KINIBIZ On May 27, 2015, The Star published a cartoon with the catchline “Most Malaysians are not aware of 11MP”. No truer statement had been made about the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP), 2016-2020. This cartoon drew attention to a fundamental puzzle: why was there no public debate of the core issues that had to be incorporated into the 11MP? After all, this plan was to map the government’s path to fulfil the goals of Vision 2020 and the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) which outlined the primary objectives of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s National Transformation Plan (2010-2020).

When the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) was being prepared, there had been numerous roadshows to obtain public feedback about Najib’s proposed economic reforms and development agenda. As for the 11MP, even members of parliament were unaware of it. In the weeks before its release, I had asked members of the opposition if they were prepared to debate the plan. They either did not know that the 11MP was to be tabled or the significance of this plan. Evidently, there was no attempt by the government to solicit feedback from the opposition. This was imperative since the opposition now controls three state governments and what was to go into the 11MP also mattered in those states.

By not allowing for public participation in the planning of the 11MP, the government had not acted in a responsible manner. The 11MP, which will end in 2020, is far too important to be prepared in such a covert manner with input only through a process of selective consultation, with people allied to the government. Clearly, this does not augur well for Najib’s now longstanding desire to be “inclusive” when determining the socioeconomic direction that Malaysia should take. When the 11MP was released it became clear to me why details about this plan were so shrouded in secrecy. There were specific issues that the 11MP did not discuss and data it did not reveal.

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TERENCE GOMEZ is Professor of Political Economy at the Faculty of Economics & Administration, Universiti Malaya.