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Wednesday August 19, 2009

Govt mulls over idea to remove requirement from official forms

By MAZWIN NIK ANIS


PUTRAJAYA: Stating your race on official forms will no longer be a requirement soon.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Cabinet was studying the move to drop the column requiring a person to provide information on his race in official forms.

“There is a need for us to look at Malaysians not from the perspective of race,” he said.

“But there are also views saying there is a necessity to continue with the race requirement for the purpose of gathering information,” he told reporters here after launching the book Lea­dership Evolution Serie 1: A Look at Selected Theories” by Prof Khairil Annas Ju­­soh, a special officer to the Prime Minister.

A news portal had reported that the Government would remove the “race” column from official forms and documents soon.

It said Malay­sians can opt not to state their race in official forms and documents.

It was also reported that civil service was now looking at doing away with the category in all new forms and documents.

However, in some cases, the forms will still have this column particularly in relation to special privileges of the bumiputras.

On another issue, Muhyiddin said it would be up to the Prime Minister to decide on Datuk T. Murugiah’s position in government following the Re­­gistrar of Societies’ findings that his sacking from the People’s Progressive Party was valid.

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All-round support for race-less forms proposal

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