PUTRAJAYA: The government must ensure that high-profile industries and investments are extended to rural areas.
This, former Kok Lanas state assemblyman and rural development cluster chairman Datuk Seri Dr Md Alwi Che Ahmad said, will help strengthen the Bumiputera economy.
He said reengineering rural activities by attracting medium and high-skilled industries is crucial to advancing the Bumiputera agenda.
"For example, in South Korea, there is Samsung City, and even the production of Ferrari, I was informed it is not in Milan (Italy) but hundreds of miles away from Milan, in the outskirts.
"Why don't we bring heavy or medium industries to rural areas in Malaysia? We hope to bring industries to rural areas so that they become more sustainable and advanced because 81 per cent of the rural population are Bumiputeras," he said when speaking at the wrapping-up session of the Bumiputera Economic Congress 2024.
Md Alwi said government-linked companies (GLCs) or government-linked investment companies (GLICs) should increase their adoption programmes.
He proposed incentives, such as tax exemptions, to encourage these entities to contribute towards the development of rural regions.
He also said Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) should be given a larger development fund to enhance Bumiputera participation, ownership and control.
"We often hear the government mention that entrepreneurial development is also given to other agencies and banks like SME Bank and Agro Bank.
"However, if it is directly to Mara, certainly, it becomes Bumiputera ownership.
"If we just give it to Mara for entrepreneurial development, it is automatically for the Bumiputeras but if given to a bank, we do not know (where it will be channelled," he said.