``I WILL BE FAIR TO ALL`` - PM

JITRA (Malaysia), July 14 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Razak said
Monday he would be fair to all races as it was an obligation in this world and
in the hereafter.

"I am the prime minister for all and we (Barisan Nasional) are fair to all
races; we help all races, we help the Malays who are poor.

"We help Indians who are poor, and the Chinese, we think of them as rich
people but there are also poor people among them, we help them... and we help
members of the Siamese community who are poor," he said at a meet-the-people
session in this northern town Monday.

He said that although he recently introduced economic liberalisation policy,
it did not deprive the Malays of their rights as enshrined in the constitution.

He said the liberalisation policy would facilitate business activities of
other communities but at the same time, the government would also find new
mechanisms to help bumiputera businesses.

Among them, he said, was the introduction of the Ekuiti Nasional Bhd
(Ekuinas), an institution to help capable bumiputera entrepreneurs.

Najib said that the meritocracy system in business was aimed at helping
those in genuine needs of help.

"We have withdrawn the (30 per cent bumiputera) requirement for IPO (initial
public offering) because ordinary people had little access to the IPO," he said.

He said that the government under his leadership would find new ways to help
the people but it would not take the easiest route in doing so.

He also said the government was keeping its target of making the country a
developed nation by the year 2020 in line with the government's Vision 2020.
-- BERNAMA