PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammed yesterday gave a historic and pleasant surprise present to all Malaysians in a special address to the people on the first anniversary of the Pakatan Harapan government.

After nearly 50 years of Barisan Nasional’s New Economic Policy (NEP), the announcement of the new Economic Model of Shared Prosperity provided a radical breakthrough for fundamentally new socio-economic policies for the next 10 years, or for two socio-economic five-year plans, until 2030.

The prime minister said in his special address that “the target of this shared prosperity is to create decent standards of living for all Malaysians”.

He also gravely warned us all, that Malaysia could become a failed state if the Pakatan Harapan coalition did not work together. 

Indeed his stern advice could well apply to all Malaysians in the context of the proposed new economic model – that it will have to be strongly supported and embraced by all Malaysians for it to work for the long-term benefit of all. 

He rightly implied that our country’s future will depend on the degree of success of our accepting and the implementation of  this  new economic model. It will hopefully, as he pointed out, enable us all to continuously experience sustainable and equitable growth at every level of society, regardless of race, class, and location. 

This is surely a breath of fresh air after so many years of distortion in the interpretation and implementation of the NEP  by many little Napoleons, at the highest to the lowest levels of the previous administration, for many years.  

New hope from Pakatan Harapan

The New Economic Model of Shared Prosperity gives us all new hope. 

It is based on three objectives as follows:

1. Tackling income and wealth disparity;

2. Creating a progressive economy; and

3. Emerging as a leading economy in Asia.

We will almost all agree that there is no point in raising economic growth alone, without the people sharing more of this growth in wealth. 

Where is the hope for our future, if despite our God-given resources, some of our undergrads go hungry, many of our people struggle to live from hand to mouth, and children suffer from malnutrition? 

What about the serious lack of housing, the inadequate healthcare and transport facilities, among other insufficient basic needs, as well as the shocking shortfalls in our sustainable development  goals? But how do we explore the solutions?

Solutions

The solutions to achieving the objectives of the new model of sharing wealth must inter alia be considered as follows:

a) Raising new wealth taxes; 

b) Increasing expenditures to provide more for the welfare of the poor; 

c) Enhancing training and technology levels to raise productivity;

d) Providing better salaries and wages for our people;

e) Focusing on meritocracy and competition to better manage the brain drain; 

f) Treating all Malaysians equitably regardless of race and religion;

g) Protecting our environment; and 

h) Sharing the United Nation’s 17 sustainable goals. 

Public support vital 

Public support is crucial for preventing us from getting into the mode of a failed state. We have to prepare for acceptance of the new model and for pray for its success in the next 10 years and beyond. 

We must all take this acceptance as a real challenge to make this model work for the benefit of all Malaysians, as this may well be our last reasonable chance to move strongly ahead.

Thus we wish that this critical new economic model will be fully and widely discussed at all levels of society. Our people must be briefed and consulted throughout the country, especially in the rural areas and small towns, to win their wholehearted support for the new model.

As our prime minister concluded in yesterday’s historic speech, “a great plan will not mean anything if it is not implemented correctly or monitored for its outcome”. 

So let us all as loyal and patriotic Malaysians give our full support to the achievement of the new economic model aspirations for shared wealth – for all Malaysians!

* Ramon Navaratnam is chairman of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute Centre for Public Policy Studies. 

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.