KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29): The Bumiputera priority policy is still practised and not affected by the Malaysia-US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) because it is clearly included in public responsibilities, said outgoing Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

While refuting allegations that disputed the matter, he stressed that Bumiputera rights remained a red line defended by the government in the negotiations.

He said some parties claimed by citing Article 6.2 that Malaysia must ensure that government-owned or controlled companies operating in the Malaysian market act according to commercial considerations.

According to their interpretation, this provision means that state-owned companies can no longer implement policies such as the preference for Bumiputera vendors and that everything must be based on commercial evaluations alone, he said.

“[This] is not correct, [because] there is another clause that provides an exemption for the purpose of fulfilling public responsibilities, namely that Malaysia will refrain from providing non-commercial assistance or otherwise subsidising state-owned or controlled enterprises that produce goods, except to fulfill public responsibilities,” he said in a post on X on Saturday.

Zafrul said the public responsibility of state-owned companies is to support Bumiputera development so that the benefits of economic progress can be felt together.

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