The government will update data on wealth distribution by race to evaluate Malaysia’s socio-economic achievements, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said today.   

"The data is available, maybe needs to be updated. According to current records, a large portion of the nation's wealth is in the hands of non-Malays," he said.

He said this at a press conference when asked about the call yesterday by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for a comprehensive study to done on wealth distribution in the country following there allegedly being accusations that Malays were grabbing everything.   

Earlier, Muhyiddin had closed this year's National Parent-Teacher Associations annual convention at Institut Aminuddin Baki in Genting Highlands.   

Muhyiddin also said that the government would conduct a study on wealth distribution according to individuals if the need arose.

"We acknowledge this matter, previously under the New Economic Policy we had targeted for Malays to own at least 30 percent of the nation's wealth but it is has been proven that till today we have not achieved it.

"On the other hand, wealth ownership among the non-Malays increased, especially the Chinese. We need to have an approach whereby we do better towards meeting the aspirations of all communities," he said.

PTAs play vital role

Commenting on the Earth Hour campaign yesterday, Muhyiddin said it was a global initiative to make people more concerned about the environment.

On the convention, Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, advised PTAs to be inclusive and get feedback from as many parents as possible before arriving at decisions.

This way, he said, there would be less problems arising like in the matter of paying fees or other payments.

In his speech, he said PTAs played a vital role in education because ultimately the academic achievement of pupils and students depended on parents.

He said Prime Minister Najib Razak himself gave much attention to education matters because of its importance for human capital development in the country.   

- Bernama