Who gains in the ‘New Malaysia’ era of shared prosperity?

The Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu (MTEM) is happy to hear that the Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali have recently announced that the philosophy of Shared Prosperity will be the backbone for the 12th Malaysia Plan that will run from 2021-2025.

MTEM has long advocated for this philosophy and we look forward to the unveiling of the 12th Malaysia Plan that promises to shift from an obsessive focus on GDP growth that tends to enhance inequality, to one that will lift the economic well-being of all Malaysians, regardless of class, ethnicity or region.

MTEM looks forward to better policies to promote real entrepreneurship among Malaysians and Bumiputera especially for them to catch up.

Depending purely on merit and market forces will only further empower Malaysians who are already privileged by being born into wealthy families and believes that all they have achieved are entirely of their own making and that they deserve an even bigger share of the economic pie due to their inherent superiority.

The MEA should utilize all its agencies to focus on coming up with immediate growth plans that do not need to wait for the 12th Malaysian Plan to be implemented.

Shared Prosperity should be given a jumpstart to spur economic growth. Too much time has been spent on past failures but now we must look to future growth and for that, government bodies should have growth KPI’s that will lead to equitable development.

However, plans to merge Axiata with Telenor’s Asian arm threatens to give away a core part of the prosperity to be shared, by leaving the Malaysian government with a minority share of 43.5 percent in the merged entity, tentatively labelled MergedCo.

Even when Axiata and other government-linked companies were majority owned by the government, their commitment to implement the National Agenda was found wanting but now that Axiata will no longer be under government control, will there be a concerted effort by Telenor to completely eliminate any National Agenda from MergedCo?

The MEA should not assume that the National Agenda will be carried out faithfully by GLCs or even by the government itself as history has shown that the top leadership for both have been negligent in this respect and habitually offers excuses for their inability to make the National Agenda a success. Bumiputra Agenda is part of the National Agenda.

An area of concern that should concern all Malaysians is the muddled reasoning offered by the Finance Ministry for the government’s decision to pay a 25 percent premium to buy out Gamuda’s stake in various Klang Valley highways.

The MOF argues that the RM6.2 billion it will spend to compensate Gamuda makes good financial sense as it will earn significant revenue by implementing a congestion charge during rush hour.

However, tollable traffic for Sprint and LDP - two highways owned by Gamuda - have been falling since 2016 despite the population of Klang Valley increasing. Probable factors for this decline are the launch of the MRT and upgrading of public transport infrastructure.

Sprint itself has been making losses for three years in a row and is becoming an increasing liability to Gamuda.

Some say the true motive for the overpriced takeover of Gamuda’s highways is to fund Penang’s reclamation project which is to be undertaken by Gamuda.

By paying a premium to Gamuda for its highways, the MOF will not only free Gamuda from falling traffic for its highways but will also help Gamuda fund Penang’s reclamation project.

We hope this is not true as its not Shared Prosperity for all but rather prosperity for a selected few.

We hope the Pakatan Harapan government will not prioritize megaprojecmega-mergersergers over the welfare of the Rakyat.

If the government wishes to make a success of Shared Prosperity, it must develop policies that are targeted to different economics groups as different economic circumstances require different solutions.

Shared Prosperity must be fully understood by all parts of the government, not just the prime minister and the minister of economic affairs.

Chief Executive Officer

Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu (MTEM)

Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu Bersatu Berhad (MTEM) is an umbrella organization representing over 50 Malay economic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the national level. There are about 120 NGO economic organizations in the state that are under the MTEM umbrella. MTEM’s national platform is among the first of its kind in Malaysia and represents over 500,000 Malay businesses. - Mkini