Bumiputera share ownership hit 36.64 percent as at Dec 31 last year, but only in relation to listed companies on the main and second boards of Bursa Malaysia.

Revealing this during the Question session in the Dewan Rakyat today, Deputy Finance Minister Dr Awang Adek Hussin said the shares were valued at RM78.4 billion last year.

There were a total of 914 public listed companies - 646 and 268 respectively on the main and second boards - last year, of which 186 were bumiputera-controlled, he said.

Non-bumiputeras held 46.91 percent of shares (worth RM100.4 billion), while foreign ownership accounted for 16.45 percent (RM35.2 billion).

It is not immediately clear whether the percentages were based on par value or market value of the shares, or whether they include government-linked companies.

Awang Adek also said 717,935 companies were registered with the Companies Commission last year, of which, only 172,568 (or 24 percent) were considered to be bumiputera-controlled.

A company with over 50.1 percent shares in bumiputera hands is deemed to be bumiputera-controlled, he explained.

His reply was in response to a question from Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (BN-Gua Musang), who asked for the number of bumiputera-controlled companies (not including those controlled by Malay Trust Fund) listed on the Bursa Malaysia and the value of their shares.

The government has maintained that the 30 percent bumiputera equity ownership target under the New Economic Policy (NEP) has yet to be reached.

It put ownership at 18.9 percent last year, based on par value of some 600,000 registered companies with the Companies Commission.

However, two recent studies - by think-tank Asia Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) and Universiti Malaya (UM) - showed that the NEP target has been achieved.

This kicked off a public debate over the credibility of the official data and methodology used.

'Consistent use'

In a supplementary question, Wan Junaidi Jaafar (BN-Santubong) referred to the public debate over the government's methodology in calculating equity ownership.

Awang Adek reiterated that the government's methodology is more accurate and comprehensive, and that it has been consistently used "from the beginning until today".

"Our calculation was based on the 717,935 registered companies. If we only focus on the listed companies, there were merely over 1,000 of them," he explained.

The government had earlier said its tabulation was done based on 600,000 registered companies.

"Different methodology can be used in any study as this is up to the researcher. However, the government's methodology is comprehensive and fair as it reveals the true picture of our economy," he claimed.

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), in another supplementary question, cited the UM and Asli studies and asked for the deputy minister's views on these.

Brushing these aside, he replied that he has not read the findings and is therefore unable to make a stand as to whether or not the two studies are acceptable.

'Based on advice'

Met at the Parliament lobby later, Awang Adek again defended the government's methodology in computing equity ownership, saying this had been prepared with advice from World Bank leaders and international scholars.

Asked when the government would reveal its methodology as promised, he said that his reply in the House was "a way of revealing the government's methodology".

He said the government has made known that its calculation was done based on the par value of the registered companies and wondered "what else should be revealed".

Asli's report published early this year put bumiputera equity ownership at about 45 percent, almost double the government's figure.

The research was based on calculation of the market value of 1,000 listed companies and it attributed 70 percent of the government-linked companies shares to bumiputeras.





This ruffled feathers within Umno with its president and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warning various quarters to "not stir up trouble" by questioning the credibility of government's figure.

Malaysiakini later reported that a UM study in 2002 found the NEP target had been reached in 1997, when it hit 33.7 percent.

The research calculations were based on the par value of listed companies on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange - as Bursa Malaysia was then known - from 1988 to 1997.

Critics have alleged that the government undervalues the equity ownership to justify continuation of the NEP and its related policies, which give favourable treatment to bumiputeras.