The underlying theme of next year's budget seems to be 'Work hard and work smart' while being disciplined and caring.

This precept appears to permeate across the budget's strategic intent, whilst directing its focus on four strategies for growth and development, i.e. creating a more efficient public administration, accelerating migration to a high value-added economy, developing human capital as a catalyst for growth and improving the people's quality of life.

For most part, the budget itself is painless, but neither is it generous. As usual, the beaten boys are the simple vices of life, cigarettes and liquor.

Working smart involves enhancing effectiveness through more intensive use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), reinventing work processes and distribution channels, outsourcing of shared services, contract manufacturing of low value-added parts and processes for other countries.

This would enable Malaysian companies to move up the value chain and help reduce the need for foreign labour besides overcoming the attendant social problems associated with it.

At the same time, foreign companies with the desired technology, skill and brand names are welcomed to invest or team up with local companies and institutions of higher learning in order to accelerate the transfer of technology and skills to clearly identified niches .

This will create the desired competitive environment that would develop efficiency and help attain the level of excellence that would assist Malaysia in earning trust and recognition in the global market.

Similar prescriptions were also adopted under the 2005 Budget for the capital market, fund management and Islamic banking. Corporations that have already attained international stature are encouraged to sell their expertise in the global market by venturing overseas.

To ensure a balance in the regional distribution of economic developments in the country, tax incentives were given to companies that relocate to less developed regions such as the Eastern corridor of the peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

Tax structures are to be reviewed and our obsolete laws relating to labour are to be revised and updated. If done properly, this exercise would enable the economy to further enhance the effectiveness of our 'soft' infrastructure.

Working hard involves the development of human capital by equipping them with professional knowledge, relevant skills and desirable attributes.

The introduction of a productivity-linked wage system and key performance indicators (KPIs), which would measure both output and the scoring of preset objectives, would certainly raise the quality of our human capital to new heights.

As usual, a sprinkling of incentives and assistance were also provided to direct some of these benefits to the members of the security forces and enforcement personnel, the depressed sectors of economy and the disabled.

The above strategy has been well-designed and crafted so as to attain an ideal balance in reconciling the various needs and challenges of the economy, in an environment where the only certainty is uncertainty.

For this I would like to congratulate the Minister of Finance, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, for an excellent budget. He has again stepped out of the mould left behind by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, though semblances of continuity do exist.

My reservation is the heavy demands of this strategy on all the stakeholders. I hope we have the resolve, resilience and resources to implement them. It involves tremendous cultural change - redesigning and redefining work processes and re-skilling and changing the mindsets and behavioural attributes of our human capital. A very heavy agenda indeed.

Without the involvement of the right expertise and close control and monitoring, it is difficult to fully realise this strategic intent. We know whatever it takes this must be done for our national survival in the globalised world.

An honest and earnest prescription for development and survival indeed is the 2005 Budget. Just make sure that we are not climbing a greasy pole.