PUTRAJAYA - Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi on Feb 29 launched a new pro-bumiputera economic policy that he said would benefit all Malaysians, and not just the majority community which comprises mainly Malays and indigenous groups.

The new Bumiputera Economic Transformation (TEB) initiative was announced at a controversial three-day congress being held to discuss ways to boost Malay participation in the economy, and comes amid waning Malay support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.

Bumiputera, or “sons of the soil”, make up about 70 per cent of Malaysia’s 34 million population.

Among the TEB’s goals are socio-economic justice, prosperity for the country, and well-being for the people.

“These three main goals are to ensure that policies and implementation of the country’s economic agenda not only ensure the involvement and rights of the bumiputera, but at the same time, ensure that there is synergy with the non-bumiputera,” Datuk Seri Zahid said in his keynote address.

“Like it or not, willing or not, synergy between the races is extremely important in stimulating economic activity,” he said. While the new agenda is pro-bumiputera, Mr Zahid gave the assurance that the rights of non-bumiputera would be protected.

Among the three main pledges in the new economic agenda is a national endowment to help lower- income bumiputera access education and health services. The government also hopes to raise bumiputera participation in the industrialisation of the agricultural sector.

To that end, Mr Zahid proposed the establishment of a bumiputera land corporation to boost land ownership among the community.

Prior to the TEB, Malaysia had in place for decades an affirmative action policy known as the New Economic Policy (NEP), which was rolled out following deadly race riots in 1969. It accorded preferential rights to bumiputera in matters such as housing, higher education and government contracts. It officially lapsed in 1990, but elements of it remain in place.

The policy has borne mixed results, with critics saying it enriched only the ruling elite and well-connected Malays.

It has also led to unhappiness among the country’s minority populations.

Mr Zahid, who is also Umno president, noted that the NEP’s goal for 30 per cent of corporate equity ownership of domestic corporations to be in the hands of bumiputera has not been met, and the proportion stands at just 17.2 per cent.

According to the Economy Ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk Nor Azmie Diron, who spoke at the congress, more than half of bumiputera households are in the low-income group, earning below RM6,000 (S$1,700) monthly, compared with the Chinese and Indians.

Asian Studies professor James Chin from the University of Tasmania told The Straits Times: “All the previous policies have not reached their target. If they keep continuing with the old strategy, then nothing much will change.”

He added: “They have to reset the whole bumiputera agenda in such a way that ordinary bumiputera will benefit from the new programmes that are coming up.”

For the first time, non-Malays are attending the Bumiputera Economic Congress, the seventh to be held since 1965 to discuss ways to increase Malay participation in the economy. Mr Zahid took pains to assert that the congress aims to be more “inclusive”, while calling for greater cooperation between Malays and other communities. He also made assurances that non-Malays would not be sidelined by the new policy.

Datuk Seri Anwar, who came to power in November 2022 with support from Umno and the Borneo parties, faces a tough task in winning the support of Malay voters as he needs to do so by championing Malay rights without alienating his Pakatan Harapan coalition’s multiracial support base.

University of Malaya sociopolitical analyst Awang Azman Pawi said the shift to include non-bumiputera at the congress is a “transparent and open move”.

Their participation is crucial “in achieving economic harmony”, he said.

Mr Kuhan Pathy, co-founder of the multiracial Pepper Labs social enterprise, told ST that it was essential for non-bumiputera to be part of the congress.

“This is an important agenda that drives towards a larger goal of a national socio-economic development in the current volatility of global markets.

“We’re part of this building block to advance our nation forward collectively,” said Mr Pathy, one of the speakers at the congress, which ends on March 2.