By Zairina Zainudin & Niam Seet Wei
KUALA LUMPUR: The soon-to-be-implemented Shared Prosperity Vision will enable Malaysia to step up its game in the Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 supply-chain, becoming one of the great providers and manufacturers in the digital economy.
Institut Masa Depan Malaysia (MASA) board of trustees member Nizam Mahshar said Malaysia has the capacity to rise above the rest as the focus now just being ‘consumer’ in the supply chain, which has constrained the country from reaping the untapped growth and harness the full potential of the economy.
Malaysia, he said, should no longer be a labour dependent or low model economy because even the region, Asean and countries in the regional grouping, are moving towards that direction (supplier in the ecosystem).
“Digital economy is not just about selling or marketing of goods. We are not looking into the programming side, creating digital platforms, owing payment gateways, or having ownership of big data.
“These are high-value businesses and industry that requires highly skilled workers. We have that potential but we are not really moving into that,” he told Bernama in an exclusive interview recently.
Sharing the latest statistics, Nizam said the adoption of IR4.0 in Malaysia is sadly moving at a slow pace with only 20 per cent usage of technology in the services sector and 30 per cent in the manufacturing.
He believed Shared Prosperity Vision could drive Malaysia to adopt more technology at a faster pace whilst creating more high-value and high-income jobs in the market.
The adoption of more technology would reduce the country’s dependence on foreign labours as well as addressing the unequal distribution of income within the economy.
“Although we have increased in the context of our gross domestic product, it has not provided the necessary income for our people to sustain the escalation in cost of living,” he explained.
Nizam said about 60 per cent of our job creations in the last decade was focussed on the medium- and low-skill jobs which command an average salary of RM2,000 and below.
For developed countries, the distribution of income within the GDP stood at between 45 and 55 per cent compared to just merely 35 per cent for Malaysia, he said.
“Previously we talk about becoming a high-income nation, but how about the income of people? Are they receiving high-income salaries?
“Growth is important pillars in the Shared Prosperity Vision. We need to move to a more forward-looking economy with the adaptation of the technology, more skilled workers, more professionals in the sectors,” he elaborated.
On May 9, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad unveiled Shared Prosperity Vision which served as a new economic direction for the country to ensure its people enjoy shared prosperity while resolving the current economic quagmire.
The Vision aimed to increase the people’s purchasing power and eliminating the income and wealth gap between classes, regions and extreme disparity in the supply chain.
The government outlined at least seven strategic thrusts, among others, restructuring and improving the business ecosystem; generating new growth sectors; enhancing talent reformation and national resources; and improving the labour market and employee income. – Bernama
