What is striking about the 2017 annual report of the National Transformation Programme is not so much the headline-grabbing, big-picture figures and trends shown. Those undoubtedly impressive numbers point assuredly to the fact that the nation is on course towards achieving the much sought-after high-income, developed-economy status by 2020.
Of far greater significance is probably the subtext behind those headline figures; a subtext which, as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak correctly pointed out, is often lost in the focus on issues, such as that surrounding 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
The most critical point of this subtext is the fact that the Malaysian economy has been incredibly resilient. That resilience likely owes much to the well-diversified nature of our overall economy such that it stands us in good stead against whatever headwinds the economy faces at any given time. We must, therefore, work to keep the national economy that way so that we never become unhealthily dependent on any one given sector. This will go a long way towards keeping the nation in ruddy economic health, no matter the conditions buffeting the global economy.
An important point is to keep in broad holistic focus the overall economy and not take for granted or neglect any group or sector, however insignificant it may appear to be. This point jumps out from the just-released report and the particular emphasis it gave to the Bottom 40 (B40) group and an aggressive push through targeted interventions to make poverty in Malaysia history once and for all.
Much used to be made of the fact that broad-based subsidies had been not only wasteful but, worse, disproportionately benefited those who needed them the least. Targeted direct cash transfers had been a recent innovation under the Najib administration and this 2017 annual report seems to bear out its efficacy.
Further, the Malaysian economy has been shown to be ever versatile as it has been resilient and well-diversified. That versatility is apparently not lost on the government which, if anything, shows that it is rather adept in providing crucial incentives and support to help Malaysians adapt and the economy retain its admirable versatility.
Such versatility owes much to our economy’s receptivity to new technology and the government’s pivotal role in enabling such receptivity. This is particularly in evidence with the support the government provides to encourage and facilitate Malaysians getting into e-hailing transportation services. Many nations — both advanced and developing ones — baulk at enabling such new technology applications to protect likely doomed traditional taxi operations.
It is striking to see how both the commuting public and e-hailing service providers are taking towns and cities across the nation by storm. It has been economically liberating for all concerned. A whole new growth industry has opened up for possibly hundreds of thousands of full-time or part-time flexible job opportunities in the nation as a whole. It goes without saying that the nation faces not just a bed of roses, going forward.
Politics, as is almost everywhere else, seems as predictable as it is robust and even somewhat disconcerting and distracting as a general election looms. But, even in this, there is much that Malaysians as a whole can be thankful for the silver linings across the horizons.
Not just the international economic and ratings agencies seem to know something about the general health and positive trend lines that Malaysians generally seem either to take for granted or totally lose sight of, but foreign governments and peoples appear as well to keep holding us in high regard.
What seems quite exceptional about us is that political contention within the country has not — unlike in even advanced democracies — spilled over to cheap and short-sighted pot-shots taken by politicians against even foreign countries sometimes posing too tempting as political targets.
Foreign nationals are genuinely appreciative of this and freely give credit to our national government for keeping foreign relations on an even keel even through trying political times such as this.
The Malaysian economy, of course, cannot be totally divorced or isolated from political goings-on in the country. We should all be thankful, though, that the government seems to be bending over backwards to give our traditional smiling face to all foreign nations. The continued good health of our open economy depends much on such international goodwill continuing as well.
John Teo views developments in the nation, region and the wider world from his vantage point in Kuching, Sarawak.