The Spoilt Malay Businessman

The present govt policy of helping the bumiputras have created a generation of lazy malay businessman whose only goal is to make as much money as possible with the minumum of effort.Instead of teaching them basic business fundamentals they are taught to obtain lucrative contracts which are then farmed out to third parties.Skimming profits from inflated contracts is of course an easy way to make money and you do not need to have any business acumen to make a profit.All you need is political connection.
Instead of teaching the malays to fish for food the govt has simply put fish on their plates.What happens when there is no more fish on the plate?By then it will be too late because they wont know how to fish.
Handing out lucrative contracts like security labelling of cigarettes need no expertise in business.It is akin to a licence to print money.Every packet of cigarettes with a security label is taxed a certain amount.The beneficiary of this concession just collect an annual amount of $70-$100 million doing nothing.
Similarly, pharmaceutical products are also labelled and the beneficiary of this concession stand to collect a cool $150- $200 million per annum.
Then what about contracts given for the supply of equipment and spareparts?Bumiputra companies given such contracts merely add a percentage of profit and charge the goods at an inflated price.
The recent fiasco in the transportation of National trainees to their respective camps was another typical example of giving lucrative transportation contracts to agents who were not even familiar with the transporting system.Instead of an open tender to award to the most experienced and cost effective transporter the concession was given to retired army officers and agents who were not familiar with the organisational aspect of the transport system.
Giving few thousand A.Ps monthly to a few bumiputras is not training them to be good automobile dealers.Just because they become rich because of such practice does not vindicate such a policy.Any ten year old kid without any business knowledge can be filthy rich if given 1000 A.P's monthly.
What about mega projects like the 2nd Penang bridge which was awarded to an UMNO connected company.?The contract price given to UEM bhd was $3billion and the contract was subsequently sub-contracted to a China company for $2.3Billion.UEM stand to make $700 million for just getting the initial contract.
Such a practice of awarding contracts and concession means that in the long run it will cost more to do business here.We not only lose our competitiveness but consumers will have to pay more for road tolls and all consumer products.
In the final analysis, such a system of awarding lucrative contracts to malay businessman will not produce a generation of competent malay businessman able to face the challenges of a globalised world but instead will produce a generation of lazy malays waiting for easy hand-outs.