In his maiden 2005 Budget speech, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says that:

"It is important that residential areas in urban centres consist of the various races living in harmony. Currently, the property ownership of bumiputera in these areas is still low.

Therefore, the government will undertake measures to increase and sustain the level of bumiputera presence and ownership of houses and commercial properties in town centers.

Toward this end, one of the steps taken by the government is to develop the former Pudu Prison site as a commercial and residential centre." (paragraph 119).

This is indeed another manifestation of the failure of the new economic policy (NEP). After nearly five decades of independence with three decades of NEP and rapid economic development, the bumiputera community is still struggling to win a respected place in the mainstream economic and business life of the country.