KUALA LUMPUR: The initiatives implemented to assist the Bumiputera community during the previous administration were not fully utilised.
Referring to the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) under the Prime Minister's Department, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the allocations given to manage Bumiputera agendas were not fully channelled to the right target groups.
"Teraju was provided with a huge allocation every year. However, some of the allocations provided were not fully utilised during the previous administration.
"The unit was given RM100 to RM200 million (previously) but the amount that went to the people was less than that," he said during his ministry's winding-up debate at the committee level for the 2023 Supply Bill speech in Dewan Rakyat.
Rafizi said this when questioned by Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (Perikatan Nasional-Machang) on the government's plan to proceed with the implementation of the Bumiputera Development Action 2030.
He added that the ministry, together with Teraju, was examining the unit's effectiveness following the RM135 million allocation given to the unit under the 2023 Budget.
"We are reviewing the effectiveness of the unit as it gets a huge allocation from year to year. Therefore, I am not commenting further on Teraju.
"Not that we do not want to prioritise the Bumiputera agendas, but we want to ensure that such circumstances will not repeat."
In 2011, Teraju was established as a unit under the Prime Minister's Department to spearhead the Bumiputera agendas in line with the 2030 Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV 2030).
Among the initiatives under the agency are the Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Startup Scheme, Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development Fund and the Bumiputera Prosperity Fund.
The SPV 2030, however, was replaced with the government's Malaysian Madani framework as the main notion in drafting the direction of the nation's development.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Functions) Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the government decided to replace SPV 2030 with the Malaysian Madani framework as it had become a collective and holistic guide to steer more humane administrative policies.
Armizan said future implementation of government development projects would also be based on the Malaysian Madani framework, which would kickstart with the 2023 Budget and the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) Mid-Term Review.