IT appears the dust has not settled after two weeks of political impasse. While there’s euphoria on the side of the “victors”, the “vanquished” claims democracy is dead. But as a country, we need to move past this quickly.
The new Government must find ways to strive for the betterment of the rakyat and the growth of the country. I’m sure citizens like you and me want the Government to focus on putting the economy back on track. We have enough ugly politics that negates the nation’s economic growth.
Since the Government is executing strategic policies from the Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV) to spur economic growth, the prime minister needs to deploy the best talents he can find to steer the country out of the current depressing economy.
It’s important for the country to stay afloat. The country must push its development agenda to be a competitive nation again. Being competitive is one sure way out of a dismal performing economy. I believe a nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of all economic sectors to innovate.
We now live in a world where competitiveness and innovation are the key drivers.
Despite the global economic uncertainty, it’s crucial for all sectors of the economy to increase their efficacy. It can lead us to be competitive which is vital in driving economic growth. I’m sure the SPV will able be able to put Malaysia in a better position for the next phase of growth and development.
What does it take to be competitive and innovative? The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual Global Competitiveness Report defines the concept of competitiveness as an economy’s productivity and the effectiveness of its institutions and policies.
It looks at four key metrics to define a competitive country. They are the enabling environment, human capital, markets and innovation ecosystem.
In the enabling environment metric, the country must possess the right institutions and infrastructures to allow macro and micro economic activities to function effectively. Embracing information and communications technology is a prerequisite.
A competitive country must promote human capital where acquired knowledge meets the required skills and it must look at expanding its product markets and market size, driven by highly trained labour in relevant industries.
In an innovation ecosystem, a country aspiring to become a competitive economy must allow healthy business dynamics and innovation capabilities.
In WEF’s global competitiveness report last year, Singapore was named as the most competitive economy.
The nation’s developed infrastructure, health, labour market, and financial system have propelled it forward, pushing the United States into second spot.
In harnessing the country’s innovativeness, we should at how China, South Korea and Germany have been able to strengthen their innovation capabilities over the years.
Facing changing times, these countries put in a great deal of effort in of effort into research and development as well as high-end, value-added manufacturing to create impetus for technology breakthroughs.
But even before they made breakthroughs, these countries invested a great deal in creating excellent education systems.
Labour’s knowledge and productivity generally improves through increased spending on education and training. It helps the labour force to develop higher skills and close any skills gap.
Bloomberg’s 2020 annual index that apprises the top 60 innovative countries places Germany, South Korea and Singapore as the top three most innovative countries. Malaysia is placed at No. 27.
This country must focus on high technology to be competitive and innovative. Maybe a deeper focus on biotechnology, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and renewable energy will do the trick.
We need to shift the way we work and think as other countries have leapt ahead of us.
To accomplish this, we need game-changing strategies fast.
C’est la vie.
*The writer, a former NST journalist, is now a film scriptwriter whose penchant is finding new food haunts in the country