KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today issued a strong call for business regulatory reform in the country after Malaysia's business legislation indicator registered a significant drop over the past 10 years.
According to the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) report published by the Institute for Management Development (IMD), Ismail Sabri said the country's business legislation indicator placement dropped from 19th spot in 2010 to 47th this year.
He said the WCY stated that business legislation is one of the important indicators that reflected the efficiency of the government delivery service.
"This is a strong call for regulatory reform. We must do something about it," said Ismail Sabri in his speech at the Good Regulatory Practice (GRP) conference, which was organised virtually, today.
Joining the conference was Senior International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
To move forward and undergo regulatory reform, Ismail Sabri said the country must encourage an adopted evidence-based policy (EBP) approach in the planning, evaluation and monitory mechanism.
He said this is to ensure a comprehensive structural renewal for a sustainable growth of the country's productivity and economy.
Ismail Sabri, nevertheless, commended government agencies which has already adopted the EBP.
Among them is Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) through mandate under the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital) which has adopted the EBP in meeting the digital economy requirement outlined under the Regulatory Experimentations (RE) targeting to create 5,000 start-up companies by the year 2025.
On a positive note, Ismail Sabri also said Malaysia is placed on the 12th spot among 190 global economies according to the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Report.
"We should avoid feeling complacent with such a placement since there are many things that we still need to do.
"For example, under the 12th Malaysia Plan, the government is targeting to transform the country into the top nine global economies for the Government Efficiency sub-indicator under the WCY report," he said.
Quality policies and regulations, said Ismail Sabri, will help to facilitate business operations, enhance transparency and minimise the burden on cost as well as resources.
He said it will also enable the country to blossom more dynamically and resiliently in order to remain competitive in the global stage.
He said the Whole-of-Government Approach as espoused and adopted by the government under his leadership stresses on greater and integrated cooperation among ministries, agencies and departments that has become the foundation of GRP.
"The involvement from the private sector, industries and business community in the GRP will also be enhanced.
"I would like to stress here that the principles, elements and process of the GRP must be adopted by all ministries and regulatory agencies in the formulation and review of policies and regulations. Among the elements of GRP are Regulatory Impact Analysis, Interest Cost Analysis, and Regulatory Notification Analysis which must be implemented meticulously."