134 ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN MALAYSIA Haslinda Mohd Anuar 1 Harlida Abdul Wahab 2 Mazita Mohamed 3 Alias Azhar 4 1,2,3,4 School of Law, UUM College of Law, Government and International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia. Email: 1 haslinda@uum.edu.my, 2 harlida@uum.edu.my, 3 mazita@uum.edu.my, 4 az.alias@uum.edu.my Accepted date: 16-12-2018 Published date: 31-12-2018 To cite this document: Mohd Anuar, H., Wahab, H. A., Mohamed, M. & Azhar, A. (2018). Issue in Implementing Affirmative Action in Malaysia. International Journal of Law, Government and Communication. 3 (13), 134-139. Abstract: Equality is equity. In other words, equality can be associated with being equal in status, rights or opportunities. Article 8 (1) and (2) of the Malaysian Federal Constitution address the concept of equality in Malaysia. However, the equality provision in Article 8(1) is not absolute. This can be seen, for example, under Article 136 of the Federal Constitution which requires all federal employees shall be treated impartially regardless of their races. However, it is important to note that Article 153 of the Federal Constitution did provide special privileges, quotas and reservations for Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, and this provision has been challenged legally and politically. The late Tun Suffian managed to reduce the gap between Articles 136 and 153 by introducing the concept of ‘affirmative action’ whereby the reservations and quotas are permissible under the Federal Constitution. The objective of this paper is to identify the issues in implementing affirmative action in Malaysia. Doctrinal legal research methodology has been used to achieve the objective. It was found that there are many issues have been posed on the implementation of affirmative action and the sustainability of the concept is another challenge yet to be determined. Keywords: Affirmative Action, Equality, Constitution, Malaysia, Article 8. ___________________________________________________________________________ Introduction The concept of equality is well recognized and becomes the most fundamental idea that appears in all conventions on human rights. This concept has been largely acknowledged in most constitution of the democratic countries. The principle of equality is the most Volume: 3 Issues: 13 [December, 2018] pp.134-139] International Journal of Law, Government and Communication eISSN: 0128-1763 Journal website: www.ijgc.com