THE 12th Malaysia Plan is being tabled in Parliament this week. As with its previous incarnations, it covers the broad spectrum of our development, comprehensively, with plenty of buzzwords to keep analysts busy for the next few weeks.

If 11th Malaysia Plan had six core areas, this time around the five-year plan contains three large themes – resetting the economy, strengthening well-being, security and inclusivity and advancing sustainability.

Nestled within these broad areas are 13 chapters with action plans serving those areas, and 18 identified tools (named game changers and policy enablers) matched to their respective areas.

Compared with previous plans, this appears to be more comprehensive and current.

However, it maintains perhaps too much idealism and optimism despite the admittance by the government that only one of the six goals in the previous Malaysia Plan was met.

For example, it acknowledges the strong negative impact of Covid-19 both immediate and in the near future but maintains goals like an average monthly household income of RM10,000 by 2025, or roughly 30% more than the present numbers.

This is also despite the fact both mean and median household incomes dropped by more than 10% last year and is largely expected to decline further on account of rising unemployment numbers and business closures.

The RM10,000 number also should be weighed against the performance of the ringgit, devaluation and inflation, and the problem with the law of averages. As the oft-repeated maxim goes, Bill Gates walks into a room of 100 and everyone is now an average billionaire.

With the government reporting several hundred thousand members of the M40 to have slipped into the B40 category (in itself a confusing statement, as both M40 and B40 should be constant values moving only with population size), it is a good time to perhaps redefine the baseline values and indicators concerning poverty and income levels.

A key area identified is the logistics sector – which proved itself a major economic contributor, employer and driver during the pandemic.

As a major regional rail, air and sea player, and with a sizable domestic market, Malaysia is in a key position to grow this segment and lead strategic regional and global networks and hubs.

While technological drivers and government policy can help develop this, sometimes simple political decisions like a 51% Bumiputera equity can throw a spanner in the hard work poured into this.

Equity ownership itself should be viewed with more than mere statistical values. A 19% Bumiputera versus 25% non-Bumiputera division is much healthier than it used to be, and weighed against government and foreign ownership, government-linked companies and government-linked investment companies, which ties in to the “inclusivity” and “Keluarga Malaysia” narratives and theme.

Equity only achieves its optimised and desired waterfall economic effect if the money trickles down to the lower half of the community.

In this case, will an increase in Bumiputera ownership translate into more jobs and better-quality ones?

Otherwise, it risks simply declining into a means of widening a political support base with largesse.

The same applies with other percentages of ownership – housing, jobs, land, education and so on.

The government has rightly identified many problem areas and come up with policy key areas to look at to improve the odds of success of this Malaysia Plan – problems with our education, poverty eradication, inequality between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak, and wide disparities within economic categories and between economic classes.

Admitting we have these issues is the first step to overcoming them.

But while verbose texts and compelling ideas remain impressive to read, they need to be translated into actionable items and quantifiable deliverables.

Otherwise, the Malaysia Plan risks to be a mere tradition we perform once every five years to placate investors and citizens alike. A promise that there is a plan for Malaysia and that they are included in it. – September 29, 2021.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.