6pct GDP growth must benefit rakyat directly, says Fahmi

 

Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil says Malaysia’s six per cent GDP growth must translate into tangible benefits that people can feel in their daily lives. – Bernama pic

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's strong economic growth must translate into tangible benefits for the people, says Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil.

He said the six per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth recorded in the second quarter of 2026, coupled with strong investment and trade figures and low inflation and unemployment rates, showed that the economy was on the right track.

However, he said these achievements would mean little if people did not understand or feel their impact in their daily lives.

"At a time when we express large figures and signal that the country is moving on the right track, do the people actually feel the things that might be closer to them?

"As the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) has emphasised and many ministerial leaders have mentioned, large figures, if not translated, understood and enjoyed by the people, hold no meaning," he said at the Communications Ministry's August monthly assembly here.

Also present were Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching and ministry secretary-general Datuk Abdul Halim Hamzah.

Fahmi said the Communications Ministry, Information Department (JaPen) and Community Communications Department (J-Kom) must help explain how the country's economic gains were achieved and how they benefited the people.

He said the responsibility also extended to Corporate Communication Units in every ministry, which needed to improve how government policies and achievements were communicated to the public.

"We need to help other ministries make the people understand issues that perhaps, for them, for that ministry or those stakeholders, they might not realise that the people lack understanding of," he said.

On the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH), Fahmi said the matter needed to be clearly explained to the public, particularly its nearly 10 million depositors.

He said the presentation of the RCI report by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) was in line with established practice.

"All RCI reports in the history of parliamentary sessions – all RCIs, there may have been five or six previously – have never been presented by the prime minister, except by the responsible minister.

"Therefore, the minister responsible for Tabung Haji is the Minister of Religion. Thus, it was the Minister of Religion who presented that report," he said.

Meanwhile, Fahmi said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had detected more than 10,000 fake accounts linked to 3R issues — race, religion and royalty — as of yesterday.

He said the accounts were being used to spread false narratives, misinformation and inappropriate content.

"What is the function of these fake accounts? To carry false narratives, incorrect information and convey improper relations; therefore, we must redouble our efforts to eradicate these fake accounts," he said. - NST