A student greets Fahmi Zainol after the hearing, November 7, 2014. ― Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — A Malay non-governmental organisation today demanded authorities initiate a sedition investigation against a student group advocating equality and unity through the abolition of Bumiputera privileges and vernacular schools.

Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) director-general Faizan Mod Noor accused the group Anak Muda Harapan Malaysia (AMHM) of violating the Federal Constitution with their call, and urged the police to haul up the six students, including Universiti Malaya’s former student council president Fahmi Zainol, who are in it.

“They have to be investigated for making statements that are contradictory to the national aspiration, by asking the government to equalise the rights of all races in Malaysia,” he said after lodging the report at the Dang Wangi police station here.

“We have not been told under which section the case will be probed but we have demanded that it be done under the Sedition Act as this group is provocating sensitive issues,” Faizan said when contacted by Malay Mail Online.

The JMM leader also singled out Fahmi as the “main culprit” in AMHM, saying that the student activist required special attention due to alleged links to opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

On January 26, AMHM issued an open letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and federal lawmakers to demand the abolition of Malay-centric policies and vernacular schools to pave the way for a “better Malaysia”.

Professing itself to be “a new liberal and moderate movement that seeks to bring all Malaysians together”, AMHM asked Malaysians to be “less sensitive in discussing national matters publicly” before making its bid for meritocracy.

Among its lengthy list of 15 recommendations, AMHM pushed for the establishment of “a neutral and transparent commission” to review the need for pro-Bumiputera policies and amendment of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution that grants the Yang di-Pertuan Agong the responsibility of safeguarding the special position of Malays, the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, and “the legitimate interests of other communities”.

AMHM also called for the government to declare Malaysia to be a secular state as backed by Paragraph 57, Constitutional Proposals 1957 and public statements by Malaysia’s founding fathers: Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Dr Ismail Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn.

Taking a leaf out of the US government’s book, the group said the Malaysian government should set up an official web site for petitions on issues that it must respond to if the threshold of 100,000 online signatures is met.

Vernacular schools are often accused of being race silos, but continue to grow in popularity as an increasing number of non-Malay parents opt to send their children to Mandarin- and Tamil-language schools over the Malay-language national schools.

The Malay and Bumiputera communities enjoy privileges accorded to them under the Federal Constitution, along with affirmative action introduced under the now-defunct New Economic Policy (NEP) that was created following the 1969 race riots.

Although technically expiring in 1990, many of the NEP’s race-based policies continue to be enforced and even expanded.