Kuching: Bumiputera economic empowerment should focus on building capacity, access to financing, technology and competitiveness rather than relying on race-based mechanisms, said DAPSY Sarawak Deputy Chief Jordan Soo Tien Ren.
Soo said the Sarawak Government’s own figures showed Bumiputera contractors had already secured 54% of the value of relevant state government contracts, demonstrating the potential of capacity-building measures.
Citing Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas’s ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly sitting in May 2025, Soo said RM1.09 billion, or 54%, of RM2.02 billion in contracts awarded by the state government up to that point had gone to Bumiputera contractors.
He said the government had long maintained that Bumiputera contractors could be strengthened through training, financing, incubation and mentoring.
“Among the initiatives were the Competitive Contractor Programme (PKBS), Program Peningkatan Usahawan Bumiputera (Putera), 23 Pusat Inkubator dan Bimbingan Usahawan (PIBU) centres statewide and financing schemes for small Bumiputera contractors. All of them build capacity. None involves a racial quota.
“This is the method the government itself chose, and 54% is the result it produced. If it works, why switch course now and go back to race-based politics?” Soo said.
He said the programmes addressed practical challenges faced by businesses, with training tackling skills shortages, financing addressing capital constraints, while incubation and mentorship helped improve business management.
“A quota does nothing to build capacity. A company with no engineers, no machinery, and no cash to buy materials still cannot carry out the project, even if it is handed a share under this 30%quota,” he said.
Soo was responding to Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap Yau Sin, who recently defended the state’s 30% Bumiputera quota for major government projects.
He challenged the government to publish the results of its existing programmes, including how many participating contractors had subsequently secured contracts.
Soo warned that continued reliance on quotas could create a cycle of larger quota demands and community blame if economic conditions failed to improve.
“The true test of assistance is capacity gained; the true test of a quota is only the share handed out,” he said.
He called on the government to withdraw the policy, arguing that genuine empowerment should ultimately enable Bumiputera contractors to compete independently rather than depend on administrative protection.
