Malaysia: Reset, Restore or Rebuild?

The “Better Malaysia Assembly” of Nazir Razak has enlisted 54 so-called eminent persons for resetting Malaysia. He has made a plea to the Conference of Rulers and the YDPA on his proposal for a reset. The King and the Conference of Rulers are apolitical – so how does this work?

He wants to propose key reforms for the reset and needs up to 24 months to do so. Isn’t this the purview of Parliament and the Government in power to reset, restore or rebuild? Biden has a “Build Back Better” slogan, a copy of a U.N. document in 2015. Are we doing the same?

Based on IMF GDP data for 2020, Malaysia’s economy is now ranked 6th in ASEAN. About 10 years ago, Malaysia was the 3rd largest economy in ASEAN. Philippines and Singapore overtook Malaysia in 2015 when Najib Razak was the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

Now, Malaysia’s economy is smaller than that of Vietnam. Shown below is the 2020 IMF GDP data:

Country	US$’b
1. Indonesia	1,059.54
2. Thailand	510.89
3. Philippines	362.24
4. Vietnam	340.82
5. Singapore	339.98
6. Malaysia	338.28
7. Myanmar	81.26
8. Cambodia	25.95
9. Laos	19.08
10. Brunei	12.02

There are several reasons for this decline and many have pointed it out. It doesn’t take 24 months to establish the reasons and what reforms are needed:

Issue	Reform
1. Islamisation and role of Jakim	·         Move back to a secular state approach, similar as in Indonesia
2. Ketuanan Melayu	·         Keluarga Malaysia and affirmative action on needs based approach is superior
3. Dominance of Civil Service by majority race (88% Bumiputera)	·         Restructure to reflect population distribution by race and gender
4. NEP target of 30% equity interest  (Government believes it is only 17.2%)	·         Have an independent party verify equity control by Bumiputera interests ·         Remove the requirement over a set period with no extension
5. Education – national schools are more “Islamic”	·         Reset schools on merit based and curriculum that promotes learning not rote learning ·         Support learning of English and a vernacular language. This is beyond Malay as medium of instruction
6. Employment – low skill and low cost labour force	·         Make concrete steps to a technology-based economy ·         Innovation, incubators and clusters are encouraged ·         Wage reform to a higher cost economy ·         Automate dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs
7. Entrepreneurship – “forced” acquisitions of non-Malay enterprises	·         Promote entrepreneurship with tax incentives for Nons to partner Bumiputeras ·         Create/promote companies reflecting merit and diversity
8. Corrupt practices – political donations, contracts, GLC appointments	·         Revamp MACC and others and have people with integrity ·         Create a Truth Commission as a watchdog ·         Transparency and accountability to Election Commission
9. Legislative review and reforms             -PM’s power             -State and Federal             -MA63	·         People’s Ombudsman for feedback and resolution ·         Fulfill MA63

The above is not an exhaustive list.  And it doesn’t take 24 months to detail issues and solutions. Why? Because most Malaysians know the “brakes” and what will accelerate growth. But we sure have to reset, restore, rebuild the institutions of government, policies that help community and work for a better Malaysia without the lenses of race and religion (Please refer to Sarawak or Sabah).

Reference:

Nazir and 54 others seek royal backing for “national reset”, Malaysiakini, Nov 26, 2021

Malaysia needs a restoration, not a reset, Terence Netto, FreeMalaysiaToday, Nov 28, 2021