Stressing the importance of the key performance indices (KPIs) related to the Bumiputera Empowerment Agenda (BEA), Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak likened it to a compulsory paper in the SPM public examination.

Just as a fail in the Bahasa Malaysia subject would fail SPM candidates regardless of their performance in other subjects, government-linked companies (GLCs) must meet their BEA-related targets, he said. 

“Each GLC must implement their respective bumiputera agenda programs like the national language paper. You may pass all other papers, but if you fail this one, you would fail SPM.

“This means all other KPIs are incumbent upon the KPI on BEA. If you want to pass, this is the compulsory paper. It is a KPI that must be delivered by GLCs.

“This is our clear-cut commitment. No one should question our commitment. We are clearly the only ones with a commitment to the BEA, so pandai-pandailah (be clever about it),” he said in a speech today.

He was speaking at an appreciation ceremony to acknowledge the top-performing vendors of major GLCs.

Najib had launched the BEA in 2013, and it was meant to supersede and expand upon the affirmative action policies of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the New Economic Model (NEM).

In April this year, he also launched the Bumiputera Wellbeing Transformation (TKB) policy, that is meant to be even more comprehensive than previous pro-bumiputera affirmative action policies, which were focused solely on economic development.

Meanwhile, Najib told the audience today that initiatives under BEA have generated RM114 billion since its launch, up to August this year.

Using the MRT project as an example yet again, he reiterated that favouring bumiputera contractors in government contracts does not necessarily lead to delays, contrary to popular belief.

Instead, the MRT project was completed under the budget and ahead of schedule, thanks to a more transparent tender process that ensures only the best contractors are picked for the job, he said.