EL PARADIGMA DE LA “COMPLEJIDAD” PEDAGÓGICA EN LA SOCIEDAD POSTMODERNA.

Pemas and Bumiputra interests in the private sector for UMBC, then Malaysia's fifth largest bank. The potential buyers of Pemas' 85 per cent stake in the bank were Datuk Keramat Holdings and Bakti Kilat Sdn Bhd (MB, 1:6:1992). See also AWSJ, 2:7:1992.

Table 3.2: Commercial Banks (Locally Incorporated) Top Ten in terms of assets as at 31 December, 1990

Assets*

Name of Institutions Size Ranking

Malayan Banking Berhad* 39,879,367 1

Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad**** 34,985,563 2

United Malayan Banking Corp. Berhad*** 14,134,349 3

Public Bank Berhad 11,532,442 4

Development And Commercial Bank Berhad 9,269,254 5

United Asian Bank Berhad 5,570,603 6

Perwira Habib Bank Malaysia Berhad 5,423,050 7

Kwong Yik Bank Berhad* 3,787,504 8

Bank of Commerce Berhad** 3,301,114 9

Southern Bank Berhad 2,837,832 10

Position as at 30 June 1990 *** Position as at 31 August, 1990 Position as at 31 January 1991 **** Position as at 31 March 1991

Source: Arab-Malaysia Merchant Bank, The Kuala Lumpur Bankers Directory. 1991/92

Thus from 1970 to 1990 there was a considerable shift from Chinese to M alay ownership in the banking and financial sector. O f the top ten banks in 1990 (in terms of assets), six were Chinese-owned in 1970.22 In 1990, of the top ten banks only one, 4th ranked Public Bank, was Chinese-owned. (The only other major Chinese-owned bank was llth -ran k ed MUI Bank.) The top three banks in 1990, M alayan Banking Bhd, Bank Bumiputra Bhd and United Malayan Banking Corporation Bhd (UMBC) were all controlled by state-owned institutions and as Table 3.2 shows (except for 4th-ranked Public Bank), there was a considerable gap in the assets held by those institutions and the remainder of Malaysia's top ten banks.

The Manufacturing Sector

In order to achieve the NEP's objective of creating a Bumiputra commercial and industrial com m unity the governm ent gave a high priority to the rapid expansion o f the manufacturing sector and to Bumiputra participation in it. The two major obstacles that

22 The six Chinese-owned banks in 1970 included: UMBC (Chang Ming Thien), Public Bank (Teh Hong Piow), Development and Commercial Bank (H.S.Lee), Kwong Yik (founded by Wong Ah Fook) Bank o f Commerce, formerly Bian Chiang Bank (Wee Hood Teck) and Southern Bank (Loh Boon Siew). See Tan, 1982:196 fn60.

had to be overcom e if a Bumiputra presence in the m anufacturing sector was to be expanded however were access to capital and the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills.

Earlier we saw how massive increases in public expenditure, particularly in the Third and Fourth M alaysia Plans, enabled Pemas, UDA, M ARA and the SEDCs to either expand their training programs for Bumiputras or the credit facilities available to them. At the same time, many such public enterprises also enlarged the Bumiputra presence in the m anufacturing sector by directly participating in manufacturing activities themselves. P u th u ch eary 23 showed that even by 1977 public enterprises had invested a total of $443.3 m illion in 291 com panies, with controlling stakes in all but 84 o f those companies.

Many of those same enterprises and agencies, though most notably MARA, Petronas, the National Productivity Centre (NPC), the Public Works Department (PWD), and of course the Ministry of Education also awarded scholarships and instituted a wide range of training programs for potential Bumiputra entrepreneurs particularly in management, technology and commerce. Table 3.3 shows the number of participants that underwent various entrepreneurial training programs in 1981 and 1985. It can be assumed that the participants were overwhelmingly Bumiputras.

Table 3.3: Malaysia : Participants in Entrepreneurial Training, 1981 and 1986

1981 1985

Bumiputra Non- Bumiputra Non-

Bumiputra Bumiputra

National Productivity Centre (NPC) 4, 940 15 2,901 11

Public Works Department (PWD) 222 - 398 -

Development Bank of Malaysia (BPMB) 134 - 343 -

Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Bhd (BBMB) - - 1,109 -

Council of Trust for the Indigenous People (MARA) 14, 614 - 15,000 -

National Corporation Pemas Edar 1,447 - 1,000 -

Source: Fifth Malaysia Plan. 1986-1990. Table 3-12: 116. Cited in Ho, 1990: 182.

23 _{Puthucheary, M. 1977 ‘Public Enterprise and the Creation of a Bumiputra Entrepreneurial}

The massive allocations made to public enterprises for restructuring activities from the 1970's to the mid 1980's24 increased the Bum iputra share of em ploym ent in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Bumiputra employment in the manufacturing sector rose from about 84, 400 or 28.9 per cent of total employment in 1970 to 605,700, or 49.1 per cent in 1990. Bumiputra representation also rose dramatically in the professional and technical categories that is from 47.2 per cent in 1970 to 61.8 per cent by 1990, a considerable achievement notwithstanding the large contribution made by teachers and nurses to that category. The Bumiputra share of employment at the administrative and managerial levels also increased, from 22.4 per cent in 1970 to 31.3 per cent in 1990 (20PP:47).

A nother m ajor obstacle to the expansion o f B um iputra participation in the manufacturing and industrial sector was access to credit. At one level this problem was addressed by the government's increased control over lending policy following the rapid expansion of state control of the banking and financial sector after 1970. Access to credit by Bumiputras was also facilitated by their designation as a "priority group" which meant that a minimum of 20 per cent of new loans had to be allocated to Bumiputra individuals and Bumputra-controlled companies. In addition credit was expanded to Bumiputras through such institutions as the Developm ent Bank of M alaysia (BPM B), lending schemes by M ARA and UDA and the M alaysian Industrial Developm ent Finance (MIDF), the latter being the most important industrial development financing institution in Malaysia. By these various means Bumiputra increased their share of loans and advances enormously from $149.3 million or 5 per cent in 1971, to $4, 780 million or 20.6 per cent in 1980, and again to $31, 475 million or 28.9 per cent of the total loans outstanding by the end of 1990 (4MP:65 & 6MP:254).

The growth of Bumiputra equity in the manufacturing sector was also impressive, though Bumiputra institutions rather than individuals hold by far the greater proportion of that equity. In 1972 Bumiputra held only 6.9 per cent of total equity in the manufacturing sector (3MP:183). By 1988 research by Fong (1989:19) suggests that Bumiputras held between 25-30 per cent of the formal manufacturing equity that could be accounted for, either by calculations based on the number o f industrial companies in production, or

24 According to Fong (1989:17) total allocation to public enterprises over 1981-85 for restructuring