COMMENT | One proposal announced by no less than Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi went relatively unnoticed at the recently concluded Bumiputera Economic Congress (BEC), where a slew of proposals for helping well-off bumiputera was unveiled.

It could be the most insidious and the one that is most patently unfair to other Malaysian citizens from whom part of their land would be taken away upon the renewal or even extension of leases.

According to Zahid, who is also the rural and regional development minister, the government plans to set up a...