Gov't not ready to remove race from forms

Several factors and needs have to be considered before a proposal to remove the race column from government official forms can be implemented, Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong said this was because information like race and religion as contained in the MyKad chip was needed for statistics.

"Generally, we can identify the race from the name but this is not the case for some races in Sabah and Sarawak as the different is not clear and can be confusing," he said.

Liew was replying to Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) who asked whether the government was serious in removing the race and religion column from government official forms.

He said the information was also needed by poverty eradication programmes aimed at restructuring the society.

"Developed countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and United States need information on race in certain forms for equal opportunities monitoring.

"It is also important in the enforcement of laws involving religion."

He said the 1Malaysia concept was based on unity in diversity and as such the cultures had to be respected, conserved and celebrated to nurture unity.

"Information on race and religion can be used for this and is not a problem to unity. The problem arises from a racial attitude and approach," he added.

- Bernama