UMNO YOUTH ASSEMBLY The government should appoint a minister whose responsibility is solely to advance bumiputeras under the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy, Umno Youth deputy chief Khairul Azwan Harun said.

NONE "Umno Youth proposes that the prime minister appoint a minister especially for planning, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes under the BEE...," Khairul Azwan ( left ) said.

The minister must have the required expertise and political will, he said, and not "someone who has a big title but lacks determination and the Malay spirit".

Khairul Azwan also called for the effectiveness of programmes under the BEE to be measured through key performance indexes, which are also presented to Umno for monitoring.

He said this while proposing a motion to thank Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin for his policy speech at the Youth general assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre today.

While he supported Khairy's call for the Youth movement to become more progressive, Khairul Azwan stressed that this was not an endorsement of liberal politics.

"A progressive leader is pragmatic leader, but a progressive leader is not someone who is liberal or who practices pluralism.

"What we want is progressive politics which can address the challenges of the time and present solutions in a practical manner," he said.

Citing the Quran, he said progressiveness a la Umno Youth was consistent with Islam, as it was about doing good and ensuring the welfare of Malays are cared for.

NONE Echoing Umno the speech of deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin ( right ) to the wings last night, Khairul Azwan said "pluralism, liberalism and extremist groups" threaten national stability and as such should not be viewed lightly.

Proof of this, he said, are attacks on the judiciary, syariah courts and the royal institution.

As such, he moved that the Umno Youth support Muhyiddin's proposal to include in the constitution that only followers of Sunni teachings are considered Muslim.

"Umno Youth proposes that Islam in the federal constitution refers to the religion adhered to by Sunnis," he said.

The bumiputera agenda was also a running theme in the debates, with government-linked companies' alleged neglect of Malay welfare being a sore point.

Most vocal was Federal Territories delegate Gulam Muszahar Gulam Mustakim who said GLCs should be mandated to help the Malays by setting up government departments for bumiputera empowerment.

NONE On top of that, an "independent audit unit" should be set up in the Prime Minister's Department to audit GLCs to see if they are neglecting the Malays.

"These Malay CEOs in GLCs forget that they got there because of Umno. Now they look down on us, like we are beggars. We are not even asking for projects worth billions of ringgit," he said. 

"I am telling them now, 'Listen, listen, listen!' They need to remember that the core of the GLCs' existence is to help the bumiputeras, not to be capitalistic," Gulam Muszahar said.

He also ticked off Petronas Dagangan, which he accused of trying to wipe out Malay small entrepreneurs who had been supplying food like nasi lemak to Petronas stations by appointing a "foreign-owned" franchisee for this.

"I have been advised not to say this... but if we can't even protect the welfare of small businesses, then we can forget the vendor programmes that are worth billions of ringgit.

"And this is just coffee shop talk. We need to expose the GLCs, such as Sime Darby, and their capitalistic ways," Gulam Muszahar added.