Bumis failed to seize NEM opportunities, says Dr M

KBN CONGRESS | Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today reminded bumiputera that they will remain behind others unless they stop spurning the opportunities that the government provides them.

"We (the government) have tried our best, but we found that the culture (among Malays) to make a quick profit had contributed to their own failure.

"The ones who succeeded were the non-bumiputeras, if you know what I mean," said Mahathir in his opening speech at the government's Future of Bumiputeras and the Nation Congress(KBN 2018) this morning.

Mahathir said while the government had provided opportunities for bumiputera to enter business through the New Economic Model (NEM), some beneficiaries instead chose to make a quick profit – for instance, by selling off their permits to imported cars, or sub-contracting projects.

Pushed to the fringes

As a result, the prime minister said, Malays eventually found themselves being left out of major developments in the city centres and constantly being pushed further away to rural areas.

"We don't want to do business, so others do business using opportunities provided to us, and they succeed.

"We are not there (in the big cities) because we did not go into business, we sold off our opportunities." 

Mahathir pointed out that those who are poor will be more exposed to pressures from the rich, citing Malay villages in city centres that had been bought over for major development projects.

"In the end we are living in the fringes of the jungles... (Developments in) the city are no longer ours," he said.

'What privileges?'

Mahathir further stressed there will be little point for Malays and bumiputera to flaunt their privileges, if in reality they are still behind the other races.

"The poor must be subservient to the rich. If we are the driver, are we still the master, or is the person sitting in the back seat the master?

"There is no use shouting 'ketuanan Melayu' if we are the kuli and not the master," he said.

Unless the bumiputera work to change their attitude of wanting to make an easy profit, Mahathir cautioned that they will continue to fall behind other ethnic groups.

Over 2,000 participants attended today's congress organised by the Economic Affairs Ministry at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Also present were Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, who moderated a dialogue session with stakeholders, Mahathir's wife Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, cabinet ministers as well as various menteris besar. 

The Economic Affairs Ministry previously said that today's congress is part of its constructive engagement with bumiputera stakeholders, and will be the basic platform for the government's efforts to formulate a new empowerment agenda for the community. -Mkini