Let me argue for the abolishment in points.

1) There should be a deadline for the affirmative action.

Let me ask a simple question: why do you think we have time-limits for examinations? Simple, if we don’t have a time-limit, most of the students wouldn’t finish the paper. Well, there’s no time-limit right? Why do it now? We’ll find a time later lah. It’s hyperbolic discounting, it’s human nature.

What’s the goal for the Bumiputera rights? To increase their social status right? Well,

“A goal without a deadline is just a dream.” — Robert Herjavec

“How dare you compare affirmative action with examinations?” you say. Well let me argue this from another angle,

If you say that the Bumiputera rights should be enforced permanently because the Bumiputera social status will be dire forever, you just admitted that the affirmative action will not restore the Bumiputera social status eventually.

If you think the affirmative action will restore the Bumiputera, we need to discuss how long will it take to do so.

We need to find a deadline for the affirmative action, if not the Malays will think they are privileged perpetually, and they won’t go far because of that. Which brings me to my second point,

2) Privilege hinders the (middle class) Bumiputera society more than it helps them.

Many people think “being privileged” means a person thinks they are more remarkable than other people. True, but it’s not just that.

Being privileged also means a person thinks they are more disadvantageous than other people. Think about it.

Many Malays that I know like to give excuses for their lack of achievements due to external/uncontrollable factors rather than admitting that they are responsible for their internal/controllable factors.

Let me give an example that actually happened to me. One time I ordered groceries online. It’s my habit to pay by card because I don’t like keeping cash. The service that I used let their users pick the option during checkout, and I of course picked payment by card during delivery.

When my groceries arrived, the delivery person was supposed to bring a credit card payment terminal. He did, but he didn’t charge it. Then he said,

“Bang, pakai cash je la saya lupa charge la. Kesian la saya nak kena balik nak kena ambil terminal baru”.

Wait, I don’t have cash, as a customer I picked my option of payment by card for this very reason (if there’s no such option I wouldn’t proceed with the transaction), and now I need to go to a bank to cash out because some dude didn’t do their fucking job?

Of course there’s a difference between not charging the card terminal (internal factor) and the terminal is not working (external factor). I wouldn’t be disappointed if that incident happened because of an external factor.

At this moment, I’m not even talking about education or work status. I’m talking about the state of mind. The state of feeling privileged, “hey I have a lot of problems so you help me okay?”.

Tell me you haven’t faced the same thing with Grab drivers. “Oh my Waze is not working, please tell me the direction”. If you are not able to drive for Grab customers, don’t be online and drive for Grab. No one is forcing you to.

This privileged mentality is so prevalent in the Malay community that they think other people are responsible for their success/failure.

At the beginning of this point, I did mention that privilege affected the middle-class Malays, not necessarily the poor Malays. And by revamping the affirmative action, we will still protect the welfare of the poor, which brings me to my next point,

3) If the affirmative action is based on needs/income rather than race, the Malays will still get the most benefit.

Imagine Malaysia has 100 citizens. You say the Malays are the poorest, didn’t you? So imagine there are:

60 Malays, and 40 of them are poor. 30 Chinese, and 10 of them are poor. 10 Indians, and 5 of them are poor.

(Spare me the “your numbers are statistically wrong” bullshit. This is just an example.)

The way that the affirmative action works right now, is this: Privilege will be given to the 60 Malays, regardless of their income status. The other 40 Chinese and Indians? Nada. Even though 15 of them are poor.

This is how I think affirmative action should work: Privilege should be given to the 40 Malays, 10 Chinese, and 5 Indians who are poor.

This is why I said my numbers didn’t matter:

If you think the Malays are the poorest race in the country, changing the affirmative action to operate based on income rather than race, will still help the Malays the most than other races.

If you don’t think so, here’s a link to buy a calculator from Lazada.