The three-day Ninth Bumiputera Economic Congress ended on 2 March 2024. The following were among the initiatives announced by the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his closing speech at the Congress¹:

3. To assist bumiputera youths obtain jobs, the Government is working with GLCs to train 100,000 workers under the Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) programme, who will then be offered jobs with a minimum monthly wage of RM3,500;


4. To boost the acreage of Malay reserve land, 20 hectares of land in Bandar Malaysia will be set aside to build affordable homes to be held as Malay reserve land;


5. The Madani affordable housing scheme will be expanded to build 2,500 homes on Malay reserved lands in several cities;


6. Pelaburan Hartanah Berhad and Permodalan Nasional Berhad will be entrusted to undertake commercial projects on Malay reserve land;


7. The Government will establish a Gig Work Commission to improve the social protection and contract negotiations for 1.2 million gig workers, most of whom are bumiputeras; and


8. With immediate effect, the Government will issue a directive requiring all gifts and souvenirs to be handed out by the Government and its agencies to be sourced from bumiputera entrepreneurs.

The Prime Minister also announced that the Yang di Pertuan Agong has consented to be the patron of the Waqaf Madani endowment fund.
 
It was also announced that a permanent secretariat will be established under the Bumiputera Economic Congress to monitor the immediate execution of the resolutions adopted during the Congress. The secretariat is to be chaired by the Prime Minister. The Minister of Rural and Regional Development Minister and the Minister of Economy will chair the steering committee and the working committee respectively.
 
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According to Tan Sri Noor Azlan Ghazali, who chaired the working group on education reform at the Congress, “We have held eight congresses in the past and come out with countless papers and reports. We cannot just bring up the same thing over and over again and yet things stay the same.”⁴
 
More pertinently, Tan Sri Noor Azizan added, “What is important is what happens on Monday, after the congress. We need to ensure that these things are followed up on.”⁵
 
There is reason to believe that it will not be same old story this time. The Madani Government, in particular, the Pakatan Harapan and United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) parties helmed by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minster respectively, must take steps to regain the support of the Malay and bumiputera voters who have defected in droves to the opposition coalition, Perikatan Nasional consisting primarily of Malay-based parties, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU). Hence, it is likely that the initiatives announced at the conclusion of the Bumiputera Economic Congress will be carried out … it may be a matter of political survival.
 
Article by Kok Chee Kheong (Partner) of Skrine.
 

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