MALAYSIAN GOVT WILL UPDATE DATA ON WEALTH DISTRIBUTION, SAYS DPM

GENTING HIGHLANDS (Malaysia), March 29 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government
will update data on wealth distribution by race to evaluate the people's
socio-economic achievements, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Sunday.

"The data is available, maybe needs to be updated. According to current
records, a large portion of the nation's wealth is in the hands of non-Malays,"
he said.

He said this at a press conference when asked about the call Saturday by
former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for a comprehensive study to done
on wealth distribution in the country following there allegedly being
accusations that Malays were grabbing everything.

Earlier, Muhyiddin had closed this year's National Parent-Teacher
Associations annual convention at Institut Aminuddin Baki here.

Muhyiddin also said that the government would conduct a study on wealth
distribution according to individuals if the need arose.

"We acknowledge this matter, previously under the New Economic Policy we had
targetted for Malays to own at least 30 per cent of the nation's wealth but it
is has been proven that till today we have not achieved it.


"On the other hand, wealth ownership among the non-Malays increased
especially the Chinese. We need to have an approach whereby we do better towards
meeting the aspirations of all communities," he said.

Commenting on the Earth Hour campaign on March 27, Muhyiddin said it was a
global initiative to make people more concerned about the environment.

On the convention, Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, advised PTAs
to be inclusive and get feedback from as many parents as possible before
arriving at decisions.

This way, he said, there would be less problems arising like in the matter
of paying fees or other payments.

In his speech, he said PTAs played a vital role in education because
ultimately the academic achievement of pupils and students depended on parents.

He said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak himself gave much
attention to education matters because of its importance for human capital
development in the country.

--BERNAMA