PM calls for 'humane' economic model with wealth spread equitably, and no graft or bailouts

The Star

In his address at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (Oct 7), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim called for a shift towards a more just and inclusive economic model, stressing the need for a humane economy that champions social justice.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/58nmmcm4   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00In my book, The Asian Renaissance, I said that while the key to sustainable economic

00:11growth is productivity, public funds would need to be expanded towards the growth of

00:18human capital, chiefly through education and healthcare. Additionally, poverty eradication

00:26and the creation of humane living and working conditions must remain paramount. Nevertheless,

00:35as much as I would oppose unbridled capitalism, I have cautioned against unfettered discretion

00:42dictated by short-term pressures and political expediency. In this regard, rather than playing

00:50to the gallery of populist demand, responsible governance warrants that we must sometimes

00:56take the bulls by the horns. So we had this subsidy rationalisation. Unpopular is sweet,

01:10palatable to the economists, but a disaster for politicians. But since we are committed

01:18to institutional reform and economic reform, we have to pursue. Now, which happens to

01:28be our task, and we did it last May, and we decided to implement the diesel subsidy rationalisation

01:39plan, electricity. After that, we had this assistance, or withdrawing the special assistance

01:48for the chicken subsidy programme. Can you imagine? You subsidise everything, and we

01:57are most democratic. We subsidise the rich and the poor and foreigners and anybody. That

02:04has to stop. Rather than taking the safe course of merely paying lip service while being frozen

02:11in action, as previous governments had done, we had to summon firm political courage to

02:18take this course of action at the risk of being unpopular. Not too unpopular, because

02:24we have to survive the next elections. Now, we had to choose to play safe and do nothing,

02:30knowing that the continued situation would only take us on the road to bankruptcy. Then

02:36that would be a dereliction of moral duty, of good and responsible governance. But do

02:43we take this action, including implementing electricity tariff adjustments and floating

02:48prices of certain essentials in order to inflict pain and suffering on the rakyat? Certainly

02:53no. On the contrary, while the majority of the people would continue to enjoy the subsidies

03:00that they deserve, the wealthy and the big industries must pay what they ought to. So

03:08when I say subsidy rationalisation, it actually did not affect the changes, because the subsidy

03:16continues for the vast majority of our people, what we call B40, M40, and probably the low

03:24T20. Now, the billions of ringgit saved are now being channelled back to the people in

03:30terms of subsidies and cash transfers. That is what we have done and will continue to

03:35do as we proceed boldly on the course of structural reforms. We are committed to governance, accountability

03:43and to social justice. That is, ensuring that the benefits of growth are distributed fairly

03:50and equitably and that every Malaysian has the opportunity to prosper. Those tasked with

03:56implementing government policies must therefore adhere to the highest standards of responsibility,

04:02transparency and accountability. We have seen great excesses from political leaders, bureaucrats

04:09and government agencies. Excesses in terms of corruption and excesses of spending. So

04:19structural reforms must also mean the courage of conviction and fortitude of commitment

04:24to take action against the crooks, the unscrupulous profiteers and the nefarious power abusers

04:32without fear or favour. Our measures at structural reforms are already proving to be effective

04:42as evidenced by the performance of the ringgit, the phenomenal increase in investments and

04:49the positive trajectory of our economic growth. Therefore, let me take a moment to thank our

04:55investment community, both foreign and domestic, for their faith, trust and confidence in the

05:01Malaysian economy.

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