LETTERS: Come Oct 7, we will know what is in store for us under the 2023 Budget.
Few would disagree that the Budget will offer something in light of the impending 15th General Election, apart from tackling economic challenges.
We should count ourselves fortunate that our export revenue can help offset our rising import expenditure.
As an exporter of petroleum, we benefit from the relatively high oil price. We benefit more in ringgit terms because of the ringgit's weakness compared with the US dollar.
The other oil that we should be thankful for is palm oil, which we also export in large amounts.
It is a pity that we suffer some opportunity costs because of the harvesting labour shortage. We would have earned more otherwise, at a time when palm oil prices had been high these past few months.
Nevertheless, I think the 2023 Budget should not just address short-term concerns. It should not ignore future challenges, which look to technology for answers.
This is wise planning and good governance in research and development (R&D ) is a key tool to secure the nation's future.
A future that has to deal with a myriad of security issues which includes food, energy, cyber and, of course, the economy.
After reading the book Unfinished Business by a former science, technology, environment and climate change minister, I am more convinced than ever that we are disadvantaged by our highly fragmented R&D governance structure.
There was an attempt a few years ago to bring together all the government-funded R&D institutes under one proposed platform called the Research Management Agency (RMA).
The proposal came from a joint committee comprising Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) and the New York Academy of Sciences, chaired by the late Senior Professor Datuk Dr Khalid Yusoff, a former vice-chancellor and president of UCSI University.
It was unfortunate that the attempt to operationalise the RMA could not materialise because of reasons known only to the many ministries that host the R&D centres.
Fortunately, the government has not completely abandoned the RMA idea. The government saw wisdom in the call to make changes to R&D governance in the country.
As a result, under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), the government established the Research Management Unit (RMU) to assume the role originally meant for RMA.
RMU is also rightly placed under the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), a more centralised agency. The next challenge is to operationalise RMU.
This is where the 2023 Budget can help strengthen the mandate given to RMU.
For a long time now, the fragmented nature of R&D has not helped us realise the expected return of value from the country's investment in R&D.
With the right governance structure, RMU can play that role to catalyse more collaboration among the R&D players and inject greater vigour into our innovation agenda. This means a lot for securing our future.
For many years now, our R&D spending has remained static at slightly above one per cent of the gross domestic product. The 12MP has set 2.5 per cent of GDP as the target.
This may be challenging at this time. Maybe maintaining it at the current level for the moment is good enough. Hopefully, the 2023 Budget will reflect this.
PROFESSOR DATUK DR AHMAD IBRAHIM
Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy, UCSI University
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times