TK Chua: My 11th Malaysia Plan

May 24, 2015

Phnom Penh

http://www.malaysiakini.com

My question is, are we blind? We can’t see that people are made so often to queue up with pails and bottles for water trucks. We can’t see congestion and massive jams every day. We can’t see dilapidated flats and unhygienic living conditions everywhere. We can’t see half of the working population can’t afford decent housing.  We can’t see our education is not performing. We can’t see that the real income of the people is not growing, what more with more taxes and depreciating ringgit. But the irony is we have to wait for someone to write all these down and for our PM to read them out in the Parliament before we could pretend to know these are the important issues requiring attention. What a load of baloney.  –TK Chua

Since the 11th Malaysia Plan was announced by the Prime Minister in Parliament on Thursday, there have been numerous comments and criticisms on the Plan.

Some said the Plan is a mere collection of ‘ideal state’ pronouncements; some said the projects and programmes in the Plan are mainly for the benefits of the cronies; some said it was more of a political statement, not an economic document since there are obvious exclusions which are irrational and illogical; and some have asked where are the money and other resources needed to implement the Plan coming from.

There are probably some truths in all of these criticisms and comments. As for me, the Five Year Development Plan as we know today has lost its lustre when compared with those of the bygone years of the 60s and 70s.

There are reasons for this. First, the world has changed, becoming more globalised, interconnected and unpredictable. Any event could trigger ramifications across the globe, rendering planning assumptions and forecasts useless. What more for a country like Malaysia, an economy that is very open and trade and foreign investment dependent?

Second, as time goes by, many have also become disillusioned with much of the grandeur stuff stated in our past development plans. Many of the objectives are either not achieved or totally hijacked toward attaining something else.

Hence, many marginalised Malaysians could no longer relate to or find meaning or attachment to the Plan any more. They find the opportunities and promises bypassing them. They find their needs denied in one plan after another.

On the contrary, they find the Goods and Services Tax (GST), 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), and the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) with all their attendant problems and fiascoes have intruded into their life. Surely the people do not need a development plan to shoulder all the burdens but when it come to benefits, even repeated development plans have brought them only elusive dreams.

I think the best Malaysia Plan we can ever have today is a plan where we can identify changes and react to these changes quickly and robustly. If oil prices have collapsed, what flexibility and options does the government have other than imposing more taxes? If global growth has slowed, what viable alternatives do we have? If the value of ringgit has depreciated precipitously, do we know why and how to handle it going forward?

What reserves and capacity have we got to deal with continued security threats and kidnapping in Sabah and from other terrorist groups? I am aware of Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom), but is it effective?  What about the influx of boat people from Myanmar and Bangladesh now? Do we have clear ideas to deal with them?

These are all pertinent issues which will affect the vital interests of Malaysia and its people. But I don’t think we can ever write them out in development plans in concrete or predictable terms before they happen. I do not have to read the 11th Malaysia Plan to know that there are probably programmes and projects for water, electricity, roads, housing, public transport, environment preservation and protection, healthcare and education in it.

Are we blind?

11th Malaysia Plan –What a load of baloney.

But my question is, are we blind? We can’t see that people are made so often to queue up with pails and bottles for water trucks. We can’t see congestion and massive jams every day. We can’t see dilapidated flats and unhygienic living conditions everywhere. We can’t see half of the working population can’t afford decent housing.   We can’t see our education is not performing. We can’t see that the real income of the people is not growing, what more with more taxes and depreciating ringgit.

But the irony is we have to wait for someone to write all these down and for our PM to read them out in the Parliament before we could pretend to know these are the important issues requiring attention. What a load of baloney.