Malaysia's last push for affirmative action

(Radio Australia) - Malaysia's Minister of Youth and Sport says the latest round of race-based affirmative action will be the "last big push" for ethnic Malays and indigenous people to catch up to their Chinese counterparts.

.. and soon they will have to compete on their own.

Despite rolling back some of this assistance in the past, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced this month that "stronger" policies are needed to help "Bumiputra"... a term for ethnic Malays or indigenous Malaysians.

Ethnic Chinese-Malaysians have traditionally done much better in business... but the Government's efforts to give Bumiputras a helping hand has sent many Chinese-Malaysians looking for a fair go overseas... and some say the brain drain holds Malaysia's economy back.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: Khairy Jamaluddin, Malaysia's Minister of Youth and Sport

JAMALUDDIN: Well I think it's important to recognise that the Malay and Bumiputra community in Malaysia are still far behind in terms of economic achievement, whether it's in terms of corporate equity ownership, in terms of ownership of property, whether it's the numbers of professionals and senior executives. So I think the program of affirmative action as far as economic empowerment is still very relevant, because the Bumiputra community is the majority community in Malaysia and we want to ensure that there is not just growth, but also equity and social justice as far as economic development is concerned. And when the Prime Minister announced a new program to uplift and empower the Bumiputra economic agenda, it's not to take away anything from any other communities, but rather it's targeted assistance for Bumiputras especially those at the lower income level and those at the medium income level, those who are involved in business, those who are entrepreneurs, to ensure that there is a sustained effort, which is market friendly, which encourages meritocracy within the Bumiputra community and which sends the message that this has to be done transparently and that one day you have to compete and that day is coming very soon, but this is the large big push to ensure that we get it right this time.

COCHRANE: You say one day you'll have to compete, this is the last push. Can you give a time frame for when these race-based policies will no longer be necessary?

JAMALUDDIN: Well, the time frame will be very much dependent on the success and efficacy of this program that we've put in place.

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