KUALA LUMPUR: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) will continue to spearhead Malay and Bumiputera aspirations to help them become a formidable force in entrepreneurship, education, investment and equity ownership.
Mara director-general Datuk Ibrahim Ahmad said since its establishment under the Parliament Act 1 March 1966, Mara, or Council of Trust for the People, has evolved to become a premier Bumiputera agency to uphold the mandate of the people.
“Mara celebrates its 50th anniversary and we look forward to the next 50 years and beyond as we contribute towards Malaysia’s economic development as the country strives to become an entrepreneurial nation.
“Our mandate is to ensure the
continuous socioeconomic development of the country, specifically through the development and
empowerment of Malays and Bumiputeras,” Ibrahim told the New Straits Times in an exclusive interview at its headquarters here recently.
Ibrahim, who hails from Johor, said Mara was focused on the betterment of Malays and Bumiputeras to ensure they continue to progress and enjoy better socioeconomic conditions.
“Within the Mara context, our aim is to further enrich the individual through a three-pronged approach, which is to further develop entrepreneurship spirit in the community, deliver a global oriented competent workforce, which is capable of competing on the global stage, and continuously produce excellent students.
Ibrahim, or more affectionately known as Pak Yem among his
staff, said, thus, the institutions that were founded under Mara, such
as Universiti Teknologi Mara
(UiTM) and GiatMara, targeted four main sectors to create more entrepreneurs.
“Secondly, Mara stresses on the education sector, which is the input into the entrepreneurial sector followed by the third target which is ramping up its investment sector, which would help Mara in fund creation, thus, enabling the agency to achieve the above targets.
“Fourthly, Mara pays serious attention on the management sector, which is the foundation and the guarantee for all three sectors to become successful,” said Ibrahim, who is an avid reader.
Ibrahim, who is a public administrator by training, said Mara had helped some one million Bumiputeras become entrepreneurs and trained 1.2 million candidates through its education programmes.
“These are just some of the benefits that Mara has provided.
“However, I must stress that Mara remains an institution that contributes quality talent for the further development of the country,” said Ibrahim, who is a UiTM graduate.
“We further enhanced this mission in 2011, when we launched the Mara transformation programme, which will enable us to keep contributing talent to the economy.”
Ibrahim, who took over Mara in 2010, said a country was only as successful as its entrepreneurial society, adding that Mara was working on developing this sense of entrepreneurial spirit through its many education programmes, as Mara believed in developing the entrepreneurial spirit right from the word go.
“When we send our students overseas, we are not aiming to create only doctors and lawyers.
“We are also aiming to create entrepreneurial doctors and lawyers, who will establish their own clinics and law firms, therefore, creating jobs for the society. At Mara, we aim to create a comprehensive ecosystem for all for the further development of the country.”
Ibrahim said education should not be obtained just for the sake of education.
He said Mara wanted to empower and educate the people beyond the workplace so that they, too, could become their own bosses and create job opportunities for others.
“That is why Mara is very determined to play our part in the engineering of this country’s socio-economic development.” Additional reporting by Lidiana Rosli