Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief
It wants to give business only to law firms with 50% Malay
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S largest bank, Maybank, has stirred controversy
after it informed lawyers recently that it would do business only with
Malay-controlled law firms.
In a move seen as a renewed push for affirmative action in the country, Maybank
stipulated that firms with at least three partners must have 50 per cent Malay
equity, in order to be included on its panel.
The state-owned bank gave firms already on its panel a year to comply with the
Maybank is the second bank to take such a step this year. Earlier, the
Malay-controlled AmBank also required firms on its panel to have a bumiputera
partner, but did not specify the equity share. The lawyers' association, the Bar
Council, had received similar complaints about other banks two years ago.
Its president, Ms Ambiga Sreenevasan, told The Straits Times this was
discriminatory. 'All lawyers should be judged on merit,' she said.
A Maybank spokesman was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying that,
following the outcry, it is now reviewing its directive. He added that a
solicitor's efficiency was the bank's core requirement.
News portal Malaysiakini reported yesterday that members of the opposition
Democratic Action Party's socialist youth group said they would close their
Maybank accounts within two weeks if the bank failed to review its directive.
AmBank declined comment.
The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry said in a statement
last week that the move could make banks less competitive globally.
Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said such moves would only create
'new national divisions'.
The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional
coalition, also criticised the directive.
Dr Jeffrey Goh, the economic caucus vice-president of MCA's policy research arm
Insap, said he received complaints recently from stationery suppliers in two
states about certain state governments asking its departments, including
schools, to do business only with Malay companies.
'We see this as a far-reaching and worrying trend,' he said.
Last year, the Domestic and Consumer Affairs Ministry introduced a set of
controversial guidelines which required retail companies with at least 15 per
cent foreign ownership to have Malay shares of at least 30 per cent.
The MCA protested, and the guidelines have been shelved.
Such renewed zeal for affirmative action can be traced back to the 2004 Umno
general assembly, when the party's deputy youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin urged
the government to ensure that the Malays were not left behind.
Several Malay business leaders said there was nothing wrong in helping to build
a Malay entrepreneurial class.
The Malay Chamber of Commerce's president, Datuk Syed Amin Al-Jeffri, said
bodies like the Bar Council should be more far-sighted.
'In any business, there has to be sincere partnership between the races,' he was
quoted as saying in the Berita Harian yesterday.