COMMENT | The recently concluded (if economic matters can be concluded at all) 2024 Bumiputera Economic Congress was the seventh reiteration of the same stretching back to 1965.

Then as now, it was organised by politicians, not respected academicians and scholars.

You can well imagine the mood and the passion in 1965, a mere eight years after Merdeka and four years before May 13.

To put it mildly, things were really hot then. Of the 70 resolutions adopted, two stand out: the creation of Bank Bumiputera and MARA. Take note, the bank is no more.

The world and the country is a very different place now. We are not a rubber and tin economy anymore. We are in the league of 25 top trading nations of the world.