POLICIES MUST BE RESTRUCTURED

THE Bumiputera Economic Action Council (MTEM) is concerned with the accusation that the civil service is ineffective because it does not reflect the racial composition of Malaysia.

The service provided by civil servants to the nation is an honourable one and no ethnic group has ever been neglected in its provisioning.

As long as civil servants adhere to the code of ethics, MTEM fails to see the relevance of arguing that the civil service can provide good service only if its ethnic composition mirrors that of Malaysia.

However, MTEM agrees that there are certain quarters who have taken advantage of the Bumiputera agenda for personal gain.

This can be seen in the education sector where Bumiputeras from high-income households secured scholarships meant for low-income Bumiputera households.

This is regrettable as the economic development of Bumiputeras as a whole will be far slower. Bumiputeras who come from rural or disadvantaged backgrounds deserve a leg-up to compete with well-off urbanites.

There are also those in the private sector who have abused Bumiputera privileges by selling permits or contracts to third parties in the pursuit of easy profits.

The actions of these Ali Baba groups have hijacked and stolen the rights and opportunities that should rightly go to authentic Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

The practitioners of the Ali Baba business model should rightly be considered as not only criminal, but also traitors.

Such “Ali Baba” businesses have been vociferously opposed by MTEM, which pushed for their eradication at the launch of the book The Ali Baba Cancer in a Free Land (Barah Ali Baba di Bumi Merdeka) in October 2014.

MTEM believes that for an effective implementation of Bumiputera policies, it must be restructured and made a priority.

The Bumiputera Economic Agenda is a national agenda and it must be retained so long as the Bumiputera economy is far behind from other ethnic groups.

The gap can be measured by the gap in household income, wealth, control of SMEs and equity ownership.

MTEM proposes the creation of an act to ensure that the policies of the nation are achieved, especially for matters that are closely linked to the development of the Bumiputera economy.

The socio-economic development of the nation must have a foundation based on an equitable sharing of the economy between rural and urban and between the ethnic groups.

Only then can we achieve a shared prosperity in the spirit of the New Malaysia.

Recently, Council of Eminent Persons chairman Tun Daim Zainuddin said policies meant to help the Bumiputeras must be enhanced to ensure more equitable growth and better acceptance by non-Bumiputera.

For MTEM, this shows that the government is committed to improving the Bumiputera agenda.