The ETP, GTP and GDP
By Masterwordsmith
Without public scrutiny and debate in Parliament, how far can these programs go? Where is Malaysia heading? Do we really need to spend RM 67 billion this way??? How will the ETP and GTP boost our Gross Domestic Product?
The official PEMANDU website says that PEMANDU is a unit under the Prime Minister’s Department set up to manage and facilitate the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). PEMANDU Corporation, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) incorporated with the mandate to provide financial, recruitment and procurement services to PEMANDU, a company limited by guarantee under Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM). The following is the organizational chart of PEMANDU.
The GTP and ETP are governed by the Delivery Task Force (DTF) for the delivery of National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) and Steering Committee for the delivery of National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs). Both committees are chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia respectively.
The Government Transformation Programme (GTP) was devised in accordance with the principles of the famous 1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now. In its entirety, the GTP is designed to provide all Malaysians access to improved public services irrespective of race, religion and region.
This site states that the objective of GTP is two-fold – first, to transform the government to be more effective in its delivery of services and accountable for outcomes that matter most to the Rakyat; and second, to move Malaysia forward to become an advanced, united, and just society with high standards of living for all. This is in line with the national mission of achieving Vision 2020 – for Malaysia to become a fully developed nation.
Under the GTP, six key priority areas have been identified where challenges within each area have been divided into short-term priorities and long-term issues. These areas of development are known as the National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) as below:
- Reducing Crime
- Fighting Corruption
- Improving Student Outcomes
- Raising Living Standards of Low-Income Households
- Improving Rural Basic Infrastructure
- Improving Urban Public Transport
You can download a copy of the GTP Annual Report AT THIS LINK.
On September 21, 2010, the Malaysian government launched the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) in an attempt to transform Malaysia into a high income economy by the year of 2020. The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) an agency under the Prime Minister Department of Malaysia is managing this program with hopes to drive Malaysia into becoming a high income economy.
To that end, the program aims to improve Malaysia’s Gross National Income (GNI) to US$523 billion by 2020 and per capita income from US$6,700 to at least US$15,000, meeting the World Bank’s threshold for high income nation. However, to meet that objective, GNI must grow by 6% per annum.
Set to revitalize Malaysia’s private sector, the 60% of the blueprint’s investment would be derived from private sector, 32% from government linked companies and the remaining 8% from the government. Various sectors for development have been identified and are called National Key Economic Activities (NKEA).
In January this year, Pemandu announced HERE that ETP is in overdrive with 19 developments worth RM67 billion.
You can see an overview of NKEAs over HERE.
The question at the back of our minds is how far can the ETP and GTP transform our nation? Previous strategies or programs emphasized economic growth and structural changes were not matched with monetary injections. If at all $$ was spent, did those funds produce commendable results, if any?
It is common knowledge that our nation has fallen behind that of neighbouring countries. At one pre-election ceramah video in 2008, I recall how Tony Pua lamented the manner in which Korea has overtaken us – when once upon a time, they were lagging behind us in the 1970’s.
And this brings us to the question of how far will the ETP and GTP go in spiking our GNI and GDP?
Do the ETP and GTP really address and solve the problems and issues that deeply concern Malaysians? Even though these two programs saw detailed plans with measurable objectives, you can see from the official website or links listed that these could have been undertaken even without the ETP!!!
For instance, how can the Unified Malaysia Sale benefit the poorer segment of our nation? Granted that it could bring in tourism revenue, yet, how much of those benefits/profits reach the poor?
I was quite shocked that there is no attempt to address key problems such as health care issues, provision of basic amenities to rural areas and other areas of concern!
Instead, what did I see HERE? I was very disappointed to see that it was last updated on 13th June 2011 when it was announced that the Prime Minister unveiled 15 initiatives under the Economic Transformation Programme. Amongst the initiatives launched include:
