I applaud Najib’s statement of wanting to help more than just a few well-connected Bumiputera businessmen as is currently the case when awarding contracts or equity. There is a need to assist genuine and deserving businessman instead of supporting a few elite or politically connected UMNO or BN businessman.
I would like to see this effort become a reality as soon as possible as this is what PR has been fighting for. This effort must be implemented for awarding contracts in all ministries, starting with the Prime Minister’s Ministry, Government Linked Companies, agencies, institutions at the federal level. However, our support is conditioned upon Najib’s proposed implementation method. As reflected in previous announcements, Najib’s statement is again scant on details, hence it’s best for him to rectify this soonest by sharing implementation details.
We believe that important statements by Najib from now on must be accompanied by clear enumeration of way forward and its mechanisms, lest it be left as statements of grandeur without the political will to see it through and potentially reversed such as the recent proposal to implement GST.
Najib’s statement has vindicated PR’s calls for reform, and is an admission of BN’s past abuse of power exemplified by the flawed implementation of the NEP. It is therefore crucial that Najib engages directly with PR lawmakers, in line with his 1 Malaysia rhetoric.
Such important statements should be made in parliament, instead of a particular constituency such as Permatang Pauh, especially considering all questions regarding NEAC were fielded in parliament during Najib’s calculated absence throughout the debate. The chosen timing on the eve of elections and venue also begs the question of the sincerity and seriousness of the announcement.
Apart from Najib’s suggestion of improving business networking, Pakatan Rakyat believes that transparency measures are absolutely necessary to ensure success. Prior to Najib’s suggestion, within two years of its administration in Penang, the PR government, though without much fanfare, had already instituted an open tender system which has benefited genuine and deserving contractors, including Malay businessman. 67% of tenders were awarded to Malay businessman, or 60% of total tender value awarded.
Therefore, I suggest a similar model at the federal level be implemented, with features as shown below to be considered:
1) Award contracts by open tenders, considering both technical and commercial merit
2) Provide a list of UMNO and BN division or branch members who have been benefitted from government contracts and equity in the past 3 year and make public their contractual or company performance to remove doubts of political favouritism
3) Introduce a new method for measuring the extent of Bumiputera participation instead of relying on share of equity.
I like grandeur announcements, but it’s time to match those with real time action.
