KUALA LUMPUR: The unity government has been urged to implement the concept of Malaysia Madani with pragmatic solutions, policies which reflect the country’s diversity, as well as promote moderation and progress.
“MCA calls on the government to defend our nation’s system of multiculturalism and diversity. The government and the Opposition need to cease vicious rivalry, which provokes racial and religious issues, and focus on developing the nation’s economy and improving the rakyat’s well-being,” said delegates at MCA’s 70th annual general meeting here yesterday.
In this first party AGM after the 15th General Election, subjects like good governance, the economy, taxation and education are some of the key areas that became the focus of 20 resolutions that were unanimously passed by delegates.
Notable ones include calling on the Education Ministry to strengthen Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, and avoid inserting too many religious elements in the curriculum.
The government has also been called to handle allocations for schools of various streams transparently, including publishing the details of funding received by schools of every stream.
“The Education Ministry should be stringent in handling the statistics and training of teachers. The ministry’s data on teachers must be consistent with the actual situation to ensure sufficiently trained teachers are posted to schools of all streams,” said the party delegates.
MCA called for more support for Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), arguing that TAR UMT has, over the years, provided affordable and high-quality tertiary education to underprivileged students from all races.
On this, MCA called on the government to fulfil its pledge to continue disbursing the matching grant for TAR UMT to support the university, as practised since the inception of Tunku Abdul Rahman College in 1969.
On the economy, MCA recommended the government reinstate the goods and services tax (GST), a taxation system implemented in more than 170 countries, and set the tax rate at 4% to increase the nation’s revenue and enhance economic development.
“MCA urges the government to formulate fair and reasonable tax and subsidy policies to narrow the gap between the B40, M40 and T20 groups instead of merely targeting the T20 and M40 groups.
“MCA calls on the government to increase its efforts to provide targeted assistance to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and improve their productivity to maintain competitive advantages in digital transformation and regional competition,” it added.
On a separate note, the delegates said they fully support the new leadership and urged all members to revitalise the party.
“MCA fully supports the party’s central committee to carry out internal party reforms. These include innovations in organising, publicity, training and crafting strategies to tackle challenges in any political situation,” the resolution document read.
On the Federal Government, MCA urged the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to fulfil their pledge to carry out legislative and institutional reforms.
“These include separating the powers of the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Public Prosecutor; the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner to be appointed by, and be answerable to, Parliament; regulating public appointments in statutory bodies and GLCs; enacting a Political Financing Act; passing a Freedom of Information Act; and amending the Official Secrets Act.
“In implementing legislative and institutional reforms, MCA urges the government to ensure that Acts enacted or amended, and policies formulated, will uphold checks and balances, transparency, professionalism, accountability and independence,” said the party delegates.
