SHAH ALAM - What the government is doing to help the Malays escape poverty in the country is ineffective.
This, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said was because instead of developing the properties and lands they possessed, it would sell them.
He said the lands were not used for agricultural purposes.
"Lands were rarely being used for paddy cultivation, planting rubber and palm trees as it might be to too small for them to turn it into their source of income.
"So, the easiest way for them to make money was by selling the land, instead of using it for cultivation,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said this during Sinar Harian’s "Di Sebalik Isu bersama FY” programme hosted by Finaz Yunus entitled "Mengapa Melayu Jual Tanah” (why the Malays sell their lands), on Friday night.
He said even though there were reserved lands which could not be sold, they might be secretly selling them to the non-Malays.
Hence, he said the Malays had willingly offered themselves to be the owner of the land but have no power over it.
"This had happened when we introduced the Malaysian New Economic Policy and created opportunities for the Malays by giving them contracts and licences and instead of working on it, they sold it.
"We given them AP, they sell the AP, we given them a licence, they sell the licence. They wanted fast income, but fast income would not last long,” he said.
Citing what happened in Singapore as an example, Dr Mahathir said the land initially owned by the Malay fishermen, were now owned by the rich.
"They (Malays in Singapore) do not own a single piece of land as it all now belonged to the rich people.
"If we are not careful enough, there would not be any land that belonged to the Malays,” he added.
He said this was the reason why the Malays needed to enrich themselves and to do so, they must follow the right way.
"If we were given a contract and keep on selling it, we will always be poor,” he said.
He said during his term as the seventh prime minister under the Pakatan Harapan government, there was a policy in which if it was found that a contract or licence were sold, it would be cancelled immediately.
He said the Malays’ capabilities in business must be enhanced, and this was possible.
"There are Malays who are doing good in business, but, there is only a small group of them,” he said.