A bit of yes and no. yes, it's a sovereign fund. But, when Khazanah was created, their main objective is actually to increase Bumiputera participation in the equity market, inline with the NEP

PNB is just like a mega-size Public Mutual that caters largely to Bumiputera to make investment/unit trust. Of course, it's part of the NEP policy as well.

Also another policy that is practiced till today is the allocation of IPO shares specifically for Bumiputera investors (selected by MITI). Back then, obviously there weren't many Bumi investors that were wealthy enough to take up shareholding in some of the big GLC - TNB, TM, etc. So Khazanah was created initially for this purpose. This is not really an issue and is more like a "left hand to right hand" thing. Some more, by letting Khazanah hold the shares, it "helps" to increase Bumiputera equity participation.

Along the way, comes Badawi. With the help of McKinsey consultants, he initiated the GLC Transformation Programme (GTP). So Khazanah become more like an active investor, and those companies under them also become more performance driven with KPI to achieve.

Mandate changes over time. When Badawi took over, he initiated the GLC Transformation Programme (GTP). It was good though, tbh.