KUALA LUMPUR: The government is committed to increasing the involvement of bumiputra businesses in large-scale national projects, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

       He said the government is also committed to reviewing procurement policies imposed by government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs), as well as issues related to bumiputra corporate equity which is still far below the 30% target.

       "In this regard, the government is reviewing the Equity Safety Net mechanism to ensure that shares held by bumiputra-mandated agencies remain in the bumiputra group of companies.

       "This mechanism will be fine-tuned in order to achieve bumiputra equity and value without having too much impact on the competitiveness of the relevant agencies in their investment affairs," he said in his speech at the launch of the Bumiputra Development Action 2030 (TPB2030) here on Monday (Dec 6).

       Ismail Sabri said although bumiputras are the majority ethnic group in the country at 20.9 million or 69.7% of the population, their socioeconomic status still needed improvement, especially in terms of the wealth gap, income gap and low asset ownership.

       "Bumiputras need to be helped in new and more structured ways, from Perlis to Sarawak to Sabah, including the bumiputra minority. As I mentioned before, nobody will be left out or forgotten, in line with the essence of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP)," he said.

       He said bumiputra success is not just a bumiputra agenda alone, but will bring returns to the country as a whole.

       "We are also able to drive the bumiputra agenda to the global stage with the empowerment of high-tech fields, improving the quality of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and technical and vocational education training (TVET)," he added.

       TPB2030 is the reference text for the next decade for bumiputra economic and socioeconomic empowerment and is a continuation of previous initiatives and programmes.

       Based on part of the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 vision and supported by the 12MP, TPB2030 – which was created to achieve equality of opportunities and outcomes – was developed by TERAJU since late last year. – Bernama