Government will continue to back MARA to spearhead Malay and Bumiputra aspirations - Najib

The government will unswervingly back the vision of the Council of Trust for the Indigenous People (MARA) to spearhead the aspiration of the Malays and Bumiputera into becoming a big power in entrepreneurship, education, investment and equity ownership.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the institution had played an important role in the 50 years of its formation in the national socio-economic development and, to date, MARA had empowered more than four million Bumiputra via entrepreneurship, education and high impact investments.

In the latest entry in his blog, Najib said the history of the setting up of MARA was something close and personal to him.

Mooted by Deputy Prime Minister (then becoming second Prime Minister) and also his father Tun Abdul Razak Hussein in 1965, and gazetted the next year, he said, MARA had taken steps to uplift the dignity of the Malays and helmed the entrepreneurship, education and investment sectors for Bumiputra equity control.

"MARA grows up with Malaysia. After we achieve independence, MARA is among the institutions which have transformed and boosted the lives of Bumiputra on a continuous basis," he said.

In terms of entrepreneurship, he said MARA always, without fail, gave financial aid and skills training to entrepreneurs and also helped in terms of infrastructural developnment.

In fact, via the implementation of the 2011-2015 MARA Strategic Plan alone, the institution had educated more than 80,000 entrepreneurs towards success, he said.

Other than entrepreneurship, MARA also played an important role in investing funds and time in human capital development via education.

"MARA Junior Science College and tertiary education such as Universiti Kuala Lumpur, German Malaysian Institute, MARA-Japan Industrial Institute, GiatMARA and MARA Colleges, have turned out manpower, industry experts and professionals," said Najib.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, AirAsia co-founder Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and Celcom Axiata chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly, he said were some of MARA's successful graduates and were now industry figures.

MARA also produced generations who were knowledgable and skilled via the giving of scholarships to excellent students for education locally and abroad.

He said, MARA had sponsored 75,000 Malay and Bumiputra children to further their studies so that they could be competitive at international level and had high knowledge in whather fields they ventured into.

"I am convinced and confident, MARA will continue to turn out Malays and Bumiputras of high quality who could make the nation, religion and race proud.

"At the same time, I hope those who have benefitted and are now successful via MARA's aid will contribute to the subsequent Malay and Bumiputra generations," he said.

In terms of economy, the Prime Minister said MARA had also set up subsidiary companies such as MARA Liner Sdn Bhd, MARA Incorporated Sdn Bhd, Pelaburan MARA Bhd and Asia Aerospace City to generate sustainable funds.

Najib said in conjunction with MARA's 50th anniversary yesterday, it (MARA) announced it would be restructuring all its subsidiary companies which would be placed under MARA Corporation Bhd (MARA Corp) with a paid up capital of RM1.4 billion, while Rural Capital Bhd, a financial institution specifically to help entrepreneurs, would also be set up.

In addition, he also said, a non-technical university known as Universiti Mara (UniMara) would also be set up to help in human capital development.