RECENTLY, speaking at a webinar titled Unlocking Malaysia’s Digital Economy Growth, the economist, Noor Azlan Ghazali, who is executive director of the Economic Action Council, said that the country is good at recognising needs, but has a serious problem getting things done.

Citing the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), established in 1995 as one of the first initiatives anywhere in the world aimed squarely at driving technological growth, its potential was never fulfilled and the “flagship” initiatives promoted as part of the MSC never materialised or completed.

He went on to say that the failure to carry out stated goals was emblematic of systemic failures in Malaysia, which has become a country able to plan but unable to execute. An inability to get things done.

Finally, we have someone who dared to say what was already known in the past three decades or more. What he disclosed was nothing explosive but confirmation of what were already obvious. But he fell short of saying why there was an inability to get things done. Again, the reasons were obvious but no one was brave enough to say it openly.

Not to say good strategies do not fail. Even in a fair and meritocratic situation, good strategies failed too, but when that happens, the reasons for its failure can be pinpointed and rectified if identified early. Whereas, in our situation, the failures are quickly ‘clothed’ in secrecy never to be discussed further. Again, in a fair and meritocratic situation, an investigation would be conducted to determine the cause of the failures with the objective that the same mistakes are not repeated but in most of the cases, such investigative processes were never undertaken or, even if undertaken, the results would be kept confidential from public view.

Are we really good in planning? Do we really have a huge pool of managers who know a lot about how to decide a plan and very little about how to carry it out? Going by the several revelations about the government engaging foreign consultants and paying them millions to dish out plans for the country, even this claim is questionable.

The consequences for if the plan is not followed through were not conveyed or, if stated, were rarely administered.

Proof of this is from the yearly report by the Auditor General, which is full of stories of mismanagement, wastage of public funds and uncompleted projects. Examples were plenty and repeated year after year; cost overruns, time overruns, substandard quality, poor planning, variation of scope, inflation, contractor competence, inadequate cost estimation.

There was absolutely no expectation of commitment.

Those put in charge of execution were never held accountable, leading to a lack of discipline in implementation.

Wastage or failed projects were simply swept away. Deadlines and milestones are just terms spelt out for show but never adhered to.

Even the person who proposed the plan is not required to `keep an eye on the prize’ which is the long-term strategic goal for the country. They were rewarded with plum positions and postings for short term performance.

Corruption, political interference and inter-ministerial rivalries leading to lack of cooperation in allocating and disbursing resources contributed significantly to either seriously delaying projects or causing them to fail.

Corruption has been institutionalised and raised to the level of a structural parameter. It has become part of the value system of our society. That is to say, a condition. We have consciously or unconsciously, created systemic corruption in the country and the trend has continued to the extent that it will not be a distortion of historical facts to assert that corruption is at home with Malaysians. This explains why funds approved for the implementation of a project in line with a development plan are always squandered by an individual or a group of individuals without any sanction.

While there are enough rules in the plans to enforce discipline, the political leadership has a knack for side-tracking development plans supported by the bureaucratic bourgeoisie. The latter invariably alter some of these plans during the implementation stages to the extent of distorting the overall objectives.

Programmes and actions taken to combat rural infrastructure problems fail regularly due to flaws in the strategies adopted by the government. This includes using the plans only as an instrument for resource allocation for different sectors of the economy, but failing to recognise that rural communities have various situations, natures and needs.

This inability to execute proves to be a major obstacle to increasing the flow of capital to the poorest of our country.

No one asked the question, “why the continuous inability to execute and what can they do to stop this?” – November 18, 2021.

*FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.