Chinese Muslims say it is not asking for Bumiputera status

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 ― The local Chinese Muslim community said it is not seeking Bumiputera status as it wants genuine Muslim believers.

Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (Macma) president Prof Taufiq Yap Yun Hin said the Bumiputera status was not a necessity for local Muslims who were of Chinese ethnicity.

“We don't request for (Bumiputera status); we want Chinese Muslims to sincerely believe in Islam, and not because of the Bumiputera status,” he was quoted saying in a report by local daily Sin Chew Daily.

Yap reportedly said Macma would not ask the federal government to grant Bumiputera status for the local Chinese Muslims, but said he believed the community would gladly accept if the government felt the need to do so.

Yap was responding to questions on the prime minister recently saying that he accepted that the local Indian Muslim community was like the Bumiputera.

Yap, who was speaking at Macma's 23rd annual general meeting on Saturday night, said Chinese Muslims had the responsibility of showing what true Islam was so that the Chinese community would know about the religion.

He said Chinese Muslims could better understand Malaysia's diversity as they intermarried with Malays, Indians or the indigenous community and had a multicultural background.

On July 18, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak responded to the Federation of Malaysian Indian Muslim Associations' demand for the Indian Muslim community to be gazetted as Bumiputera, saying that the government would have an in-depth study of this request. Provided by Malay Mail Online