KUALA LUMPUR: The Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) is looking forward to working closely with the new administration under Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s to re-examine and strengthen the Bumiputera economic agenda.
It's chief executive officer Ahmad Yazid Othman said the council is willing to extend their full assistance to help the government to uplift the economic status of the Malays as well as non-Malays as per Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Manifesto.
“MTEM hopes that the Pakatan Harapan government is truly committed in the noble effort to balance Malaysia’s economy via decreasing the wealth and income gap between races, in line with Buku Harapan’s ‘Third Thrust: Boost Economic Growth that is Fair and Equitable’ by developing the Malay and Bumiputera economy,” he said.
He said that MTEM would hold on to the promise made by PH on Jan 9, 2016, that the status of Bumiputera would be assured in line with Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.
Article 153 pertains to the special rights of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in the country.
“In line with the name of the party that won, Harapan (Hope), MTEM hopes that the Bumiputera agenda would be improved as well as its implementation re-looked as to ensure it is more effective and not merely benefiting certain quarters.
“MTEM has confidence in Dr Mahathir’s leadership and we hope that this success would be continued with transparency and effectiveness,” he said, at the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia here this afternoon.
Yazid said that there is pressing need for the PH government to fulfil its promise as the economic status of Bumiputera are still far behind in terms of economic parity between races.
He said this disparity happened despite various efforts by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
He pointed out that in 2016, Bumiputera per capita income was only RM63,000 annually compared to those from the Chinese community at RM185,000 a year; and that in 2011, Bumiputera only owned 26.1 per cent of house assets in Malaysia.
He noted that the unemployment rate of Bumiputera was at 62.3 per cent in 2016 and this increased to 66.9 per cent last year; and that Bumiputera small and medium enterprise (SME) only contributed 12 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016.
“The ‘Ali Baba’ (Bumiputera-non-Bumiputera partnership) issue became widespread during the administration of the BN government and limited (the achievement of) the Bumiputera Economic Agenda,” he said.
In regards to Malaysia’s RM1 trillion debt, Yazid said it is quite worrying and they urged Malaysians to back Dr Mahathir in efforts to reduce it.
“In the previous (BN) administration, there was a problem of (wealth) distribution where much did not reach the bottom (level of society),” he said.
Yazid said MTEM welcomed the appointment of DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali as Finance Minister and Economic Affairs Minister respectively.
“We fully support Tun M’s (Dr Mahathir) decision (to select Lim and Azmin as the respective ministers) and look forward to working with both of them (Lim and Azmin),” he said.
He added that the council has faith in the two ministers and the rest of the cabinet working together to uplift the economic status of both Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera.