For Perikatan’s technocrats, Covid-19 an opening to reset Malaysia’s economy

KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — For Putrajaya’s technocrats, the Covid-19 crisis provides an opening for industries to reshape a domestic economy highly reliant on manual labour into that driven by digital innovation and automation.

Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed is among those who hold such views.

Speaking during a webinar organised by free market think tank, Ideas, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department suggested the government sees the pandemic as a chance to scrutinise legacies of past policies, discard them and move forward.

The unprecedented fallout that has followed the outbreak, to him, could be that nudge needed to force businesses to adopt technology, a policy past administrations have long pushed for but have been unsuccessful at, for the most part due to shortage of skills and talent.

But all that could change with digital technology now becoming more accessible and user-friendly. And as the crisis caused by Covid-19 unfolds, policymakers believe traditional businesses, the country’s economic backbone, are left with little choice but to modernise.

“We have been given the fundamental chance to relook at how we have been doing things in the past,” he told the teleconference.

SMEs that rely heavily on manual labour have been especially hit hard by the social-distancing measures enforced amid efforts to contain Covid-19.

Retailers that still rely on physical shops have seen sales plummet to record lows and are losing out to online competitors operating remotely by delivering goods ordered either through their own web shops, or by signing up on commercial platforms.

Meanwhile manufacturers or smallholders that rely on large manpower could see their production capacity reduced by the government’s plan to continue with social distancing measures, possibly up to next year.

Even as over a dozen sectors have been allowed to reopen, and more could follow suit in the next two weeks as Putrajaya looks to restart the economy gradually, it has also indicated the unlikelihood of factories to resume operations at full capacity, at least not until a vaccine is found.

Yet Mustapa said this “new normal” presents an opportunity for industry reform. Still, the painful changes SMEs must adopt could be the catalyst Putrajaya needs to make that pivot towards automation, key drivers of the Shared Prosperity Vision.

The SPV, conceived by the ousted Pakatan Harapan government, is a 10-year blueprint aimed at elevating Malaysians’ standards of living. Among policies it has identified to achieve this is to increase salaries by reskilling and pushing SMEs to adopt technology.

“This is an opportunity for reform… with that said this is going to be the main agenda going forward for the next 10 years,” Mustapa told the teleconference.

“We want to increase standard of living, we want to share prosperity with everyone but that remains intact, that remains intact. But when it comes to strategies there has got to be some radical changes.”