KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Pardoned Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday that decades-old affirmative action policies for the country’s Malay majority must be discarded in favour of a new program to help the poor regardless of race. Anwar, 70, was convicted of sodomy in 2015 in a case he said was politically motivated. Anwar said poor Malays will benefit more from merit-based policies that are transparent. The policy is a sensitive issue, with many Malays fearing they will lose their privileges under a new government. He said Najib appeared to be still in denial and that he advised Najib to concede defeat.

Source: National Post May 17, 2018 07:11 UTC