PM admits BN policies ‘not perfect’, pledges tweaks to Bumi aid

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Putrajaya will make necessary adjustments to ensure that affirmative action for the Bumiputera community is merit-based, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today after admitting that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) past policies may not have been perfect.

He acknowledged the unease felt by some among the country’s ethnic minorities over his government’s doling out of Bumiputera aid, but offered assurance that Putrajaya’s intention is to eliminate rent-seekers.

“I know some of you may not be all that happy with how we implemented the New Economic Policy and affirmative action.

“But I admit we are not perfect, we need to make adjustments and we are making adjustments,” the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman told red-shirted MCA members here.

During the MCA “Stronger Together” event, which the Chinese-based party said was attended by 4,000 members, Najib also listed down examples of efforts to “make adjustments” to the decades-old New Economic Policy (NEP) that was intended to lift the Bumiputera community out of poverty.



“For example, if we want to help the Bumiputera, we make sure there’s basis of merit,” said Najib, who was wearing a red shirt himself.

The Umno president said he is unpopular with “rent-seekers”, but added that he wants to push Bumiputera-owned companies to prove that they are “worthy of getting a contract from the government”.

Najib also pointed out that some of the BN-led government’s policies provide aid to Malaysians regardless of ethnicity, citing the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) cash handouts to low-income households and individuals, as well as schooling supplies aid.

MORE TO COME

Source: The Malay Mail