Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday presented at the Parliament the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) Mid-Term Review, a comprehensive proposal by the government that includes 17 policy shifts to make the plan in line with the country's current economic situation.
However, despite what seemed to be a full package to help rejuvenate Malaysia's economy and close the country's inequality gap, two analysts shared with Malaysiakini their concern about the implementation part of the reviewed 12MP.
They said no matter how beautifully a plan is prepared and presented, execution has always been a sticking point for Malaysia Plans.
"Malaysia has a very poor record in implementing the Malaysia Plans. The plans are usually drawn up in a very beautiful way, with beautiful targets, nice KPI (key performance index) and so on.
"But when it comes to implementation, we have never been very good at it. I’m not aware of any Malaysia Plan that has really succeeded in transforming Malaysia's economy," said political analyst James Chin.
According to Chin, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania, the mid-term review tabled by Anwar yesterday was mostly planned to realign the 12MP with his Madani government's economic goals.
This was because the 12MP was originally drawn up by the previous administration, under former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
"The government normally promises that they would transform the Malaysian economy (under Malaysia Plans).
"But so far, I have not seen any that has successfully done that. Things always go wrong... like the BCIC (Bumiputera Commercial and Industrial Community) for example, it has not worked in the last 50 years."
Chin was also sceptical of the government's plan to set a new direction for the country's bumiputera agenda, which Anwar said will see the focus shift towards enhancing programmes that will involve more entrepreneurs, as well as small-and-medium companies (SMEs).
The academic said it was not the first time a Malaysia Plan had laid out an agenda to empower the bumiputera economy, and this might yet be another failure in the making.
"A lot of the ideas about bumiputera participation have been floating around for years, about how they make bumiputera more entrepreneurial, more competitive... All these have been tried before and it has not been successful.
"You cannot force the bumiputera community to adopt entrepreneurship, the same as you cannot force the Chinese to adopt it. It is more organic than that," he said.
Stemming PN’s influence
Another academician Awang Azman Awang Pawi of Universiti Malaya also shared a similar sentiment, albeit with more optimism.
The expert in Malay Studies believed that the reviewed version of 12MP presented by Anwar yesterday has the capability to address Malaysia's economic development issues and the rakyat's financial woes.
However, he, too, stressed the importance of how well the plans are executed towards achieving their objectives.
"The agendas listed by the prime minister are expected to rejuvenate the country's economy and help increase people's confidence in the Madani government.
"But, it all boils down to the implementation at all levels - all the way from the top to the bottom," he told Malaysiakini.
He added that it was important for the administration to thoroughly explain all the efforts to the rakyat.
On the empowerment of bumiputera agenda, the analyst believed that Anwar is trying to help nurture the Malays to become more economically resilient.
This would, in turn, create an economically autonomous community, free from economic protests against the government.
"This action can help the prime minister to gain the confidence of the Malays and bring back their support to his government, hence, help him to stem Perikatan Nasional from advancing further," he said.
‘People must participate’
Awang Azman also pointed out that for the 12MP to work out, it requires commitment from the people to take part in developing the country's economy.
While the government can provide platforms and mediums needed to help the people economically, they would not achieve the intended target if the rakyat did not make use of the opportunity.
According to Awang Azman, the prime minister also has several things he can improve in implementing the 12MP in order to sway support from PN to his side.
He said Anwar’s government must show their sincerity in helping the rakyat regardless of their political leaning, including states and constituencies which have rejected his Pakatan Harapan coalition in the recent elections.
Plug leakages
Meanwhile, Chin said the 12MP sees the government continuing subsidies for the rakyat to assist them financially, albeit with a more targeted approach.
Saying that it was also nothing new in a Malaysia Plan, Chin believed such an approach may again falter if the government does not commit to plugging leakages in government spending.
"They really need a big stick and go after the leakages. There have been quite a number of economic studies that show leakages in government procurement.
"Some of the studies are frightening, they say 50 sen out of every ringgit has disappeared or gone into so-called non-productive sectors.
"To simplify it, if we can buy a laptop for RM1,000 in the open market, somehow when it's bought by the government, the administration has to pay RM1,500 for it." - Mkini
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