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Monday, November 23, 2015

All-Bumi ‘Low Yat 2’ to open December with new name, says racist minister

KUALA LUMPUR - A Bumiputera-only gadget mall similar to Low Yat Plaza will finally open its doors at the Mara building in Jalan Raja Laut next month, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced today.

Previously dubbed “Low Yat 2”, the rural and regional development minister was quoted in Malay portal Kosmo! Online as saying that a new name for the mall will be announced on the launch day.

“All the traders are Bumiputera. We expect the mall to be an attraction that offers a variety of technological services and products at a price lower than everywhere else,” Ismail Sabri said in the report.

“I hope all the goods sold will be of high quality and of course, any counterfeit goods will be seized by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry which will be monitoring it.”

Ismail Sabri also revealed that 36 traders have been selected to be tenants by Bumiputera empowerment agency Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), out of over 1,000 applicants.

This comes even as he had previously said in September that the mall does not necessarily have to be a Malay-only mall as even the non-Malays can apply to open their shops in the venue.

The minister mooted the idea for a Malay-only tech mall after the violent racial brawl that occurred outside the popular Low Yat Plaza on July 22.

Mara later said it would look into the proposal to use its building or the mall dubbed “Low Yat 2”, despite criticism that the idea would only deepen existing racial prejudices.

Mara chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa, who is also Umno MP for Ketereh, insisted the idea was not racist and added that when making the proposal, Ismail Sabri had merely meant for the mall to provide Malay entrepreneurs the opportunity to venture into the telecommunications business.

The Mara chairman said it would be best to avoid using “Low Yat 2” to describe the idea and suggested to call it “Mara tech mall” instead.

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