Prime Minister and Finance Minister YAB Dato Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak is scheduled to unveil the Ne w Economic Model (NEM) this Tuesday, one of the many economic initiates that is expected to move the nation to a high income nation.
Original Intentions Retained ?
While the NEM can be effectively used as an opportunity to return to the original intentions of The New Economic Policy (NEP) which was initiated in 1971, many challenges face the government of the day i.e balancing the demands of the voters who rebelled in March 2008 12th General Election, the demands of the investing community and the demands of the group who champion the Malay rights NGO like Perkasa.
It is clearly apparent that the governments stimulus package has not yet trickle in albeit the sluggish economy recovery due to the slack period which is expected to show its impact in the third quarter of the year, The Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) has fallen from RM62billion in 2008 to RM32.6billion in 2009. This calls for further boosting of private consumer spending which is the key driver to boost the sluggish economy. Will there be measures to increase the disposal income of the rakyat to spur private consumer spending?
The Prime Minister has spoken frequently of his plan to take the nation to the next level moving to high income nation i.e increasing the income per capita to US15000. This initiate is a huge task ahead as the country’s labour force and skilled work force are far fetched from the desired income level. To reduce the income disparity gap, the government need to train many skilled work force and professionals to take up jobs and possess the skills that will fetch high income levels. To further support this initiate the government needs to systematically plan and budget its spending on human capital development albeit a herculean task.
The Najib administration has just in less than 6 months ago initiated the Government’s Transformation Plan (GTP) enlisting 6 NKRA and NKPI to propel the nation to address and further strengthen the areas that require immediate attention in its efforts to “culturise“ The 1Malaysia concept , People First, Performance Now. There is clear indication that the Najib administration is moving fast to catch up with lost time to create the quantum leap transformation to make Malaysia a competitive nations as neighbours Indonesia, Thailand and Philipines are slowly but surely catching up and will pose a treat to Malaysia. The Prime minister ‘s recent visits to Hongkong to meet the investing community has been well received and Credit Suise has forecasted a 6% economy growth as compared to Bank Negara 5.6%
PERKASA’s Demand Reasonable ?
Will the Prime Minister bow to the unreasonable pressure from groups who champion the Malay rights like NGO PERKASA who claim that the Malays and Bumiputeras should be allocated 67% of the nations economic wealth. They claim to have the Malays who represent 55% of the voters backing them. The Premier’s will to transform the nation is being challenged by his political conduits. To spur the nation to be competitive, The PM needs to address the needs of the business community among which:
· Further improve the governments machineries effectiveness by cutting red tapes and boosting productivity
· decreasing the cost of the doing business in Malaysia which will induce FDIs
· Increase Skill and Knowledge based economy by quantum leaping human capital development
· Boosting Promotion of Malaysia overseas
Equitable Income Distribution Key To Success of 1 Malaysia
Facts point to Malaysia having the highest income disparity in South East Asia, top 10% of the society holding 38.4% of the nations wealth (2004 figures)
Will the NEM be a etchnic based affirmative action plan or will it address to reduce the inter etchnic income disparity in line with the now famous 1 Malaysia and keeping with the original intentions of NEP ie to eradicate poverty of all Malaysia, to restructure the society and promote national unity ? NEM provides another opportunity for the government to meet the expectation of the rakyat before the next polls, will its political will decide the destiny of the nation!
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