Malaysian Leader Targets Affirmative Action
BY JAMES HOOKWAY
KUALA LUMPUR”Malaysia’s dilemma over whether to end some of the world’s most entrenched systems of racial-preference laws is coming to a head.
Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to outline this month plans to revitalize how the country’s export-driven economy is run, with details to follow in June. The program might mean a push to change a decades-old system of preferential treatment for the country’s majority Muslim-Malay population, which has often economically lagged behind its ethnic compatriots.
People familiar with his plans say he might move to liberalize some sectors of the economy, giving nonethnic Malays a larger role. He …