Government prepared to show how it calculated bumi equity share

By IZATUN SHARI

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government is prepared to reveal the methodology and data used to calculate the 18.9% equity ownership by bumiputras, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said yesterday.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Government’s figure on bumiputra equity share was based on detailed and objective studies.

“The statistics are not modified for the interest of any community. If it is necessary and there are doubts, we will release the data,” he said.


Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
Najib said there should not be any cynical remarks implying that the Government was not transparent.

“The statement gives a picture as though the Government is not transparent. We carried out the study based on an objective assessment,” he told reporters at the launch of a road safety campaign here.

Gerakan president Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik had said that while the party stood by the Government’s figures, it wanted the public to know how the figure was arrived at.

The issue of bumiputra equity share came up when the Centre for Public Policy Studies of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) published a study that showed bumiputra equity ownership in public-listed companies could be as high as 45%.

Asli later retracted the report, saying the study was based on faulty assumptions.

Among the questions which had been asked over the methodology was whether government-linked companies should be included in the calculation. Another was whether the shares were calculated at par or market value.

Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said it was a good idea for the Government to reveal the methodology.

“As much as this has been accepted as the official formula, many may be unaware of it,” he said, adding that he did not think the Government wanted to hide anything.

Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, who is also an Umno vice-president, said the bumiputra’s 18.9% equity share was already stated in the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

He said he would support any move by the Government to reveal how the statistics was reached.

Mohd Ali, who is also Malacca Chief Minister, said companies like Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Petronas, which served all Malaysians, should not be regarded as bumiputra-owned companies in any calculation.

Gerakan central committee member Datuk Toh Kin Woon, who had been speaking out on the issue, said the public would welcome the suggestion to release the methodology.

“People generally want the Government to be more transparent and open about the computation used in obtaining the figure,” he said.

He hoped that the Economic Planning Unit and other bodies would look positively at the methodology used in Asli’s study.

MCA Youth chief Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said official statistics should be made accessible to every one so that they could be used for research.

He said as long as the Government was transparent, confusion could be avoided.