BUTTERWORTH, May 8 (Bernama) --  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Saturday called on Bumiputera entrepreneurs to establish business networking in order for them to progress.

He said with networking, it would be easy for the government to extend assistance to help them prosper at the state, national, regional and international level.

"Business networking will help small-and-medium enterprises to secure business from big corporations and not solely depend on government contracts," he told reporters after opening the Pulau Pinang Malay Economic Convention here on Saturday.

Najib said the government no longer adopted the approach of assisting one or two Bumiputera businessmen as it did not bring about any economic or political benefit to the race.

The government, he said, would in fact focus on prospective entrepreneurs who genuinely qualify for assistance and have the potential to venture abroad.

"People come to see me, asking me to  approve contracts.

"I can do so but this is not the way to help the Malays as we don't want to help only one or two of them. We want to help them overall," he said.

Najib said there was no short cut to helping them but the government also does not want to help underserving Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

The government earlier assisted Bumiputera entrepreneurs via contracts and shares allocation but it did have its desired results but instead resulted in leakages.

"Today, we give shares to the Malays, tomorrow it will be owned by others and this is what we mean by leakages and we don't want this to occur again.

"If we look at Bumiputera shareholdings, how much is still left in the hands of the Malays? The numbers will be shocking if we mention it," he said.

The Prime Minister said if there was no  leakages, the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity holding, meant for Bumiputeras, would have placed them in a stronger footing, economically.

"Maybe something was not right then, that's why we need the New Economic Model,: Najib said, adding that the government, in their pursuit tohelp Bumiputeras, would not neglect the other races who qualify for help.

He added via business networking, government assistance would be more business friendly, transparent and sustainable.-- BERNAMA