THE government is planning to revise the Statistics Act 1965 in the Dewan Rakyat in July next year to enhance the Statistics Department’s role in strengthening the country’s statistical landscape.

The cabinet had on September 9, 2020 approved the department’s proposal to strengthen the national statistical system through the formation of a National Statistics and Data Council, which will serve as the highest advisory body with the role of providing the direction for the national statistical system and coordinating information.

Among the system’s main agenda is the Amendment of the Statistics Act 1965 (Revised 1989) which, among others, aims to strengthen the role and function of the department.

In his keynote speech at the launch of the 10th Malaysian Statistics Conference, chief statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the department continues to make strides in producing important statistics as the landscape of globalisation, the world economy, social well-being and environmental change.

Revealing the history of Malaysian statistics, he said the compilation of GDP figures began in 1961 when the department, or at that time known as the Bureau of Statistics, released data for the first time with a focus on the agricultural sector, petroleum production, and several other key sectors.

Uzir said in the 1970s, Malaysia began to use the input-output method to calculate GDP, which allowed for a more detailed analysis of the economic structure.

“In the 1980s, the country began to use a real-time series system for data collection to ensure GDP was released more quickly and accurately. In 1993, to help improve the accuracy of economic data and understanding of the country’s economic structure, Malaysia began compiling GDP based on the System of National Accounts (SNA) 1968.

“Until now, Malaysia has been using the concepts and methods outlined in the latest SNA, which is SNA 2008,” he said.

Uzir added that in the early 1990s, Malaysia had taken the first step to compile GDP data on a quarterly basis with the help of an expert consultant from New Zealand, Rodney Wellington.

He said although GDP is a well-known and significant economic indicator, it cannot tell the social situation of the people in a country and the readiness of a country to face threats.

Therefore, there was a clear demand from policymakers, governments, academics and the public to move statistical measurement frameworks beyond GDP, as defined during the High-level Forum on Official Statistics organised by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics, United Nations earlier this year. 

Hence, Uzir said data across the borders of GDP require a combination of economic, environmental and social indicators that go beyond the measurement of market activity and take into account matters involving people’s well-being and environmental sustainability.

It is important for today’s statistical community to look beyond GDP in order to create more comprehensive statistics, he said. – Bernama, September 26, 2023.