Equity ownership not key

THE title of the congress to discuss the future of bumiputras and the nation as a whole says it all. It does not talk about equity, eradication of poverty or distribution of wealth for one particular race.

The congress ended with a clear message that the new economic policy after 61 years of rule under one government should end the bad ways of the old policy. Doing business the Ali Baba style and gaining influence by way of corruption will no longer be tolerated.

A startling revelation that came out from the congress is that 70% of those in the bottom-40% of the population are bumiputras. This is a dangerous statistic and should be addressed by the new government.

The largest population bloc of any country should not be left behind in the economic benefits of the country. If that happens, it would lead to political instability.

To better understand the new economic policies that are being formulated by the government, the public at large should be better informed of the true state of affairs of the various communities in the country.

The last official statistics on equity ownership made available were only based on 2011 numbers. According to a reply in Parliament, the bumiputra equity ownership was 23.5%, while the Indians and Chinese held 2.4% and 32.2% respectively.

That leaves foreigners holding almost 42% of the corporate equity in the country.

It is almost seven years since the last time the numbers were made public. What are the equity ownership numbers now?

Is equity ownership important in the new economic plan that is being mapped out for all Malaysians?

In the new world of technology, equity ownership is not important compared to proprietary ownership of technology.

The most valuable companies today are technology companies. Creating an environment for technology companies to flourish locally is probably a more effective economic plan than allocating resources to own equity.