DPM: No need to be apologetic to other races

The government is not apologetic nor worried about the perception of other communities following the announcement of multi-billion ringgit measures to give bumiputeras business, training and asset opportunities.

"For me, today is a very lucky day and indeed the most-awaited event. We are not apologetic or worried if the non-bumiputeras or even the international communities see this as something concerning only a certain group," Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

"For us, what matters most is the bumiputera agenda and we truly respect the prime minister's firmness and courage," Bernamaquoted Muhyiddin as saying after Najib Abdul Razak's major announcement at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam.

Muhyiddin said the five main focuses of the bumiputera empowerment measures and strategies also reflected the government's continuous attention to the inclusive agenda.

"The setting up of several bodies, including the Bumiputera Economic Council (MEB), which will be headed by the prime minister himself and myself as his deputy, will definitely take the bumiputera economic struggles to greater heights.

"The MEB secretariat will be led by a credible leader with minister status, who is capable of ensuring that each agenda will be implemented," Muhyiddin said.

He is also confident that all measures and strategies will be implemented and he hopes that bumiputera control in all economic areas would be increased in the next seven years, that is by 2020.

"We want the bumiputera community to give their response to the announcement. We want to see, in this short timeframe, a prominently visible increase in terms of equity and asset ownership, as well as human capital development (to be achieved)," he said.

Prime Minister Najib, who this morning announced the new measures and strategies to empower the bumiputera economy through the MEB which he himself will chair, said it will replace the Bumiputera Agenda Action Council (MTAB).

‘No peace if bumis feel sidelined'
Najib said the move was necessary as it will not bode well for the country if the bumiputeras felt sidelined.

"If the majority bumiputera race is not protected and they feel threatened and sidelined, the country will not achieve peace, stability...

"It will be impossible to achieve the dream of becoming a developed nation that is prosperous and peaceful that we hope to achieve by 2020," Najib said when announcing the new bumiputera benefits.

He pointed out that bumiputeras made up only 6.1 million or 56 percent of the total population in 1970s but today stood at 18.6 million or 67.9 percent of the total population.

More specifically, 59.7 percent of the total population comprised Muslim bumiputeras, he said.

However, Najib said, these measures, and like the New Economic Policy in the past, not only benefited bumiputeras but other communities as well because it involved the creation of new wealth.