KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Putrajaya will table in Parliament today the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysia Plan, which is the blueprint of the national economy that determines the country’s direction between 2016 and 2020.
With the change of government on May 9, the review will not only measure the performance of the plan in the last two years under the Barisan Nasional government, but will also hint at how Pakatan Harapan plans to steer the ship in the next three years.
Speaking in Parliament today, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir will himself present the new priorities and emphases for the country.
“As the PM, this will give him the mandate to assure the public. It is the best platform to put his vision on a clear track,” Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali told reporters at a media briefing on the review yesterday.
For the last two years, the plan had run on the Six Strategic Thrusts launched by then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2015.
They were enhancing inclusiveness, improving wellbeing for all, accelerating human capital development, pursuing green growth, strengthening infrastructure, and re-engineering economic growth.
From now on, Putrajaya will run on the revised Six Policy Pillars, which include enhancing inclusive development and wellbeing, pursuing balanced regional development, empowering human capital, enhancing environmental sustainability, and strengthening economic growth.
But foremost among the six pillars is reforming governance, which appears for the first time as a main pillar or thrust in a Malaysia Plan, according to Ministry of Economic Affairs secretary-general Datuk Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid yesterday.
Nik Azman also highlighted the pillar on regional development, which included accelerating development in Sabah and Sarawak—also another first as a pillar or thrust, he said.
For the most part, the PH government will continue the policies already stipulated in the Plan, but with several enhancements.
All of the previous administration’s Strategic Thrusts have either been combined or tweaked into one of the new Pillars, except for the Thrust on infrastructure which has been scaled down and co-opted into the Regional Development Pillar.
In the executive summary of the review, Dr Mahathir made it clear that the main focus behind the revision are new policies and institutional reforms, following a regime change that he said “reflected the people’s hopes for greater transparency, fiscal accountability, and socioeconomic reform”.
“These reforms are needed if Malaysia hopes to recover, rebuild and re-emerge as a nation proud of its achievements and ability to compete at the highest level. Lest we forget, we were once dubbed an Asian Tiger and to re-emerge as one, we will have to re-align our focus and recalibrate our strategies.
“As such, reforms includes improving governance, accelerating innovation, boosting productivity, moving industries up the value chain, enhancing the wellbeing of the rakyat, particularly the bottom 40 per cent of the household income group (B40), and achieving inclusive growth,” the prime minister wrote.
