Anwar To Help Or Hurt Malaysia's Sons Of The Soil?
Date
12/20/2023 8:16:33 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) Ethnic Malay interests remain front and center in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's Malaysia Madani. An uptick in ethnic polarization and a poor showing by parties from Anwar's unity government in Malay-majority seats in 2023's state elections leave the administration under pressure to shore up Malay support.
To that end, the Malaysian government will be wheeling out a Bumiputera economic congress in January 2024 (Bumiputera, meaning“sons of the soil” in Malay, is an official term for Malays and indigenous ethnic communities).
Decades after the inception of the New Economic Policy affirmative action program and its various reincarnations, Anwar has flagged the need to review the use of Malay corporate equity as the yardstick of Bumiputera empowerment and move towards a“participation rate and [...] control of the Bumiputera economy [that are] more meaningful.”
This is a step in the right direction. Malaysia's
muddled Bumiputera empowerment
plans and metrics are in dire need of change. Championing Malay corporate equity is
historically synonymous
with Bumiputera empowerment. However, the approach fails to empower the Malay majority and side-lines vulnerable communities while enriching the politically connected.
Yet the recent uproar over the arranged sale of Boustead Plantations (BPlant) - a Bumiputera government-linked company (or GLC, denoting part or whole state ownership) - to the primarily Malaysian Chinese–owned multinational company Kuala Lumpur Kepong suggests two things.
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