NST and Star:

Success of 9MP (first two years):

• including sustaining economic growth at an encouraging rate of 6.1 per cent per annum
• enhancing the quality of life of Malaysians by increasing per capita income from RM18,840 in 2005 to RM23,066 in 2007
• government reduced the fiscal deficit from 3.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2005 to 3.2 per cent in 2007
• government enhanced the quality and access to the national education system through the implementation of the Education Development Master Plan and the National Higher Education Strategic Plan.
• lowered the overall poverty rate from 5.7 per cent in 2004 to 3.6 per cent in 2007
• incidences of absolute poverty were reduced from 1.2 per cent to 0.7 per cent in 2007
• In Peninsular Malaysia, the percentage of hardcore poverty has
  been reduced from 0.7% in 2004 to 0.3% in 2007
• for Sabah it was
  reduced from 6.5% to 3.7%
• for Sarawak it was reduced from 1.1% to
  0.7%
• urban hardcore poverty rate was reduced from 0.4%
  to 0.3%
• rural hardcore poverty rate reduced from 2.9% to 1.4%
• Overall poverty in Peninsular Malaysia was reduced from 3.6%
  to 2.3% while for Sabah, it was reduced from 23% to 16% and Sarawak
  from 7.5% to 4.2%.
• urban poverty rate was reduced
  from 2.5% to 2% and for rural from 11.9% to 7.1%
• Bumiputera’s mean income
  increased by 5.2% to RM3,156 in 2007 from RM2,711 in 2004.
• During the
  period, the Chinese’s income rose 3.0% to RM4,853 from RM4,437
• Indians’ income rose 3.2% to RM3,799 from RM3.456
• for others, a
  15.5% increase to RM3,651 from RM2,312
• In urban areas, income
  rose 3.3% to RM4,356 from RM3,956
• for the rural area, there was a
  6.8% increase to RM2,283 from RM1,875
• Bumiputera ownership has increased from 18.9% in share capital in 2004
  to 19.4% in 2006
• During the period, individual ownership increased
  from 15.0% to 15.1%
• for institutions, including Permodalan
  Nasional Bhd, it increased from 2.2% to 2.6%
• For
  non-bumiputeras, it increased from 40.6% in 2004 to 43.9% in 2006
• Chinese ownership group saw an increase from 39.6% to 42.4%
• for
  Indians it showed a slight decline from 1.2% to 1.1%
• decline in foreign ownership from 32.5% to 30.1%
• for nominees, it fell from 8.0% to 6.6%.

Measure to increase privileged people’s participation:

• A comprehensive database to monitor Bumiputera performance in the corporate sector will be set up
• Bumiputera wealth ownership in the non-financial assets such as ownership of commercial and residential buildings will be used as an additional yardstick to evaluate the performance
• to attain bumiputera equity ownership between 20% and 25% by
  2010, which excludes government companies like Petroliam Nasional Bhd
  and Khazanah Nasional Bhd. The equity ownership is based on the par
  value of the shares and not on market capitalization.

Focus of 9MP (remaining years):

• increase in the mean income of all Malaysians
• decline in the incidence of poverty
• improvement in the restructuring of employment pattern and corporate equity ownership
• increasing the income share of the lowest 40 percent of households
• creating a bigger middle income group – defined as those earning household income between RM2,000 to RM4,000 per month, is expected to increase in size and achieve a more rapid growth in income level
• narrowing ethnic and regional disparities
• eradicate hardcore poverty and reduce overall poverty to 2.8% by 2010