KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — UMNO wants to see the Malay and Bumiputera agenda to continue to be empowered in the next two decades including strengthening Bumiputera trust agencies, its president, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.
Bumiputera equity holding institutions, including Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH), Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), must become the government’s main agenda without bowing to pressure for those agendas to be sidelined.
“As highlighted in the main debate between two political leaders (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) four days ago, companies in which PNB has stakes in, such as Sapura Energy, involving over 10 million Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) unitholders, need to be assisted.
“A total of over RM5 billion has been invested by PNB. The company employs a workforce of over 10,000 and over 3,000 vendors are involved. Without using direct government funds, PETRONAS is suited to take over and conduct a turn-around immediately,” he said during his speech at the UMNO special general assembly at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL) today.
Ahmad Zahid said UMNO agreed that a forensic audit be conducted on Sapura Energy for the sake of transparency.
