Bumiputera Economic Congress consolidates the economic power of the elite

Leaves the marginalized to fend for themselves

Murray Hunter

The Malaysian version of “Davos’ called the 2024 Bumiputera Economic Congress was the 7th gathering of Malaysia’s elite to create more artificial opportunities for themselves and cronies.

There were very few activists and social workers working with marginalised Bumiputeras in attendance. It appears the organizers left them off the invitation list. The conclusions drawn from the congress appear to have been pre-determined and very beneficial to GLCs, and their crony contractors and collaborators.

There was little said about alleviating poverty among marginalised Bumiputeras, as the focus was about how to enrich existing institutional players in the economy. Madani economics is very much about cronyism, based upon the old argument that Bumiputeras still don’t have enough equity within the economy. Any quantitative data on this subject has been lost somewhere within the bureaucracy, where the public cannot scrutinize the figures.

The Bumiputera Economic Congress also unmasked the intent of the elite to consolidate land holdings with the proposed Bumiputera Land Corporation, which will buy up land once leases expire, and force non-Bumiputera companies to cede portions of their land.

The term Bumiputera has become a synonym for Malays, an the elite among the Malays at that, leaving out Orang Aslis, Dayaks, Ibans, and Kadazans. The Bumiputera Economic Congress has also failed to highlight that the issues of education, micro-finance facilitation, and local government acting as a catalyst for nurturing micro-entrepreneurs was bypassed in favour of granting some of this responsibility to GLCs, which will only see this activity as a burden.

Madani economics is only perpetuating existing policies and even more clearly showing preference to providing opportunities to the elite in society. In this regard Bumiputeras have been great losers from the Bumiputera Economic Congress, where the elite and their cronies have come out big winners.

For an in-depth discussion about the position of the elite in Malaysia, download my free ebook “Feudalism in Malaysia Today” here.