ALOR STAR: Despite being the “rice bowl of Malaysia”, thanks to its abundance of padi fields, it is ironic that Kedah has remained the nation’s second poorest state.
The reality is not lost on Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, who believes that a huge economic upheaval is needed to remedy the situation.
He attributed the problem to two factors: slow economic development and the widening income gap.
“One of the reasons for the slow economic development is that Kedah has a lot of debts, which it is repaying.
“The federal government does give the state projects, but sometimes there are many conditions attached to the projects. For example, the state needs to fork out its own money to acquire land for the projects, which costs a lot of money.”
He said Kedah, for example, was repaying the loans for the Kulim Hi-Tech Park although the federal government had earned more from taxes on the industries operating there.
“To make money, you need to spend money. Kedah does not have that seed capital to start up development projects that the state badly needs.”
He said the bulk of Kedah’s debt —about RM2.5 billion — centred on its water infrastructure.
“Even though Kedah is a water provider for Penang, for example, it has a huge water issue.
“Kedahans face many issues with water supply.
“The pipes are old and need maintenance and replacing, which are costly. We need to focus on the basic problems of water first before we can move on to other development projects.
“With huge debts and focus on the basic but expensive pipe maintenance and replacements, there is not a lot of money to spend on other development projects.
“Like I said, we need money to make money.
“We need the federal government to understand the baggage that Kedah has inherited. I hope it can help focus on economic development projects,” he said.
Mukhriz said although Kedah had a vast land area that could create more industrial zones, the need for padi fields remained a key concern.
“Kedah provides rice for the country. It is part of the nation’s food security.
“Malaysia has a serious issue where we import our food from outside. Kedah provides food resources. We cannot jeopardise that by transforming our farming land into industrial zones,” he said.
However, Kedah is not sitting by idly.
Mukhriz said the state was attending to issues, such as closing the widening income gap by creating an ecosystem to make it easier for businesses to flourish.
He said as part of the new government, it had gotten rid of corrupt political players and systems, and was in a position to make the state attractive for businesses to set up shop here.
“We need to think outside the box. We need to reduce the strict policies that make it hard for people to do business.
We will remove those hurdles and reduce bureaucracy.”
He said another way of improving the state’s economic condition and reduce the income gap was to push for better online technology infrastructure in the state.
Kedah, he said, was exploring the use of artificial intelligence, robotics and blockchain technology to transform the state.
“These are things that will come to Malaysia and we want to be ready for it.
“Kedah was chosen as the first state to test pilot 5G broadband coverage. We are testing it in Langkawi.
“Next, we want the entire state to be on high-speed Internet as it will bring tremendous change to Kedahans.
“I hope they can use technology to start their business, market their products and ultimately improve their livelihood. This can reduce the income gap.”
He hoped the federal government could pay more attention to the state in terms of providing more assistance and understanding the limitations faced by the state.
“Kedah has proven that for every ringgit you spend here, you get back more. Investing in Kedah is money well spent.
“Ultimately, we want to empower ourselves to be more economically independent in the future.”