The emergence of corporate Malays

The emergence of corporate Malays

Think the unthinkable, dream the impossible, Daim Zainuddin, former Finance Minister and now Economic Adviser to the Malaysian government, gives this advice.

Bumiputera Entrepreneurs in the KLSE, Vol.1, By Sally Cheong, Petaling Jaya, Corporate Research Services, 1996, 238 pages.

SINGAPORE: The tragic death of Yahya Ahmad and his wife in a helicopter crash in March this year sent Malaysians into a paroxysm of grief normally reserved for prominent political leaders. An automotive engineer by training, Yahya was executive chairman of the Diversified Resources Bhd-Hicom group and controlled an empire of more than 90 companies, nine of them listed. When news of his death became known, the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index fell by 13.21 points and the all- share Emas Index fell 4.28 points.

His untimely death led to a certain amount of soul searching. A newspaper report lamented the vacuum in the Malay business community and the lack of second echelon business leaders. Others pointed to the need to nurture and enlarge the Malay middle class and the government has since set up a technical committee for this purpose.

These reports are unduly pessimistic as this book shows. Volume 1 of a two-volume work, Bumiputera Entrepreneurs in the KLSE describes the business profile and business philosophy of 12 corporate giants. Whatever the basis for selection, those entrepreneurs included are but a small sample of a growing and dynamic group of people.

In one sense, this book can be read as a textbook for aspiring entrepreneurs. But it is as a reflection of Malaysia's corporate culture and the socio-political environment within which it operates that gives the book its wider appeal.

The emergence of the corporate Malay can be said to result from the convergence of three factors: the New Economic Policy which aims at uplifting the economic position of the Malays, the government's privatization strategy and government patronage. Official support is perceived to be necessary because Malays lack a business tradition. Suleiman bin Abdul Manan, chairman/CEO of Taiping Consolidated, explains: "In my time, very few Malays went in business. In fact it was absolutely negligible... We grew up in an environment that looks up to public service so it was every Malay graduate's aspiration to join the Civil Service. I think the NEP (New Economic Policy, 1970-1990) has done well to change the Malays' attitude towards business by giving them the opportunities to venture into the business world."

The book describes a diverse group of people. Only a few have been active in politics, three came from the civil service, two from the academic world and one is of royal birth. Nearly all are highly educated and have had tertiary education including three who hold doctorates. Half come from humble backgrounds and pay tribute to the discipline they learnt from the hardship of their early years and the strict upbringing they received. They are articulate, confident, cosmopolitan and have a vision of themselves and their business in the future of Malaysia.

What they represent is a group sometimes referred to as the New Malay. The term Melayu Baru was coined to refer to a phenomenon in Malay society which began to emerge in the early 1990s. It describes a social and cultural transformation in Malay society based on an increasingly stronger economic position as well as a growing middle class arising from the enormous input into education.

Statistics indicate that the middle class in the Malay community has grown from 12.9 per cent in 1970 to 27 per cent in 1990. However, the term Melayu Baru has come under some controversy and has not been widely accepted as it also connotes, to some people, an undesirable lifestyle. Instead the term Melayu Korporat has since appeared which projects the concept of the corporate Malay who would lead his community to greater economic heights but would remain true to his traditions and values.

The emergence of the Malay entrepreneur is regarded as vital to the fulfillment of the NEP which sought to rectify the imbalances of the past, one of which was the virtual exclusion of Malays from the business world. Today, Malay entrepreneurs can be found in all sectors of the economy just as Malay professionals and technocrats can be found in almost any field of endeavor. It is their success which has engendered the new-found sense of confidence, the new source of pride in being able to define the world they live in.

The Malay community identifies with their success and triumphs in a way which would be inexplicable some place else, hence the keen sense of loss at Yahya's demise. At the same time, this sense of community imposes certain burdens on the individual ... expectations are higher, pressures are greater, not to mention the moral obligation of assisting others to move up the ladder. And because the success of the Malay entrepreneur is seen as an achievement of the community as a whole, it has made possible a more relaxed attitude towards inter-ethnic relations which, in turn, is leading to greater Sino-Malay economic co-operation.

With Malaysia marching steadily towards its aim of becoming an industrialized society, the number of Malay entrepreneurs will certainly grow.

They are regularly profiled in issues of Malaysian Business, Asia Inc. and other business journals, and are also featured in books such as Claudia Cragg's The New Taipans. The adoption of public-private sector cooperation as a strategy for growth can only enhance the role of Malay entrepreneurs.

-- P. Lim Pui Huen

The writer is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore and is Associate Editor of Trends.