SHAH ALAM: The 2050 National Transformation (TN50) plan will focus on development from the grassroots to the top and this will be done using a “national consensus” method, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said this was to ensure that the interests of all races were taken into account.

But he said the main core of the country must still be the Malays and bumiputras as the two were among the main elements enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

“Malay is the national language but other languages can be spoken freely. When it comes to religion, Islam is the religion of the Federation but other religions are allowed to be practised freely.

“The head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who is elected among nine Malay rulers. Once again, this symbolises that the Malays and bumiputras are the main core of our country.

“If we can accept this principle, then it’s easier for us to move forward.

“To develop a country, we must develop all races but most importantly, we should not let the Malays and the bumiputras be left behind,” he said when closing the National Integration Convention 2016 at Universiti Teknologi Mara here yesterday.

Najib added that the empowerment of the bumiputra was a national agenda and one of the major successes of the country was national unity.

He also urged Malaysians to have a hunger for success and the will to succeed in life.

“I just came back from China and from what I saw there, I can conclude that with a population of 1.3 billion in China, if they want to succeed, as the Westerners say, you must be hungry for success.

“If you have no will to succeed in China, if you’re in your comfort zone and too easy going, you will lose out to 1.3 billion people out there.

“The world changes very fast,” Najib said.

He also said that Malaysia’s social mobility was better than that of Britain and the United States.

He said the percentage of Malays and bumiputra that have moved forward from the B40 income group in just one generation was impressive.

Najib credited it to the government policies in place that were better compared with other countries.

“If one’s parents are now in the B40 group, it doesn’t mean that the child will also remain in that income group.

“The Khazanah report showed that education is one of the most important factors for social mobility,” he said, adding that anyone, including the bumiputra, can go far with access to quality education.