MALAYSIA must shift from an economy based on commodities and low-value manufacturing to one secured on digitalisation, technology, added value, creativity and innovation, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said.

“I hope that within these five years, we can shift the government’s dependence from only a few financial sources to a combination of stronger, sustainable, diverse and progressive sources of income,” he said at the debate on the motion for a vote of confidence for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Rafizi said Malaysia also needed to build an economic ecosystem that is fair to workers and offered wages that commensurate with qualifications and experiences, to ensure that the country has mobility and marketability opportunities on a global level.

Therefore, he said the role of the government or the grouping of those with the ability to make decisions to implement difficult strategic shifts in this five-year period is important amid challenging global and domestic economic conditions.

“We need political stability because we have to make some very difficult decisions in this global economic situation,” he said.

Rafizi said the country also needed independent judicial institutions, parliament and the government.

Meanwhile, Titiwangsa MP Johari Abdul Ghani voiced his concerns over the country’s economic growth shrinking in the period from 2018 to 2021.

He said that based on data, the number of graduates produced compared with the number of new jobs offered by the private sector in the four years clearly did not show sustainable economic growth.

“In ensuring economic growth, we cannot ignore the elements of investment growth and expanding consumption but when looking at these two elements, the number of new graduates and new jobs are shrinking,” he said.

He said in 2018, the number of graduates produced was 299,000 compared with 101,000 new jobs; in 2019 there were 386,000 new graduates and 103,000 new jobs; 2020 with 294,000 new graduates and 73,000 new jobs; and 2021 as many as 286,000 new graduates with only 69,500 new jobs offered.

Besides that, Johari said he is also concerned about the increasing national debt, which increased by almost RM400 billion from 2018 to 2021 to reach RM1.2 trillion.

“In 2017, we paid only RM27.9 billion in interest but in 2022, interest payments will reach RM43 billion. What worries me is that it will affect the country in the next five to 10 years.

“If we do not manage this matter (debt) carefully, the fate that befalls the Malaysian government will not be different from what we saw happen to Sri Lanka,” he added.

Johari was previously deputy finance minister in 2015 and subsequently the finance minister II after the cabinet reshuffle in 2016.

In the 15th general election, he took back the Titiwangsa parliamentary seat after losing it in the previous election. – Bernama, December 19, 2022.