If you have traveled in Malaysia, you cannot help but notice that any domestic business of any size is run by ethnic Chinese and, to a lesser extent, Indians. Any foreign business is Japanese and, to a lesser extent, American.
The Malay majority, while nowhere near as shiftless and uneducated as, say, the Arabs in Saudi Arabia, is visible only in government posts or running 7-11 type businesses.
Malaysia has traditionally done well financially because it has welcomed foreign investment and treated local capitalists like the engines of economic growth which they are.
And that Malay majority is transforming itself into a bunch of Coconut Arabs just as fast as it can. Saudi Oil money is the engine of an Arab cultural imperialism that transcends anything the area has ever seen.