KL aims to recruit more non-Malays into police, army
KL aims to recruit more non-Malays into police, army
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia will recruit more non-Malays into the police and army and encourage more Malays to go into business under a five-year development plan unveiled on Monday.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, tabling the Eighth Malaysia Plan, said various programs would be undertaken to ensure that the employment structure reflected ethnic composition.
He said Malays and other indigenous races known as bumiputera" were too concentrated in the public sector while non-bumiputera were dominating the private sector.
"The government will endeavor to increase the participation of non-bumiputera at all levels of the police, army and in the field of education," Mahathir said.
Malays and other bumiputeras make up about 64 percent of the population, Chinese 25 percent and Indians eight percent.
The plan reaffirms a target first set in 1971 of giving bumiputera a stake of at least 30 percent in the Chinese- dominated business world.
Mahathir said more places would be allocated for qualified bumiputera students in public and private universities and colleges, and efforts made to improve their performance in science, mathematics and English.
Steps would be taken to identify and train talented bumiputera in financial management and enterprises to build a bumiputera commercial and industrial community, he said.
"Those who are willing to undergo these courses will be provided with opportunities, licenses, capital and the like. If any of them is found to have misappropriated the opportunities or funds, they will be blacklisted," he said.
"It is not a scheme to get rich quickly but it is a serious effort towards restructuring society in order to attain an equitable balance between the bumiputera and the non-bumiputera in Malaysia."
Mahathir said training programs for bumiputera entrepreneurs would be intensified to prepare them for the information age and to make them more self-reliant and competitive ahead of globalization.
A National Institute of Entrepreneurship would be established to develop successful and resilient businesses.
The premier said a bumiputera council for information and communications technology would also be set up and a bumiputera ICT agenda formed to encourage their participation in these sectors.
Party posts
On Monday, Mahathir also expressed his hopes that the ruling party will accept his proposal to bar "extremely rich" people from holding party posts.
"This is my view. It has not been approved by the Supreme (policymaking) Council yet, I hope the council will agree to it," he was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying.
Mahathir aired his plan late last week in an attempt to eradicate "money politics" from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which will soon hold elections for divisional chiefs.
He said Monday the proposal is not designed to block extremely rich people from joining UMNO. "(They) can join UMNO, but need not contest, they need not become division chiefs and we will ascertain that those who are truly sincere will not be prevented from contesting just because they are rich," Mahathir added.
The "extremely rich" UMNO members would be asked to declare their assets, the prime minister said.
"I have stated that they would have to declare their assets just like the ministers who have to declare their assets. If their wealth suddenly shrinks during the election, we want to know why," he added.
Mahathir admitted last Saturday that many ethnic Malays shun UMNO because they believe it "had absorbed a dirty culture -- a culture of corruption."
He said some members were bribed to attend local meetings and were promised free trips if they supported certain candidates.
Mahathir has not so far defined "rich," saying this is not easy to determine and the premier's plan has drawn a cautious reaction.
Najib Razak, an UMNO vice-president, said a detailed study was needed on the definition of rich and the justification for such a move.
"Money politics will not only destroy the credibility and image of the party but also prevent the rise of second-echelon leaders," he was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.
Mohamad Ali Rustam, chief minister of the southern state of Malacca, hailed the proposal but said there must be a clearer definition of "rich."