KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — The government will not take advantage of the Malays to enrich a few rent-seekers that hide behind "Ali Baba” businesses, said Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.

He said the government will not get involved in schemes that seek to empower the Bumiputera economy but also give rise to corruption.

"God willing, we will not ride the Malay name for a few scraps of Jana Wibawa’s money that the ‘Ali Baba’ eventually gives to a non-Malay company,” he said in a Facebook post today.

Rafizi was responding to Opposition MPs, especially those from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), who often ask about the government’s Bumiputera economic agenda in defence of the Malays.

He also referred to the Jana Wibawa programme that was introduced by the previous Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration as a Covid-19 stimulus initiative to help Bumiputera contractors.

However, the programme is now ensnared in a large corruption scandal involving several Bersatu leaders.

Rafizi said that all governments claim to have a Bumiputera economic agenda.

He said some may see it as political, but his priority is to increase Bumiputera contribution to the economy.

"Even though there is a large number of Bumiputera businesses, their economic contribution is not consistent.

"Of more than one million business entities in the country, only 3 per cent are large companies, while 2 per cent are medium-sized companies.

"About 15 per cent are small companies and the remaining 80 per cent are micro businesses,” he explained.

Of that number, Rafizi said around 95 per cent of registered businesses are small and micro scaled operations that are managed by Bumiputera.

He added that the current scale is why a new approach is needed to empower the Bumiputera economy.

"Bumiputera businesses must be competitive and able to stand on their own. Government programmes need to be careful to avoid dependence on government aid which can erode competitiveness,” he said.

Rafizi said competitiveness and survival can be achieved by focusing on the 3P concept, which is ‘product, problem, people’.

He said this translates to businesses needing to create products or services to solve problems or to meet customer needs.

"This can be done by having skilled people who are able to create the product,” he said, adding that this was to also avoid the pitfalls of rent-seeking at the risk of corrupt practices.