KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia can reach the status of a developed country like South Korea within five to eight years as the country has sufficient natural and energy resources to support the MADANI Economy, said think tank Emir Research.
Its president and chief executive officer Datuk Rais Hussin said Malaysia should be able to emulate South Korea, which had successfully changed its economic direction and policy via an innovative approach, offering high incomes and utilising the latest technology to drive its development efforts.
“If we look at South Korea’s Samsung as an example, it has more than 5,000 doctoral degree holders working as researchers in the company, which shows that the country has initiated this effort since way back when (in the 1960s).
“That is why we need to follow South Korea’s footsteps, including in terms of progressive wage and minimum wage (models), so that we can retain great talents and address the brain drain issue due to lower wages,” he said during the ‘Apa Khabar Malaysia’ programme on Bernama TV this morning.
Rais noted that Malaysia’s government is also focusing on balancing the need to develop the economy and helping the poor and the needy, as well as the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs at the same time.
He said the current government has greatly emphasised operational solutions to improve the people’s standard of living, including increasing the workers’ wages.
“This is unlike the previous governments that often announced mega projects or big projects but did not explain what the outcome would be.
“It is true that our gross domestic product (GDP) is quite substantial, but we cannot see whether the share of the GDP has trickled down to the people,” he said.
As such, Rais expressed confidence that with strong political will, mindful fiscal management, and governance with integrity and trust, the MADANI Economy framework can be realised, enabling the country to achieve its aspirations. – BERNAMA
