BAYAN LEPAS: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called on all Malaysians to accept religious and racial differences in this country as a strength in uniting each other.

The country, he said, can only be successful if the people are united and reject all forms of racial bias.

He said the concept of "Masyarakat Madani", espoused by the federal government under his leadership, will have no meaning if there is still competition and narrow understanding between religion and race among the people.

"No one had asked to be born a Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Dayak, rather it was a gift from Allah that needs to be accepted and celebrated.

"Malaysians must have the courage to reject the narrow understanding of racism as well as the abuse of power and corruption.

"If we succeed in doing this, I am confident that we (Malaysia) will be able to record a very excellent level of progress that we have never recorded in the history of the country. This will only happen with an intact spirit in the country," he said.

Anwar was speaking at Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow's Chinese New Year open house at the Spice Arena here today.

Present was Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak, accompanied by his wife, Toh Puan Khadijah Mohd Nor.

Also present was Anwar's wife, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

In his speech, Anwar also praised the Penang government, which he deemed successful in centralising economic development that goes hand in hand with social justice for the people, including the urban poor and B40.

"That is why, as I emphasised before, the distribution of wealth needs to be balanced and we need to do something more for the lower class and B40 communities.

"Only then, the development will be more balanced and fair and this has been done for a long time in Penang," he said.

Anwar said a balanced and fair development for all groups of people could not be achieved if the national economy could not be driven forward and become more successful.

At the same time, he said, economic and national progress would also fail if there was no seriousness in changing the system that legitimises the practise of corruption and embezzlement.

Earlier, Anwar said he was happy to be in Penang as this was his first trip back to the state after being sworn in as the prime minister on Nov 24 last year.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2023/01/872884/updated-pm-malaysia-can-only-be-successful-if-we-reject-racial-bias