Non-Malay natives seek fair share

22 July, 2007

By Joseph Sipalan of The Borneo Post

Upcoming congress to focus on equal access to 30 pct of economic cake, says organser

PENAMPANG: Fair distribution of the Bumiputera economic development budget under the New Economic Policy (NEP) will be the focal point of discussions at the Sabah Non-Malay Natives Economic Congress on July 28.

Deputy organising chairman of the event, William Mojilip, told a press conference yesterday that non-Malay Bumiputeras had not had equal access to the 30 per cent allocated to Bumiputeras under the NEP.

“No doubt the government has been giving priority to the Bumiputeras in its socio-economic development programmes, but statistically the government would find that distribution of the economic cake has not covered the (entire) group and has mostly only benefited the Malays in Semenanjung Malaysia,” he said.

William, who is also secretary of congress organiser - Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said that through the congress they were aiming to come up with resolutions to highlight to the government their demands to enhance non-Malay natives’ participation in the country’s economic development.

He said the resolutions would be presented to the Federal government to assist in charting the best framework to address the current imbalance in distribution of the NEP Bumiputera development allocation.

William said the organsising committee was expecting to get around 300 participants including from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and non-Malay ethnic groups in Sabah for the one-day congress.

He said the congress would be a good opportunity for the non-Malay Bumiputra business community to gain more information on the Federal government’s perspective on equitable distribution of wealth among Bumiputeras from Second Minister of Finance Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop who will officially open the event.

“We also hope that he will enlighten us on the special unit established to look after native affairs in Sabah and Sarawak under the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister’s Department,” he said, referring to the announcement of the ICU by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok recently.

A total of three papers will be presented during the inaugural congress, which will be held at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort.

Registration for the congress is free. For more information, contact KCCI executive secretary Sylvia A Olas at 088726306 or 088727306.