tutorial section

We are asked to find an article as a group and discuss it in the class. Therefore, me and my groupmates agreed on selecting this article on Standardize Bumi status.

KUCHING: The definition of bumiputra status in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak should be standardised, said Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) president William Ghani Bina.

He said under the Federal Constitution, a child born in the peninsula would be accorded the status as long as one of the parents was a bumiputra.

In Sabah, a child is considered a bumiputra if his or her father is one.

However, for Sarawak, the Federal Constitution states that for a child to be a bumiputra, both parents must be bumiputra.

“How can we have three different definition of bumiputra status if we want to promote the 1Malaysia concept?

“We want this to be rectified, and to get Sabah and Sarawak to follow the same definition as being used in the peninsula,” Ghani said yesterday.

Urging the Federal Government to standardise the definition, he said the basis should be race and not religion.

Ghani was asked to comment on the plight of several Sarawakian students who had been denied places in university matriculation programmes because they were of mixed parentage and, therefore, did not enjoy bumiputra status.

Although this is a sensitive issue, but on my opinion, the government should standardize the bumiputra status because sabah and sarawak are also parts of Malaysia and they have the rights to be one of the bumiputra status as easily as the peninsular Malaysia obtain their's status.