In any long-term economic planning, one challenge facing planners is how to cope with unexpected shifts in supply and demand trends, plus changes in the economic climate.
Malaysia has somewhat proven that centralised planning works to some admirable degree with its five-year economic plan now entering its 11th edition.
How different is this 11th Malaysia Plan from its predecessors? It is a marked departure, both in terms of form and substance.
According to our chief economic planner, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, the Plan is more about strategy than detailing out actual projects.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his speech to Parliament, did highlight some major infrastructure projects so that people could relate to the Plan better.
These included more schools, hospitals, roads, highways, railway lines, water and electricity supply, airports and seaports.
But the main thing is to ensure that the Plan must and will make a difference to ordinary people.
“We deliberately set stretched targets, especially in growing the household income and people’s wellbeing. “The emphasis is on the bottom 40 per cent of households where we target to double their gross household income from RM2,537 per month last year to RM5,270 per month in 2020,” Wahid said.
This is a departure from the norm. For the first time in our history, national growth targets will include, not only gross domestic product growth and per capita income, but also household income. There will be a 72 per cent increase in average monthly household income to RM10,540 in 2020.
The government also expects 1.5 million new jobs to be created by 2020 and that there will be a “home for every household” in the country.
In short, no Malaysian will be left out in the country’s transformation in to a fully developed economy by 2020, a vision spearheaded by then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Wahid also spoke about how he and his Economic Planning Unit team worked hard to improve the Plan’s overall presentation to make it more reader-friendly and for better comprehension.
“We have the main document, a 38- page executive summary and a brochure on 11 things to know about the 11MP for those who really don’t have time to read.
“In addition, we have separate sets of 21 strategy papers for analysts, economists and policymakers.”
Najib, who also presented the 10th Malaysia Plan in 2010, a year after assuming office, stressed that this new blueprint was a final but critical push to achieving the 2020 goal.
He made it clear in his speech that despite many challenges and tests lately, the government would not be distracted but would forge ahead.
“I appeal to my loyal friends, if we are patient, if we strengthen our resolve, if we have faith in God, I believe there is a way out and we will win.”