Mid-Term Review of the
Ninth Malaysia Plan Open Forum Report
Inequality of income distribution as measured through
the Gini coefficient has been going down since 2007, said Prof. Dr. Ragayah
Haji Mat Zin at the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the 9th Malaysia Plan
(9MP) held at Wawasan Open University on the 24th of April 2008. The
event was hosted by the Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) together with
Wawasan Open University.
However policies do have to look into how inequality has
widened among the Malays, and one plausible example would be through the
privatization of projects in favour of the Bumiputera,
said Prof. Dr. Ragayah, the principal research fellow of the Institute of
Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), at the National University of Malaysia.
The manufacturing target
for the 9MP is a 6.7% growth rate. While the 8MP manufacturing growth had a
4.1% growth rate. In 2006 it rose to 7.3% and plunged to 3.1% growth rate in
2007. The projected growth rate for 2008 now stands at 3.1%. Such a shift in
numbers over 3-4 years has to mean a drastic change in the manufacturing of
products and raw materials and the ease it takes to be wiped out of the
industry. Then what would be the outcome for such industries and its players?
The oil and gas sector
contributes to 46.8% of the 2007 government revenue. When the oil reserves
deplete in 18 years, where would the government revenue then come from? Would
the government be able to diversify into palm oil or other forms of energy
consumption? The public sector spending comprising of consumption & fixed
investments in Malaysia in 2006 was a whopping 24% of the GDP, while the
government’s spending has increased by 177% in 10 years, stated Tony Pua, of
the DAP, Member of Parliament of Petaling Jaya Utara. This shows that our
economy is very much a consumer-driven society, encouraging the expenditure of
Malaysians to boost the economy. But this starts to become a weak link in the
long run, as relying on people to spend money will not always be a good gauge
to boost the economy.
In the room of about 90 people, there was a general
consensus of wanting the attitudes and mentalities of our Malaysian politicians
to change for the betterment of Malaysian society. The Forum very carefully
addressed three out of the five thrusts from the 9MP. The first thrust centred
on moving the economy up the value chain, while the second thrust addressed the
persistent socio-economic inequalities and the third thrust was to find means
to strengthen the institutional and implementation capacity.
From East Malaysia, Datuk Tham Nyip Shen and Datuk
Wilfred Tangau from the political parties of the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP)
and the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) respectively
in Sabah, shared on the economic situation in Sabah and the follow up measures
of measuring performance of the 9MP.
Basic education and healthcare is in dire straits in
Sabah. Datuk Tham emphasized the growing number of illegal immigrants,
increasing the once quiet Sabah which had a population of 653.6 thousand in
1970 and in 2005, the population had risen to 3015.2 thousand, of which 24.8%
are non-citizens. Many of these non-citizens are from the Mindanao Island of
the Philippines, China and Kalimantan. From the census conducted in 2000, Sabah
had the lowest literacy rate for 15-24 year olds, hitting 88%, while the
national average is about 95% and above. Datuk Tham highlighted that literacy
rate has not improved as many children from the 24.8% of non-citizens are not
allowed to enter school as they do not possess a birth certificate. In 2004,
the per capita GDP in Sabah was RM 4,868 as compared to the per capita GDP of
Selangor at RM 11,978. And a huge 51.3% of Selangor’s GDP was in the
manufacturing industry, while Sabah only contributed 10.3% manufacturing to the
GDP.
Datuk Tangau talked on proper decision making and
participation in the planning process. Firstly it includes the identification
of needs, secondly there’s the approval needed from the bodies involved and
thirdly, there’s the fulfillment of needs and lastly there’s the monitoring and
evaluation of the impact. Yet in the process, how is performance measured? That
would be Achilles heel of the process that needs to be carefully watched.
Monitoring and evaluation will be done by executive bodies too. The delivery
system too has to be equally improved to the rural and urban areas in Sabah.
The special address by
Dato’ Dr Lim Keng Yaik tackled the message of social justice to be ensured for
all Malaysians. With income
inequalities widening in the Malay community, subsidies are enjoyed more by the
upper income brackets and not by those who need the subsidies. Low income
families living in urban areas are not able to subsist over the increase in
food and petrol prices. These people are not in extreme poverty but relative
poverty becomes their disability – they are ‘miskin hati’, translated to be
poor in heart and spirit due to the insufficient help coming in their
direction.
One of the issues Dato’
Seri Effendi Norwawi dealt with was how successfully Malaysia deals with its
human capital and how it handles competitiveness in economic restructuring.
Malaysia ranks relatively low compared to countries like Singapore, Hong Kong
and Taiwan on economic competitiveness. Similar points were raised by Dato’ Dr
Lim, R. Sivarasa, the Subang PKR MP and Datuk Tangau on meritocracy. This does
not necessarily relate to the field of education alone but through the choices
of political players to improve policy through governmental ministries, non-governmental
organizations and local community. Merit needs to become a culture of choice
and not based on political affiliations alone.
Ms Fui K. Soong, director of the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy
Initiatives, ended her presentation on taking charge. Some questions were
raised as to which body is now in charge of executing the 9th
Malaysia Plan, in light of recent changes. There is a need to clarify this,
since there may be confusion amongst Governmental bodies, Parliament,
Non-Governmental organizations, state institutions, and others.
Datuk Denison Jayasooria closed the open forum with a
summary of the day’s proceedings, giving 12 relevant key points to be taken
note of for the Mid-Term Review of the 9MP.
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The presentation slides for the Mid-Term Review of the 9th Malaysia Plan Open Forum held at Wawasan Open University on the 24th of April can be found below.
Please click on the name of the speaker to view his/hers presentation.
PANEL DISCUSSION ONE:Economic Competitiveness and Globalisation: Moving up the Value ChainY. B. Tony PuaMs. Fui K. SoongPANEL DISCUSSION TWO:Addressing socio-economic inequalities: Trends in income inequality and distribution
Prof. Dr. Ragayah Haji Mat ZinNote: An adjustment has been to
slide 24, the revised slide now reads; In 2004 they were 11.9% & 2.9 & in 2007 were 7.1% & 2% respectively
Datuk Tham Nyip ShenPANEL DISCUSSION THREE:Strengthening Institutional and Implementation Capacities: Transparency & AccountabilityY.B. R. SivarasaDatuk Wilfred Madius Tangau