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Maybank's bumiputera rule sparks outcry

Tuesday, 08 May 2007 09:07am

Ambiga Sreenevasan ©The Straits Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief

It wants to give business only to law firms with 50% Malay equity

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S largest bank, Maybank, has stirred controversy after it informed lawyers recently that it would do business only with Malay-controlled law firms.

In a move seen as a renewed push for affirmative action in the country, Maybank stipulated that firms with at least three partners must have 50 per cent Malay equity, in order to be included on its panel.

The state-owned bank gave firms already on its panel a year to comply with the new criterion.

Maybank is the second bank to take such a step this year. Earlier, the Malay-controlled AmBank also required firms on its panel to have a bumiputera partner, but did not specify the equity share. The lawyers' association, the Bar Council, had received similar complaints about other banks two years ago.

Its president, Ms Ambiga Sreenevasan, told The Straits Times this was discriminatory. 'All lawyers should be judged on merit,' she said.

A Maybank spokesman was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying that, following the outcry, it is now reviewing its directive. He added that a solicitor's efficiency was the bank's core requirement.

News portal Malaysiakini reported yesterday that members of the opposition Democratic Action Party's socialist youth group said they would close their Maybank accounts within two weeks if the bank failed to review its directive.

AmBank declined comment.

The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry said in a statement last week that the move could make banks less competitive globally.

Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said such moves would only create 'new national divisions'.

The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, also criticised the directive.

Dr Jeffrey Goh, the economic caucus vice-president of MCA's policy research arm Insap, said he received complaints recently from stationery suppliers in two states about certain state governments asking its departments, including schools, to do business only with Malay companies.

'We see this as a far-reaching and worrying trend,' he said.

Last year, the Domestic and Consumer Affairs Ministry introduced a set of controversial guidelines which required retail companies with at least 15 per cent foreign ownership to have Malay shares of at least 30 per cent.

The MCA protested, and the guidelines have been shelved.

Such renewed zeal for affirmative action can be traced back to the 2004 Umno general assembly, when the party's deputy youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin urged the government to ensure that the Malays were not left behind.

Several Malay business leaders said there was nothing wrong in helping to build a Malay entrepreneurial class.

The Malay Chamber of Commerce's president, Datuk Syed Amin Al-Jeffri, said bodies like the Bar Council should be more far-sighted.

'In any business, there has to be sincere partnership between the races,' he was quoted as saying in the Berita Harian yesterday.

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Sincere Pertnership!??!
written by Nicole Tan Lee Koon, Tuesday, May 08 2007 01:01 pm

How can anything that is forced be remotely called sincere? I think if we are really far-sighted, we can already see the writings on the wall....

SO WHAT NOW, OUR GREAT ECONOMISTS?
written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, Tuesday, May 08 2007 02:07 pm

The New Economic Policy was designed in 1971 not to rob Peter to pay Paul, so said then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak.

Of course, the NEP was premised on the eternally growing economic cake - something that is against even the philosophy of leading Islamic economists since they know that the economic cake will never grow eternally. Even Joseph Schumpeter questioned the concept of the eternally growing economic cake in his concept of "creative destruction."

So, if any bank, be it Maybank or Ambank, decides to implement the policy of having legal firms with at least three partners and with Bumiputra equity of no less than 50 per cent, then such a policy has sailed right into the winds of the eternally growing economic cake.

So what now, our great economists?

Perpetuating the NEP
written by Lim Kock Hooi, Tuesday, May 08 2007 02:38 pm

This is very likely an election year. Certain unseen hands have decided to play the racial card among the professionals, an educated sector of voters who presumably would look beyond racial politics. As events have shown, that presumption is at best rebuttable, at worst a fallacy.

Maybank's bumiputera rule sparks outcry
written by Syamsul Adzha Bin Hassan, Tuesday, May 08 2007 04:46 pm

It does not matter if it's an election year. Whats for sure - I am a bumi with 3 partners and yet I am still not accepted into their panel of solicitors. Getting quite tired with all this hoo haa about bumi status. Personally, I don't think I benefit much from my bumi status except maybe getting 2 bags of manure. Geddit? If you do not personally know or "linked" to the powers that be, your bumi status would not be able to get you anywhere. Trust me. A lot of good it has done to some quarters yes, but definitely not to me. So relax and lighten up about the rulings ya'll.

ADIL TAK?
written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, Tuesday, May 08 2007 08:03 pm

Syamsul,

So, in the name of Bumiputeraism, those with connections are abusing what is rightly yours under the New Economic Policy. I know. I have come across Bumiputeras who tell me in all sincerity that they are the deprived ones, not the connected type.

Over the years, I count these sincere Malaysians as among my best friends since I was born in Jalan Tanjong Tokong Lama, the very heart of a Malay village.

For the record, the then Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, when unfurling the New Economic Policy, never meant the policy to "rob Peter to pay Paul." Now, in the name of Paul, everyonee except Paul is getting the benefits. Macam mana, ini? Patut tak? Adil tak?

Maybank's bumiputera rule sparks outcry
written by Jaspal Singh Gill, Tuesday, May 08 2007 09:37 pm

Funny how these banks don't seem to mind if legal firms not having a Bumi partner/director open their office and client's accounts in their banks, but God forbid if these firms ever try to be on their panel.

Mayban's bumiputera rule sparks outcry
written by Syamsul Adzha Bin Hassan, Wednesday, May 09 2007 11:59 am

You are truly right Stephen. But for the record, I do not need the NEP to get me through life. Therefore I couldn't care less if its taken away. The real purpose for which it was introduced has been sidelined and instead these people who holds power abused it for their own unjust enrichment. One thing led to another, and the gap between the poor malays and the rich ones have widen ever since, maybe as big as the autralian continent! Its a pity these selfish people only come down to meet these poor malays, chinese and indians only during election time. By the way stephen, you mentioned Jalan Tg Tokong Lama, in Penang? I'm from there too. How come we have never crossed paths?

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