KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia alongside its regional partners in Southeast Asia should consider capitalising the respective Covid-19's recovery measures not only to rise above the pandemic but also jump-start the economy of the region, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.
The National Recovery Council chairman said the pandemic may be a blessing for Asean members countries to explore amongst others new digital economy which have the potential to propel development subsequently elevate the status of the bloc.
Speaking in an interview with United Arab Emirates-based The National News, Muhyiddin nevertheless stressed that recovering from the pandemic was "hugely" important not only in Malaysia but also Asia as a region.
"The question now is are we going back to how things were in 2019 or use this as a platform to push Asia higher in the ranking of developed nations?
"Can we use this not only to recover but really to jump-start our nations in Asia and have lift off in our status, to look at a new digital economy and how our banks work.
"It sounds ambitious but this could be a blessing," the Pagoh member of Parliament was quoted in the interview published at thenationalnews.com on Jan 15.
During the interview, the former prime minister also spoke on the challenges he faced and the decision-making process which confronted the then federal government under his leadership when Covid-19 was at its peak.
The battle against Covid-19 which saw the government under his leadership implementing several phases of Movement Control Order (MCO), said Muhyiddin, was "worse than war".
"To declare a state of emergency and be granted additional powers was very important to manage the pandemic.
"These special laws had been available for many years, but they were rarely required. It was the first time they were used for this purpose.
"People said these emergency laws were like being at war, but I told them this was worse than a war."
In his speech at the Expo 2020 Dubai recently, Muhyiddin said he was upbeat over Malaysia's expected recovery from the multiple crises it had been facing since 2020 by employing various cutting-edge strategies in rebuilding the nation.
He added that the global health crisis had created great opportunities for the country to forge a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable economy.