Avoid ‘useless’ projects in 12MP, Putrajaya told
PETALING JAYA: The 12th Malaysia Plan needs to be different from previous plans and should not include “useless” projects and packages as the nation struggles with unemployment and economic slowdown, said an economist.
Geoffrey Williams of the Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST) said the 12th five-year plan should not be driven by lobby groups with agendas such as green growth or the fourth industrial revolution.
Instead it must focus on the realities of the current and future social situation for the majority of Malaysians.
“It should be less government-driven and more balanced to create a social market response to future development needs with enterprise and competition at the core, but social impact as the aim,” he told FMT.
The priorities for the 12MP should be on basic issues of growth, incomes, income equality, the creation of meaningful well-paid jobs, rebuilding SMEs, supporting micro-enterprises and restoring a competitive enterprise-driven economy, he said.
“It must also focus on promoting social protection, rebuilding pensions and social assistance, and reinvigorating a vibrant environment for domestic and foreign direct investment.”
He said every aspect of the 12MP should clearly show how it will add to growth, raise incomes, create jobs and address social welfare and protection.
Jobs for the boys
“These are the priorities now. If any aspect of the 12MP doesn’t have any economic or social value added elements, it must be rejected or revised.
“Otherwise, the nation will just see a set of projects and packages made up by consultants to create jobs for themselves like in previous Malaysia Plans. This would be a real shame,” he said.
He said the 10th Malaysian Plan aimed to create 3.3 million jobs, 68% of which were specifically designed not to require a university degree and 56.3% were specifically targeted for the low-income groups.
“So now we have millions of low-skilled, low-income jobs,” said Williams.
He said Malaysia was unlikely to reach high-income status target – previously set for 2020 – within the 12MP period of the next five years “with more unemployed and underemployed Malaysians than before.”
“We need to recognise that we have lost at least two years of economic growth with GDP now lower than before the crisis. Malaysia’s development has gone backwards in the last two years,” added Williams.
On education, he urged the government to look at mergers between universities and public-private mergers and to restructure the National Higher Education Fund Corporation as an institutional investor rather than a loan agency. - FMT
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