The five-year Malaysia Plans act as a "compass" that navigates the country’s development to achieve long term plans. But is the compass working correctly?
This was the question asked by PKR think-tank Institut Rakyat ask on the eve of the tabling of the 11 th Malaysia Plan (11MP).
Institut Rakyat executive director Yin Shao Loong (photo) and assistant research director Ginie Lim said the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) had failed to achieve many of its main objectives.
"Whether Malaysia will achieve high income nation come the year 2020 is a question.
"Whether we are heading the right way or whether the compass is working correctly must be determined so that the Malaysia Plans will no longer be documents which list aims and allocations for projects, but rather, a vision which realises the rakyat’s aspiration.
"A compass which does not work will not bring us to the right path. In the end, Vision 2020 will be nothing but a mirage in a desert which thirsts for political reformation," they said.
The country had failed to achieve the targeted gross domestic product (GDP) growth of six percent per annum, they said.
"This is the prime minister’s biggest failure which will also prevent Malaysia from achieving the status of a high income nation and the national income per capita, which is projected to rise to RM55,695 come 2020.
They also cited 10MP’s plan to reduce the incidence of poverty in 2009 which was at 3.8 percent to 2 percent in 2015.
"Reports show it is at one percent in 2014. But this does not reflect the reality as the one percent is based on absolute poverty.
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"If it is based on the relative poverty rate, which is of those earning RM1,813 per month and below, this makes up 20 percent of households.
"It’s clear that the relative poverty rate is more relevant in a developing country like Malaysia as it measures households which are far from the median income," they said.
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