KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — The spotless offices and quiet corridors of the Malaysia Productivity Corporation in central Petaling Jaya hide the industry within.
It’s a government agency with a big job. In 2010, it was given the task of cutting red tape in the public service so that Malaysia can become more competitive for investor dollars.
To do that, the agency, which comes under the Ministry Of International Trade and Industry, is examining the way things have been done—the broad sweep of rules and procedures and the administration surrounding them—with the aim of improving them and offering to investors an efficient as well as practical way of conducting business . For instance regulations may be poorly designed, differ across states or may require businesses to deal with different authorities.
But that’s not all. The agency must also help assess the design of new regulations to ensure they are not burdensome.
The stakes are high. In order for Malaysia to meet its ambitious target of becoming a high income nation by 2020 it must remain competitive for investors. As Malaysia’s economic prospects
“We have started comprehensive reviews of current business regulations. That’s the thrust, the areas of high growth potential ,” the agency’s refreshingly understated Director General ,Datuk Mohd Rozali Hussain, told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.
The intended outcome of the reviews is to deliver a set of regulations that will reduce the regulatory cost of doing business, help improve the business climate and support economic growth,” he added.
To achieve these targets, the agency has formulated guidelines and best practices, partly borrowing from the OECD and Australia’s productivity commission.
The nature of the job means that the agency has to work closely with government departments to bring about change with both tact and firmness.
“There are many stakeholders and we are responsible for the enforcement aspect as well, “ Rozali said.
While the job is hard in itself, measuring the agency’s success in achieving its aims is also tough because the results are hard to pin down and quantify.
Against that background, some ranking surveys have become handy if incomplete barometres. Foremost among them is the World Bank’s ease of doing business survey.
In the last edition of the survey released at the end of October, Malaysia rose two places from 20th to 18th , thanks partly to the country’s increased efficiency in dealing with construction permits.
“Through an ambitious reform agenda, Malaysia has gradually improved the ease of doing business. This has benefited local entrepreneurs, who now have fewer regulatory hurdles to deal with and more resources to focus on their business,” said Rita Ramalho, Doing Business lead author, World Bank Group in a statement which accompanied the report.
The MPC’s Rozali was reluctant to take the credit for the improvement but said the rankings were positive.
Malaysians should be able to look forward to a time in which the various utility companies can coordinate work when a particular stretch of road is dug up, he added.
“We have a lot to do, a long way to go.”
