PUTRAJAYA: Bumiputera empowerment has always been part of the national development policy and has not been excluded from the First Malayan Plan until the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP).
This will also continue to be the case in the upcoming 13th Malaysia Plan to be drafted, Economy Ministry secretary general Datuk Nor Azmie Diron (pix) said.
He said that when the New Economic Policy was implemented from 1971 to 1990 (during 2MP to 5MP), the economic structural issues that the government was trying to tackle were poverty and the identification of race with economic function.
“Various initiatives were outlined, including increasing bumiputera equity ownership, creating a bumiputera commercial and industrial community, establishing Felda Investment Corporation and focusing on agriculture and manufacturing,” he said in presenting the latest bumiputera socioeconomic situation at the Bumiputera Economic Congress (KEB) 2024 today.
From 1991 to 2000 (6MP and 7MP), the National Development Policy was implemented with the main focus being the low economic activity, and among the initiatives implemented were the privatisation programme, fund-raising by strengthening Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s role, and focus on heavy industries and large-scale agriculture, he said.
He said that from 2001 until 2010 there was the National Vision Policy (8MP and 9MP), which was aimed at addressing social, economic and regional structural imbalance.
From 2011 to 2020 (10MP and 11MP), the National Transformation Policy was adopted to deal with the issue of middle-income trap while during 12MP, the Shared Prosperity Vision was introduced to bridge the widening income and wealth gap.
Nor Azmie said that for the MADANI Economy: Empowering the People, the issues being addressed are income, governance and social justice that is still weak.
“For over six decades, the bumiputera agenda has continued to pay attention to equity ownership, the restructuring of society, resolution of disparities and enhancement of bumiputera competitiveness,” he said.
For the MADANI Economy, he said it is aimed at expanding the national economy, safeguarding and increasing the people’s living standards, as well as improving the civil service delivery in order to resolve economic problems, and this was translated into the Mid-Term Review of the 12MP.
“We have coordinated to focus on the potential for everyone to have equal opportunities regardless of ethnicity. Meanwhile, the bumiputera agenda will remain a national agenda to achieve a fair, equitable and inclusive socioeconomic growth.
“However, on the current situation compared to the set targets, based on selected indicators the bumiputera community is still lagging behind. This demands a paradigm shift and drastic action to boost bumiputera capabilities and competitiveness,” he added.
He said the bumiputera corporate equity ownership with effective control has reached 18.4 per cent against the target of 30 per cent.
Bumiputera participation in the skilled occupation category is 61 per cent versus the target of 65 per cent, bumiputera household ownership of a residential unit is at 73 per cent (target: 75 per cent), the mean monthly income ratio between bumiputera and Chinese stands at 0.83:1 (target: 1:1) and mean monthly household income ratio between bumiputera and Chinese is at 0.71:1 (target: 0.88:1).
On poverty based on household head’s ethnicity for the 1970-2022 period, he said there has been a downward trend since 1970, but bumiputera still record the highest incidence of absolute poverty in Malaysia.
“In terms of number of professionals, after six decades there are several commendable achievements, but bumiputera are still lagging in several professions such as accountants, lawyers and architects.
“Bumiputera commercial property transactions, meanwhile, are focused on accommodations with low market value, while for the Malay reserve land, it has not been utilised optimally,” he said. -Bernama
