Anwar, Fadhlina Sidek, and the DAP ministers sitting in this Unity Government must explain — clearly and without the usual slogans — why this sudden racial condition is being forced onto ordinary tuition centres.
Is it true that from 2027, institutions that fail to meet the 30% Bumiputera equity threshold risk being unable to renew their registration? Is it true that tuition centres registered as sole proprietorships or enterprises with capital of RM10,000 and above are now being told they must restructure and reserve 30% equity for Bumiputeras?
If these reports are accurate, then we are no longer talking about new applications or foreign ownership limits. We are talking about long-established small and medium-sized family businesses — many of them run by non-Bumiputera operators who have been teaching Malaysian children for years — being forced to dilute their ownership, hand over management control, and restructure their shareholding just to keep the doors open. That is not a “minor administrative matter.” It is a direct assault on ownership, investment and the right to cari makan honestly.
We are living in 2026. Non-Bumiputera national equity has already fallen from roughly 70% in earlier decades to around 23%. The latest figures show non-Bumiputera entry into public universities sitting below 12%. When does this stop? When is enough finally enough?
At the same time, the real crisis is staring us in the face. Under the latest PISA assessments, around 65% of our students cannot even perform basic Level 2 mathematics. Roughly 56% cannot read properly. Our education system is producing a generation that struggles with fundamental skills — and the government’s response is to racialize the very tuition centres that parents rely on to fill the gaps left by national schools.
What exactly is Fadhlina Sidek doing as Education Minister? What is the DAP deputy education minister doing while this is happening? What direction is Anwar leading the country in when progressive voters who put this government in power are now watching the same racial tools they once criticised under BN and PN being expanded under the banner of Madani?
SMEs are the backbone of this economy. Tuition centres, kindergartens and small education businesses are not big conglomerates. They are family operations that have survived through hard work, long hours and genuine service to students of every race. Forcing them to restructure shareholding along racial lines does not improve teaching quality. It does not raise PISA scores. It only restricts growth, creates uncertainty, and makes it harder for people who simply want to earn an honest living.
Look at the wider Madani record that these operators already face: the flip-flop on e-invoicing that left many SMEs scrambling; the RM33.3 billion in overpaid taxes still not returned, creating real cash-flow pain; the diesel and fuel subsidy chaos; electricity hikes; minimum wage increases; SST rising from 6% to 8%. One policy after another has piled costs and compliance burdens onto small businesses. Now even the act of running a tuition centre is being racialised.
Why is it becoming so difficult to cari wang halal in this country? Why are policies that never existed in 60 years of BN rule or the short PN period suddenly being introduced and enforced under this administration? What kind of “Madani” is this — one that claims to be progressive and inclusive while tightening racial ownership rules on the very institutions that help children of all backgrounds learn?
Anwar, Fadhlina, and the DAP leaders in government owe the country a straight answer. If this is truly the direction of Malaysia Madani, then the progressive voters who believed in change deserve to know whether they are now being punished for placing their trust in you. Education should not be another arena for racial engineering. The focus should be on raising standards, fixing the catastrophic literacy and numeracy failures, and letting honest operators teach without having their ownership dictated by race.
The students are failing basic mathematics and reading. The SMEs are already bleeding. And yet the priority appears to be another equity quota on tuition centres. This is not reform. This is the same old racial politics wearing a new slogan.
