COMMENT | Malaysia’s five‑year plans are a legacy of mid‑20th‑century, Soviet-style, central planning.

Even when they are couched in modern language - “strategic thrusts”, “key result areas”, “mission‑critical enablers” - they still attempt to steer a complex, evolving economy from the top down, as if information about opportunities, costs, and preferences were known in advance and stable for half a decade.

That assumption is false. When a five‑year plan is taken seriously, it cages the economy; when it is applied loosely, it becomes a wish list.

In both cases, the mechanism of coordinated discovery that markets provide - entrepreneurial trial and error mediated by prices - is displaced. The result is misallocation, fiscal strain, and slower productivity growth.