Penang Bumiputera Development Council to be reactivated, says PM Anwar

BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Penang Bumiputera Development Council will be reactivated with former Prime Minister’s Department Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) director-general Tan Sri Khalid Ramli appointed as its new chairman.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic) said the decision was made at the first Penang Bumiputera Development Council meeting this year chaired by himself as a move to empower the socioeconomic aspects and human capital of Bumiputera Madani in Penang.

"I want some projects, business opportunities, housing opportunities at this lower level, to be given priority and cooperation with the state government to accelerate the development of the Penang Malay community.

"But as I emphasised it must be in line with the priorities of the state government, so that if we say that some of the projects are for B40 then they must give opportunities to the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities so that the framework of our programme uses the Madani government approach," he said.

The Penang Bumiputera Development Council is a platform for meeting members to consider proposals for the implementation of programmes and projects specific for Bumiputera in the state in order to expand and improve the level of achievement of the Penang Bumiputera community, especially in socioeconomic aspects.

Meanwhile, in his statement, Anwar said the appointment was made in line with Khalid Ramli’s expertise and experience after having served more than 35 years in the public service among others, as Penang Bumiputera Participation Coordination Division director and Penang State Finance Officer.

Anwar himself once held the position of Penang Bumiputera Development Council chairman from 1987 to 1998.

The Prime Minister said to ensure that the desire to increase Bumiputera property ownership in Penang is achieved as well as to drive the development of waqf land, the government agreed to approve an allocation of RM200mil as a soft loan fund.

"For starter, the fund will be used to develop a housing project on waqf land in Permatang Pauh, Penang," he said.

In order to produce more Bumiputera Madani human capital skilled in various technical fields, Anwar said the Federal government had also approved an additional allocation of RM10mil to enable 1,000 Tahfiz students to get skills training and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) certification.

He said the programme strives to produce Bumiputera Muslim children who are holistic and complete with religious knowledge and technical skills.

"Penang has many maahad tahfiz and we have discussed with these operators because there is a need for tahfiz students to be given exposure training so that their job opportunities are not stunted.

"There is already an agreement to use part of the maahad tahfiz expenses to give them TVET skills courses, in addition to Al-Quran memorization," he said.

Anwar said, with the allocation of RM10mil, tahfiz operators can design a programme with private companies to provide TVET training to tahfiz students to guarantee the best job opportunities for them. - Bernama