Closing Mara Corp Would Be A Disaster Says Mtem

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Ahmad Yazid, chief executive of the Malay Economic Action Council.PETALING JAYA: The Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) has urged Putrajaya to give Mara Corporation, the business arm of Majlis Amanah Rakyat, more time to sort out its problems
Alarmed by reports of possible closure and divestment of assets, MTEM chief executive Ahmad Yazid Othman said such a development would be disastrous for Malay socio-economic development
He found it “very worrying” that the reports had also said the corporation would be told to focus on education
Yazid said if Mara were to focus solely on education, it would only serve to churn out “workers” while with Mara Corporation, it could do much more than that
Yazid said the Majlis Amanah Rakyat Act 1966 empowered Mara to promote and undertake economic and social development
“Clearly, our past leaders had envisioned that Mara’s scope is not limited to education,” he told FMT
He said a new leadership in the company had dealt with problems of the past. Dismantling the entire system would be “going overboard”
He urged the government to give the new leadership time to sort things out. “The results are encouraging, so we don’t see the need to resort to an extreme measure like shutting it down.”Yazid said the government should avoid the previous administration’s mistake in ceding control of Bumiputera assets, such as the abolition of a 30% Bumiputera quota for companies seeking stock market listing“Whatever the government does, it must make sure that it has a good impact on the Bumiputera community,” he said. - FMT

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