Rafizi: Govt won't use Malays to enrich a few with 'Ali Baba scheme'

 

The government will not be "riding" on Malays just to enrich a few, said Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.

He said this in response to prodding from the opposition about the government's bumiputera economic agenda.

"I understand the slant of their questions is to purportedly show that they are defending the Malays.

"I just want to answer them simply (that), God willing, we will not ride on the Malays so a few can steal Jana Wibawa's money which, in the end, (the projects) were Ali Baba-ed to non-Malay companies," he said in a Facebook post today.

The Jana Wibawa programme introduced by the previous Perikatan Nasional administration was supposed to help bumiputera contractors get work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, it has turned into a corruption scandal that has implicated multiple Bersatu leaders.

“Ali Baba” is a form of rent-seeking practice, in which businesses that win government projects and contracts, subcontract the actual work to others.

Political lens

Rafizi said that all governments claim to have had a bumiputera economy agenda.

However, while some have viewed it solely through a political lens, Rafizi said his priority is to increase bumiputeras' economic contribution.

This is because while there are a large number of bumiputera businesses, the economic contribution is not relatively on par.

According to the minister, of more than one million business entities in the country, only three percent are major corporations while another two percent are medium-sized companies.

Around 15 percent are small companies, while the remaining 80 percent are micro businesses.

New approaches

Of this, around 95 percent of registered businesses are small and micro operations run by bumiputera, he said.

Hence, he said this is why new approaches are needed to empower the bumiputera economy.

"Bumiputera businesses must be competitive and self-reliant.

"Government programmes must be careful to avoid creating dependence on government aid that can erode competitiveness," he said in a Facebook post today.

He said competitiveness and self-reliance can be achieved by focusing on the 3Ps - product, problem, people.

This means that businesses need to create a product or service to solve problems or fulfil a need by customers.

And this can be done by having skilled people who are capable of creating such products.

By doing so, he said, the tragedy of Jana Wibawa can be averted, he said. - Mkini