Najib showers post GE rewards on bumiputera

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today unveiled a slew of measures to prop up the bumiputera community, including requiring government-linked companies to set bumiputera participation targets.

"I want chief executive officers in all government-linked companies to set targets for bumiputera participation, including procurement by vendors," he said to a hall of over 2,000 people at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam this morning.

Declaring the institution where he stood as a symbol of bumiputera education, the prime minsiter made no apologies in pointing out that the measures were a response to the strong Malay and bumiputera support in the last general election.

"Based on the support by the Malays and bumiputera in the recent 13th general election, therefore today, the government will do a quantum leap to execute concrete and swift strategies and approaches.

"We call this the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment. All this is to safeguard Malays and bumiputera, from then, now and forevermore," Najib said.
More specifically though, the move appears to be an attempt to pander to the right-wing Malay nationalist groups that lashed out at the government after the general election for attempting to placate the Chinese community, which ultimately did not deliver support for the ruling coalition.

Najib appeared to acknowledge this, saying, "After the last general election, we heard all kinds of complaints, concerns and unhappiness raised by the bumiputera community about their future and direction.

"Yes, we have indeed heard you, we hear you loud and clear," he said.

In acknowledgment of similar strong support for the ruling coalition from Sabah and Sarawak, the prime minister repeatedly pointed out that the "bumiputera" he meant included those in the two Borneo states.

'Goodies galore'

Najib then proceeded to announce five thrusts aimed at helping the community, namely in education, equity, non-financial assets, entrepreneurship and government delivery.

Aside from a slew of training programmes and allocations for education and entrepreneurship, he announced the creation of Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB2) by Perbadanan Nasional Bhd, with 10 billion units, to improve bumiputera equity.

Furthermore, he said, the Projek Perumahan 1Malaysia (PR1MA) will also boost the construction of affordable housing specifically for   bumiputeras to improve acquisition of non-financial assets.

Also, among the measures, a bumiputera coordination unit will be set up at every ministry to help improve their participation, particularly in the area of procurement.

Najib also promised bumiputera participation in RM22 billion worth of Petronas projects over 25 years as well as forthcoming mega-projects such as the Menara Warisan and Bukit Bintang City Centre.

Following the race-based announcements, Najib stressed that the measures would not be at the expense of other communities in the country.

"We are doing what is right and what is equitable," he said after earlier pointing out that Chinese household income was almost 50 percent higher than bumiputera households.