Lim calls to focus on wealth creation, not equity dispute

[djspinnet]

PANTAI REMIS: Stop arguing over racial equity and wealth distribution and concentrate instead on wealth creation and transparency, said Gerakan president Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik.

He said that the rich were merely squabbling amongst themselves as to who had more shares.

“The rich are arguing over what they have. What about those who don’t have anything?

“In my 30 years of political experience, the issue of racial equity usually crops up only when the country approaches a recession,” he told reporters after distributing Deepavali hampers in Pengkalan Baru here yesterday.

Lim, who is Energy, Water and Communications Minister, was commenting on the dispute over the figure cited by Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) that Bumiputras owned 45% of the country’s business equity.

He also urged leaders to stop challenging Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew over his remark that Chinese in Malaysia were being systematically marginalised.

“Stop worrying over racial equity as it will not solve the matter at hand – an impending recession and the lack of wealth creation for the country,” he said.

“We cannot afford any more wastage and leakage. What we need is a new system and more transparency. If you have the figures proving that the Bumiputras do not own 45% of equity, then show those figures and end the debate,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was recently quoted as saying that Asli’s 45% Bumiputra equity ownership result was wrong as it was based on a survey involving 1,000 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, while the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) had surveyed 600,000 companies to come up with its 18.9% figure for the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Lim said that debates like these only fuel the perceptions that Malays always felt they did not have enough, the Chinese felt they had sacrificed too much, while the Indians felt that they did not have anything at all.

From http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...132&sec=nation

Finally someone spoke the truth.

[Adrian Wong]

ROTFL! I totally agree with him.

IMHO, all this is just a waste of time. Instead of worrying about other people taking your share, let's work on improving ourselves!