ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

ENSURING A TRULY MALAYSIAN AGENDA IN THE NINTH MALAYSIA PLAN: ISSUES AND STRATEGIES

The ASLI Centre for Public Policy Studies participated in the SEDAR Institute (Socio-economic Development and Research Institute) Roundtable Discussion on “Ensuring a Truly Malaysian Agenda in the Ninth Malaysia Plan: Issues and Strategies” on the 25^th March 2006. This session was held just before the unveiling of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, announced in Parliament on the 31^st March 2006. The objective of this Roundtable Discussion was to discuss the implications of the Plan for the Malaysian Agenda at both State and Federal Levels, as well as the impact on grassroots.

The session opened with a briefing by Parti Gerakan’s President YB Dato’ Seri Lim Keng Yaik on the Ninth Malaysia Plan. He outlined the importance of upgrading the skills and knowledge of the Malaysian workforce to ensure that they can manage the most daunting tasks. At the national level, policy makers have to come up with revised strategies to cope with the challenge of rising oil prices, high interest rates and slowing down of foreign direct investment as a result of competition from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

In the discussion, one of the issues raised was with regard to government tenders, which was based on a closed-door or limited access system. Change to this was necessary because taxpayers need to know what is being provided in terms of the best value for their money. The urgent need for accountability was stressed, whereby all projects need to have feedback from the people themselves. A workable structure and independent committee on a monitoring system was seen as important to be put into place. .

In relation to agriculture, the noble idea of FELDA was implemented in the 1970s to help the Bumiputera to achieve greater economic wealth. These land schemes were very successful in modernizing agriculture by transforming the rural subsistence farming mindset and providing the infrastructure for commercial and value added activities. . Despite the profress, further efforts should be taken to modernize the poorer segments of the agriculture sector, and to make the nation more self reliant in food production.

Speakers also emphasised the importance of employing the best Malaysian academicians in the public universities under a meritocratic system. This is necessary if the leadership is seriously concerned about raising the standards of universities to that of a world-class level. Collaboration between government and the private sector also needed renewed attention. The example of Penang which has initiated a Skills Development Centre, with collaboration between the Penang government and the private sector (corporate stakeholders) was highlighted. Similar smart partnerships with the private sector can help to build meaningful social and human resource oriented projects, which can in turn retrain the workforce to increase their skills and knowledge levels.

The efficiency of the Public Delivery System was an issue of much concern. It was proposed that in order to increase efficiency levels, there needs to be greater autonomy in the management and administration of the states. This greater state autonomy will bring about the decentralization of the decision-making process and a greater economic dynamism. Speakers also focused on the slow speed in the approval process, which has further undermined confidence in the public delivery system. The eradication of corruption from all levels of the system was tied to these two associated reforms

Speakers also pointed to Government-linked Companies (GLCs) and their impact in overcrowding the private sector. This is in turn, killing competition from smaller industry players. Dewan Perniagaan Bumiputera has also highlighted this as an issue of concern. Both Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera business communities are in agreement that the GLCs should not be competing with the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Concern was also expressed that the government is currently only addressing the eradication of absolute poverty, whereas it is equally essential that the issue of relative poverty should be dealt with. It was agreed by all that whatever access to wealth must not be constricted by barriers built on the basis of race and that benefits and opportunities in development should also be equally distributed to all Malaysians alike irrespective of race

Key speakers for the open session included Dato’ Dr. Michael Yeoh, Dato’ Dr. Toh Kin Woon, Mr. Lau Yeng Peng, Dr. Tan Kee Kwong, YB Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Dr. Lim Thuang Seng, Mr. Lau Chin Hoon, Mr. Ong Thean Lye, Ms. Tan Lian Hoe, and Mr. Mah Siew Keong.

YB Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon closed the session by providing a succinct summary of the key issues. These included: economic competitiveness and growth, education and human resource development, excellence and meritocracy, environment and quality of life, efficiency of the delivery system, eradication of relative poverty and equity and wealth distribution. These issues could be consequently focused upon in studying the implications of the Ninth Malaysia Plan at grassroots, state and federal levels. He was of the opinion that the Roundtable discussion had brought out pertinent issues, which would be useful to all present in their analysis and operational work.