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‘Stubborn Malaysia’ in the way of reform and growth, say economists

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Experts say answers are there, but procrastination has been the problem and the pandemic may be a golden opportunity.

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Free Malaysia Today
Economists Noor Azlan Ghazali and Ramon Navaratnam say the pandemic has exposed problems that have needed addressing for decades, but have lingered due to ‘stubbornness at various levels’.

PETALING JAYA:
Malaysia’s persistent stubbornness has gotten in the way of important reforms that have long been mooted but never executed, economists say.

Speaking at a webinar hosted by the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia, Noor Azlan Ghazali, head of the economics and management cluster of the National Council of Professors, said the pandemic has laid bare problems that have needed addressing for decades, but have lingered due to this inflexibility at various levels.

“Report after report, blueprint after blueprint … anyone proposing another study should forget about it, we all pretty much know what needs to be done for the country,” he said.

Noor Azlan noted that recommendations like boosting competitiveness, creating high-skill jobs and closing the income gap have been on the docket for years, but were never properly addressed.

“While our (economic) numbers aren’t too bad, the structural make-up of these numbers still suffer the same problems. If we recover from this crisis, and we don’t make these reforms, it would be a serious shame for our country.

“People might go back to their normal lives, but if we don’t address these problems our recovery would be a waste. Are we just going back to where we were before?”

He said not only had the government not been proactive enough in implementing the correct strategies, people have also been unwilling to adapt to high-income concepts.

Using the example of foreign workers, Noor Azlan said while most would agree that the country’s reliance on cheap labour is unsustainable, they would also be unwilling to stomach increased prices should local workers take up more jobs.

He said the same was true for GST, which addressed low tax collections but was met with almost immediate resistance from many in the public before being revoked when Pakatan Harapan came into power.

Ramon Navaratnam, former deputy secretary-general of the Treasury, said the government’s stubbornness boiled down to decision makers protecting their interests over those of the people.

“We must educate the people to realise they are losing out, and must be very careful who they vote for. Vote for the wrong people and we have ourselves to blame.”

If people did not make their voices heard, he said, the “same record would keep playing over and over again”, and the mistakes of the past would be repeated.

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