COMMENT | Does World Bank report tell us what we need to do?
COMMENT | Being a high-income country is not an end in itself: there are questions of well-being, a flourishing of capabilities, high standards of governance, and the accomplishment of a sense of freedom that the people of Malaysia have to experience.
Freedom as expressed by the ability to live a life one chooses to is perhaps the most important goal that the country should strive for.
So, I would not be obsessed with achieving a high gross national income (GNI). As the World Bank report correctly notes, there is no welcoming ceremony for a country which achieves high-income status. And the national income is not all that matters.
Beyond the economic dimension, which the World Bank report has focused on, as it should, given the institution's mandate, there are wider...
COMMENT | Being a high-income country is not an end in itself: there are questions of well-being, a flourishing of capabilities, high standards of governance, and the accomplishment of a sense of freedom that the people of Malaysia have to experience.
Freedom as expressed by the ability to live a life one chooses to is perhaps the most important goal that the country should strive for.
So, I would not be obsessed with achieving a high gross national income (GNI). As the World Bank report correctly notes, there is no welcoming ceremony for a country which achieves high-income status. And the national income is not all that matters.
Beyond the economic dimension, which the World Bank report has focused on, as it should, given the institution's mandate, there are wider considerations that need to be taken into account; and these are questions that are more foundational.
We need a firm sense of direction, a national narrative that drives our aspirations, political stability, and a solid sense of national identity without sacrificing diversity and differences. Many high-income countries are still struggling with these issues.
In recent times we have seen high-income countries failing to deal with questions of race, access to health and an adequate public health system.
In many respects, we have paid more attention to these potential problems, although that is not to say that we have done all that needs to be done.
The World Bank report repeats many of the questions that we have been grappling with for the last decade or more.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad's vision of a knowledge economy was ahead of its times, and we are still far from whatever he had envisaged.
Najib Abdul Razak's New Economic Model report was a great catalogue of the challenges that Malaysia needs to confront.
Some of the most foundational problems are also the most delicate. Anxieties arising from the exclusion of the majority run alongside fears that the minorities feel about being excluded.
We neither want the economic exclusion of the majority nor that of the minorities: a viable resolution is necessary, not rhetoric that widens differences and policies that deepen inequalities.
Without a system of education that produces graduates who are tech-savvy, productivity and the implementation of Industrial Revolution 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), research and development, and innovation will ring hollow.
Our fiscal space has been systematically compromised. Attempts to bring it back to the radar were thrown off with Covid-19 – although given the circumstances it was absolutely necessary. Fiscal prudence must be regained.
Good governance has long been highlighted as requiring consideration.
These issues are structural and institutional. Once we get a grip on them, the mechanics of running the economy (be in deciding on interest rates, incentives to attract FDI, tax rates) will be easier to handle.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has had the unenviable task of managing an economy caught in the grip of Covid-19.
He now has the onerous responsibility of giving direction to the economy and taking Malaysia forward.
We have long known what we need to do, we need to get down to doing it.
SHANKARAN NAMBIAR is the head of Research at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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