PM: Stop practice of bad financial planning, selling licences
PUTRAJAYA: Abuses in bumiputra business financing, from loans secured through connections to recipients selling licences for commissions, must stop, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister said the country had inherited decades of a culture where financing went to the well-connected rather than the capable, citing past reports on errant borrowers.
“What is the first step? A plush office. Then, a fine vehicle. Then, a second wife. So the activity turns to selling the licence and collecting commissions.
“This has to stop,” he said when launching Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd’s (PUNB) SParK 2026: Transformasi Niaga here yesterday.
The flagship initiative brings together entrepreneurs and industry players to drive digitalisation and business development. It is part of a national transformation ecosystem to build a resilient business legacy.
PUNB is targeting financing approvals of up to RM2.25bil.
When met after the launch, Anwar said funds would be topped up if the corporation delivered.
“If they do well, we will increase,” he said.
In his speech, Anwar said tens of billions of ringgit had gone up in smoke, pointing to the delisting of bumiputra shareholdings and a long trail of failed loans.
“Everyone wants to be popular but no one dares call out the flaws, and they are not few. I know many are not comfortable with my rebukes, but this is the reality,” he said.
He said he had warned that lobbying by division and branch chiefs would not sway him, as only capable leaders would be helped, and that approving loans on the strength of yellow, green or blue support letters had been ruining bumiputra agencies for decades.
Failure itself was not the offence, said Anwar, recalling how American tech entrepreneur Mitchell Kapor, whose foundation funds start-ups, told him that of some 2,000 backed in a year, only about 30% survived and 13% to 15% excelled, and even that was considered very good.
“It does not matter if the disbursement of the loans has shown some cracks and failures because the businesses did not succeed. That’s not the issue.
“But transparency and their commitment, that is what must be measured,” he said.
Anwar also took aim at those who drag the country into endless racial debate, lamenting that even his coming visit to Johor to discuss IT and artificial intelligence risked being drowned out by talk of racial struggle.
The remarks came a week before polling in the Johor state election on July 11.
The government stood first for growth with good governance, he said, as no amount of expansion would save the country if positions were used to cart away wealth.
The government was equally committed to uplifting the bumiputra, who form the majority but remain poorer on average, provided the agenda was run cleanly, he said.
Anwar said bumiputra development was a national agenda binding the entire government machinery, calling the view that only bumiputra agencies should run such programmes as obsolete.
He said he was not inclined to set up new bumiputra agencies, preferring to empower existing ones such as Mara, Tekun Nasional and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia.
“If they are weak, we strengthen them. If they are truly not up to it, we take over,” he said.
