10MP: 30% Bumi equity to be maintained
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, Free Malaysia Today
FULL REPORT KUALA LUMPUR: The 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) will maintain the 30 percent Bumiputera corporate equity target, which is seen as a move to pacify Malay voters in light of the stiff opposition towards Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s New Economic Model.
Slapped with the highest budget deficit in decades, at 7% of the GDP, the country’s sixth premier was forced to bow to market demands and run the risk of alienating Malay voters, the country’s majority race.
His attempts to convince the Malays that the time has come for them to learn how to play on a level field had caused alarm and concern among certain quarters.
The prime minister had unveiled his first, and the nation’s 10th economic blueprint in Parliament this morning.
It will develop a Bumiputera commercial and industrial community and create stronger and more competitive industry champions.
The focus will also be on broadening wealth ownership to ensure sustainability and promoting Bumiputera representation in high-paying jobs through enhanced capability building and demand-side incentives.
The 10MP will also underline Najib’s effort to continue his predecessors’ endeavours to make Malaysia a developed nation by 2020.
To do this, the son of second premier Abdul Razak, aims to cut fiscal deficit to 2.8% of the GDP by 2015 through the unpopular subsidy removals.
An innovative and productivity-oriented economy, through augmented human capital development, will be one of the main thrusts of the new framework.
It also plans to tackle the country’s worsening braindrain crisis by beefing up efforts to retain local talents through high-wage appeal while simplifying hiring methods to attract foreign talents.
As such, the plan will try and raise the nation’s per capita income to RM38,845 (US$12,139) by 2015 through an annual 6 percent growth.
These objectives have been listed under the 10MP’s 10-point strategy, which has recognised 12 key economic areas to achieve its targets.
