Najib tidak tolak akan hapus DEB ????

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is ready to end the special privileges for the Malays, but stressed that this must be done gradually.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, the Prime Minister-designate said "if we do not change, the people will change us".

"In the not-too-distant future, we will see all the elements of the New Economic Policy being replaced." He didn't say when that might occur.

"It's a huge challenge," Najib said in the interview yesterday. "There must be this political will and desire to change within Umno. I don't think we can expect people to look at us in more favourable terms unless we change, unless we rectify our weaknesses."

The Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition used the scrapping of the NEP as a campaign pledge to inflict record losses on the ruling Barisan Nasional in the March general election.

The NEP was devised by Najib's father, Tun Abdul Razak, when he was Malaysia's second prime minister to boost the Malays' economic status — through job allocations, cheaper homes and other benefits — in a country where ethnic Chinese had long been more prosperous and remain so. About 65 per cent of country's 27 million people are Malay.

According to Bloomberg, by offering to scrap the NEP, at an unspecified time, and replace it with a needs-based system, Najib is moving closer to the stance of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who also supports a system based on economic need.