Good governance needs to be upheld not just in the government but all spheres of society including the private sector and academia, says Bazlan.
KUALA LUMPUR: Economic policies that are crafted with good intentions by the government of the day does not appear to be well executed in more recent years, say economists.
This may lead to the feeling that any government that is installed was merely all talk and no action, thus affecting its overall credibility in the public’s perception if sustained in the long term.
According to Malaysian Economic Association vice-president Prof Hooy Chee Wooi, Malaysia is not short of very good economic planners and there have been a lot of good policies since the country’s independence.
“Many of our plans and policies have been very successful, especially in the early days (near) independence, till we even became a role model for many developing countries,” he said at the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) International Conference 2023 here yesterday.
“Even today there are a lot of good plannings in terms of digitalisation and sustainability – but we just don’t see the expected outcomes. So the issue is with the execution,” Hooy added.
On a similar note, economic analyst and Institute of Strategic and International Studies former chief executive Herizal Hazri pointed out that the culture seems to be more hypocritical these days.
“We don’t value one simple thing in Malaysia – we don’t value doing what we say. This is the problem over and over again as people may come up with good ideas but they don’t necessarily do it.
“They sound very convincing and in fact, they get into positions when they say certain things but it seems okay to us when it is not being done,” said Herizal, who is one of the speakers at the conference.
“This breeds a culture, which is becoming ‘extremely worrying’,” he said, adding that it is important for a government to fulfill its agenda and promises that it has laid out at the national level.
“This also extends to the smaller groups – it is important for us to understand that the value of doing what we say we want to do actually leads to something that would fundamentally rebuild the structures that we need as a nation.
“So, if there is something we want to do, we have to have the will to do it logically and consistently,” Herizal said.
Meanwhile, Hooy noted that the biggest elephant in the room that Malaysia needs to continue addressing now is the issue of good governance.
“The biggest issue the government has said it wanted to address is good governance – then only we can see a more bold reforms from the government.
“But we still have yet to see a good transformation plan that addresses this on the table, whereas there are other good policies already such as on digitalisation and sustainability,” he said.
Commenting on this, MIA president Datuk Bazlan Osman said good governance needs to be upheld not just in the government but all spheres of society including the private sector and academia.
“There has been a trust deficit that needs to be brought back for our stakeholders.
“So, whatever policies that we have, we need to also walk the talk.
“It’s all up to us as to how we want to uphold good governance, ethics and sustainability,” Bazlan said, noting that these were the individual components of the popular abbreviation today called ESG (environmental, social and governance).
“This goes back to the importance of education, which starts at home. This has to be inculcated from when a person is young and not just exclusively limited to the programmes we have at schools or universities.
“’A lot of brain drain continues to this day and maybe those who have been educated out there may not want to come back to serve the country yet – perhaps they are looking at ESG – whether or not it is implemented before they decide to come back,” Bazlan added.
On another matter, Deputy Finance Minister 1 Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said Malaysia’s subsidy restructuring framework will possibly be announced during the tabling of Budget 2024 this year.
“One key challenge will be to formulate a foolproof and effective subsidy mechanism.
“Another is to plug weaknesses in the proposed subsidy mechanism to prevent leakages and corruption,” he said in his speech at the launch of the conference.
Ahmad also said managing the national debt level, which has crossed one trillion ringgit mark, is a top priority for the government of today.
He noted that the increasing debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is driven by rising contingent liabilities, a declining federal government tax-to-GDP ratio since 2012, and rising federal government expenditures such as subsidies, emoluments and development expenditures since 2017.
“Therefore, it is imperative for the government to propose and implement expenditure reduction policies and revenue generation ideas by 2024 to better manage debt,” he added.
Ahmad also said the Accountants Act 1967 will soon be repealed and a new act will be in place to stamp out bogus accountant activities and protect the public, strengthen compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 as enforced by Bank Negara, and collaborate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in combating corruption and economic crimes.
“As ethical behaviour and accountability are basics of good governance, the Finance Ministry wishes to call upon all accountants and the profession to exercise code of ethics and combat corruption, graft and fraud that is the scourge of the nation, impeding development growth and destroying the people’s well-being,” said Ahmad.
“The Finance Ministry, together with the financial and capital market regulators, are continuing our efforts to improve the governance ecosystem for businesses of all scale and sizes, including small and medium enterprises, public interest entities and public listed companies.
“This is essential to prevent a repeat of the financial fiascos among listed issuers that have plagued the market in recent years,” he added.
