Abdullah Tells Bumi Contractors To Stop 'Ali Baba' Practice. Easier Said Than Done.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has called on Bumiputera entrepreneurs who are awarded government contracts but subsequently hand them over to non-Bumiputera contractors to stop such a practice as it will negate the target of developing Bumiputeras in the construction industry.

The Prime Minister said he was concerned that such a practice, also known as `Ali Baba', had become a way of life to the Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

"The question now is how to ensure that such practices were curbed as much as possible in the shortest time or eliminated completely," he told reporters after opening Terminal 2 of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, here Wednesday.

He said the government would not stop Bumiputera companies from genuinely going into joint-ventures with non-Bumiputera companies, but handing over to non-Bumiputera companies the opportunities given to the Bumiputera entrepreneurs or `Ali Baba' was "a problem which was not desired".

Tuesday, Abdullah expressed disappointment because a study showed that 85.37 percent of the projects implemented by Bumiputeras last year had been passed on to the non-Bumiputeras.

The Study on Bumiputera Contractor Leakage by the Entrepreneur Development Division of the Works Ministry revealed that the government's objective of developing and strengthening Bumiputera contractors had failed. (Bernama)

***** Sometimes I wonder when such exhortations are made, whether they are merely for the record or do our pemimpin actually mean what they say. It doesn't take much brains to comprehend that when something is given away for free, there is no incentive to work hard or aim higher.

In the name of the Never Ending Policy (NEP) and the continued 'leveling' of an imaginary 'tilted' field, the government has over the years turned hardworking men and women of conscience into shameless rent-seekers who have lost the inclination and industriousness to adapt, improve and come out on top. Why should they? If they have no expertise in a given area and contracts are blindly handed over to them, what are they expected to do than be sleeping partners? The money is good, the Chinaman gets the work done and the Umno ketua cawangan is well 'rewarded' for keeping the contracts coming. As far as they are concerned Semuanya OK!

If 85.37 percent of the projects implemented by Bumiputeras last year had been passed on to the non-Bumiputeras, it only goes to show that a majority of the bumis given projects did not deserve or qualify to receive them, and the government is wasting its time and our money by trying to fast-track the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills among them by blindly doling out small fortunes and hoping against hope that some good will come from it. The only 'good' that has taken place so far is the creation of a small number of fabulously wealthy Malays of undetermined quality and an increasingly large middle-class who may or may not be able to weather the competition in a global economy without government benevolence.

If the government persists in the present fashion of farming out contracts to all and sundry then be prepared for the PM in 2107 to continue with the same pathetic call by Pak Lah in 2007. It might be too late then, for there may be only 'Babas' doing all the big jobs while the 'Alis' spend their time wondering how things might have turned out if the government had only been a little more realistic and disciplined.
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Related Bernama report: Blacklist "Ali Baba" Contractors
From Channel Newsasia: Malaysia's ethnic Malays banned from selling on contracts