Saturday July 4, 2009
PM confident Malays will accept liberalisation measures too
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is confident that Barisan Nasional, including top Umno leaders as well as the Malays, are supportive of the various liberalisation measures he has announced since taking over as Prime Minister on April 3.
He said that this would translate into votes for the ruling party in the 13th general election.
He also said that the spirit of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in its macro form would continue but the instruments used to restructure society and achieve equality would have to be changed.
A big step: Najib delivering his keynote address at the Invest Malaysia 2009 Conference in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. He hopes Barisan and the Malays will warm up to his liberalisation moves — Bernama “I have engaged with the key players before I announced this and they believe it is time for us to change, review and move forward. I think people realise that,” he said when asked if his political party was behind him on all his moves.
However, the measures announced did not mean the country has abandoned the need to have a more equitable society, as it remains the main goal, he said in an interview with CNBC which was aired in its entirety yesterday.
A short version was aired last Wednesday where Najib touched on the ringgit and the economy.
During the half-hour interview, Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, said Barisan was working towards gaining the people’s confidence and vote.
“I want people to judge me by my actions and hopefully, they will judge favourably when the time comes,” he said.
Najib said he was confident that Malaysians as a whole would realise that the changes put in place by the Government was the best way forward.
Among the most recent liberalisation measures was repealing the Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) guidelines with immediate effect on the acquisition of equity stakes, mergers and takeovers.
With the FIC repealed, it means dropping the 30% bumiputra equity requirement for Malaysian companies seeking public listing. They will now be offered 50% of the 25% public shareholding spread.
He said the Malays would support the liberalisation.
“There are some really good bumiputra entrepreneurs and corporate players. If you support the companies that are deserving and promising, I don’t think even the non-Malays will criticise you for that,” he said.
To suggestions that he was reversing his father’s policies relating to bumiputra equity participation, Najib said:
“In terms of the goals, Tun (Abdul) Razak’s vision is still alive but the path we choose (and) the instrument to get there must be new.
“We must ensure that no ethnic group is marginalised and disincentivised as well,” he added. — Bernama
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