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KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s poverty eradication program was implemented after taking into consideration not only racial and ethnic makeup, but also various other factors in an effort to create fair and equal opportunities for all.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said it is also to ensure that the nation’s wealth can be distributed and enjoyed by the people equally.
“The policy of the Perikatan Nasional government is to implement a comprehensive poverty eradication program and this takes into account the disparities between Bumiputeras and non-Bumiputeras, and regional and non-regional areas, including Sabah and Sarawak, after several initiatives carried out previously”. he said.
He said this in response to Senator Razali Idris, who wanted to know about the initiatives taken by the government to tackle poverty in Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak.
He said that the emphasis given to improving the socio-economic status of Bumiputeras does not mean that the government is neglecting non-bumiputeras, hence the creation of the Shared Prosperity Vision policy, which takes into consideration the interests of all races.
“However, the bumiputeras make up the majority, comprising almost 70% of the country’s population, and that is why the government is targeting them to develop the economy as a whole,” Muhyiddin said.
However, he said the government was always concerned about the problems faced by non-bumiputeras and would not neglect them, especially when addressing poverty.
“We cannot neglect them or let them live in poverty just because they are not bumiputeras.
“We can’t just help Malaysians get richer. We can not. We must have a fair policy for all races in the country, “he said.
Muhyiddin said that one of the problems the government faced in its effort to eradicate poverty was the lack of a database that has complete information on the current achievements of Bumiputeras in various economic sectors.
For that, he said, the government had established the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department as the secretariat to coordinate and steer the Bumiputera agenda in an attempt to increase community participation in the economy.
In addition, to boost the bumiputera economy, he said, the focus would be on their participation in certain sectors such as banking, manufacturing and electronics, adding that the government would identify their weaknesses and introduce initiatives to ensure that they are not left behind by other communities. .
In response to Razali’s question about the effectiveness of the Bumiputera Prosperity Council, Muhyiddin said that Bumiputera’s poverty rate stood at 7.2% last year, while the unemployment rate for the second quarter of this year was 5.2%, compared to the national average of 5.1%.
He said that Bumiputera’s shareholding in the corporate sector was only 16.2% in 2015, compared to 30.7% for non-bumiputeras and 45.3% for foreigners.
