The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) CEO said only about 300 Bumiputera companies applied to be part of Teraju’s mentorship programme, which aims to groom competitive Bumiputera small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and called for more to come forward.
“We need more (Bumiputera SMEs) to say ‘we need help’,” he said at the forum on Economic Transformation Programme organised by global accounting and advisory firm Ernst & Young here.
Jala said that this programme would only assist “deserving” Bumiputera SMEs that merit help.
“[But] it doesn’t mean that we only focus on Bumiputeras,” he added.
Teraju is a new unit parked under the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of co-ordinating the Bumiputera agenda.
It is seen as a refinement of the controversial New Economic Policy (NEP), introduced in 1970 after race riots to lift Bumiputera participation in the economy, in that it seeks to assist only companies that are genuine and have potential.
While the hardline Malay factions in the country have insisted that affirmative action must continue, critics maintain that race-based policies have distorted the economy and made the country less competitive than it otherwise could be.
According to Teraju, a Bumiputera company is defined as one that has at least 35 per cent or 51 per cent Bumiputera ownership for public listed and private companies respectively.
However, they must also have Bumiputeras making up more than half of the staff and board members.
