders of the Alliance that we should share.

“Tunku (first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman) gave one million citizenships to the Chinese, and in response, he expected the Chinese to give some support to the demand for independence and to the sharing concept. He didn’t spell it (the contract) out 100%, but there was this understanding, not written,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said the social contract was a social understanding, which included sharing the economic cake with the bigger portion given to the bumiputras “so, eventually they can catch up with the non-bumiputras.”

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