The mid-term review of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), which is taking place today, is expected to undergo some very radical changes.
Malaysia Prime Minsiter Anwar Ibrahim, who will be tabling this review over this week, will discuss with the cabinet about making sweeping changes for 17 policies as per the current economic situation.
This process will evaluate the achievements of the 12MP over the last two years (2021-2022) and update the direction for the next three (2023-2025). To quickly recap, the goal of the latest development plan is to achieve a high-income nation that is sustainable, prosperous, and fully able to manage domestic challenges and aligned to global trends.
All these salient points, and more, are some of the anecdotes that Malaysia Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli shared during a recent interview with Buletin.
Rafizi also shared how these policy changes will provide a way out from issues that are still not fully addressed for the 10th and 11th Malaysia Plans.
“We always talked about the country being ‘trapped’, (caught up) in the weakening economy, and (needing to manage) the low value (of the Malaysian Ringgit). There is also the matter of being heavily dependent on foreign labour. These issues keep re-emerging (and that clearly shows how) the policies that have been implemented previously are not radical enough,” he shared.
He added that these points, while being his own views, have given the insights needed to encourage government leaders to take a more radical approach that resolves these major issues in Malaysia.
This includes speaking to and being hyper-engaged with leaders and stakeholders of various industries; developing and deploying up-skilling and re-skilling) for themselves; and creating a sense of acceptance within the general public for these upcoming changes.
For Rafizi, the recently revealed National Energy Transition Roadmap is a major move before the tabling of the mid-term review that seemed to receive positive responses.
There will be more updates in the coming days in regards to the 12MP mid-term review and, based on Rafizi’s sharing, there should be more changes and revisions to the current development plan.
“There will be positive and negative feedback but we did our homework, so (let’s) bite the bullet and go ahead with it,” Rafizi said in regards to the potential response to any upcoming changes for the 12MP.