Despite decades of government assistance aimed at strengthening their role in the economy, many bumiputera-owned businesses remain stuck in the micro-enterprise category, a new report said.

The findings were detailed in one of two reports launched by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) yesterday, which examined the effectiveness of bumiputera vendor development policies.

According to the think tank, despite accounting for almost 30 percent of SMEs in Malaysia, 88 percent of bumiputera-owned firms have yet to...