Kuala Lumpur, 1 October 2021 – The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) welcomes many aspects of the 12th Malaysia Plan, including its expansionary fiscal approach, its focus on people’s well being and unity, as well as on advancing sustainability. However, the think tank also urged more focus on pushing for private-led growth alongside government-led growth, as well as more concerted efforts in promoting recovery. 

With regards to education policies, IDEAS welcomes the new efforts to improve the quality of education for Orang Asli children. Plans to strengthen the quality and access to early childhood care and education (ECCE) are positive, a vital step towards improving basic literacy skills. IDEAS also welcomes the direction taken by adopting more semi-formal teaching and learning methods through the Bringing School to Community programme. However, there is a need to address the underlying issues of dropouts such as poverty, misalignment of curriculum to their culture and environment, and finally access to basic infrastructure.  

IDEAS also welcomed the government’s plans to safeguard the welfare of the rakyat and enhance social protection in the 12th Malaysia Plan, especially considering that it was recently announced that Malaysia’s absolute poverty rate has risen by 8.4% to reach 20%, with some 580,000 households from the M40 group having dropped to the B40 group due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As IDEAS CEO, Tricia Yeoh, noted, “With the economy shifting into recovery, efforts to rebuild the incomes of the B40 and M40 and reskilling and upskilling programmes to future proof the labour force must be the government’s paramount focus in the next five years. Continuing efforts in streamlining Malaysia’s social protection system, particularly its databases, is also welcomed as this would be crucial in strengthening the system to withstand future crises. However, while the focus on distribution is necessary especially in a post-pandemic scenario, IDEAS would have liked to see more focus on growth measures and strategies, which is also sorely needed in order to achieve the extremely ambitious targets of 4.5% – 5.5% GDP growth per annum as well as raising the average household income to RM10,000.”   

Yeoh commented, “When it comes to deeper institutional reforms, IDEAS welcomes the plan’s focus on areas that the organisation has long called for, including measures to improve budget transparency, a public procurement law, and better governance over the appointment of GLC directors, which will be based on merit. We look forward to seeing how these, alongside the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Plan, which was mentioned, will have clear targets and timelines.”  

IDEAS also welcomes the government’s initiative to expand ‘End-To-End’ (E2E) online services across public agencies under various ministries and the private sector to ease interactions between the public, industries, and the government. We note that the Public Sector Digitalisation Strategic Plan 2021-2025 had outlined strategic visions to digitalise government services and implement them in a systematic and comprehensive approach to increase E2E services by at least 80% by end-2025. However, the think tank called on the government to be more ambitious in increasing the percentage of E2E services on government platforms. As of July 2021, the Federal Government E2E percentage is at 57.02%. State governments also need to also increase their E2E services.  

The initiative to study the introduction of the Public Service Act is welcomed but a clear separation of power and responsibility between the government officials and policymakers is needed to prevent abuse of power and to make sure their roles do not overlap.

We also welcome the constitutional amendment to allow Malaysian citizens aged 18 years old to vote (UNDI18). On the topic of National Unity proposed in the plan, IDEAS welcomes the government’s focus on encouraging more community-based leadership and youth volunteerism as well as their invitation to collaborate with CSOs on unity programmes and receive public inputs.

However, IDEAS notes that an important element that was missing from the Plan was the reintroduction of the Parliamentary Services Act. With regards to the introduction of the Malaysian Government Index to measure the performance of government public service delivery, IDEAS stated that it should also include State Governments’ yearly performance analysis.

IDEAS also expresses concerns surrounding the government’s assumption that digital space creates disharmony and the need to restrict/monitor social media with repressive laws, stating that freedom of expression should not be deemed a security threat. Furthermore, the government’s unity agenda must also be discussed with larger grassroot stakeholders that offer better innovations, instead of using similar formulas from appointed experts. The government should also consider the issue of coordination between different ministries and bureaus.

— END —

Download Media Statement PDF File Here

For enquiries, please contact:
Zokhri Idris, Ph.D, Director, External Relations
T: +603 2070 8881/8882 | E: zokhri@ideas.org.my