11th Malaysia Plan: A mad dash to Vision 2020

PETALING JAYA: The 11th Malaysia Plan to be unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak today comes at a time when political and economic uncertainties have the nation in its grip.
The 13th and perhaps the most important development plan in the history of the nation since the First Malaya Plan in 1956, represents the final leg of the country's aspirations to become a high income nation under Vision 2020, first conceptualised by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The 11th Malaysia Plan spearheaded by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) may have taken 18 months to craft but the road to becoming a high income nation has been 24 years in the making, with the next five years set to be its most harrowing.
According to the EPU, the driver of the plan, to identify development issues in the country, nearly 300 meetings were carried out by various planning groups since January 2014.
Roadshows were held throughout all states during July and September 2014 to gather feedback from all state governments on the 11MP proposed development strategies in a bid to ensure inclusiveness.
A main feature of the 11MP will also be to uplift the bottom 40% of households, enhance Bumiputera’s competitiveness in economic activities, accelerate urban and rural transformation as well as strengthen community development.
In the final lap, as Najib called it in a tweet today, however his administration will not only have to push through policies and projects which will help narrow the gap of achieving a high income nation status and ensure that all Malaysians benefit from the status.
The government will have to do so while contending with global uncertainties, a declining ringgit, concerns over 1Malaysia Development Bhd's (1MDB) debt and the low price of oil.
Lofty targets were set, US$15,000 (RM54,250) per capita income by 2020 at a time when the average was around US$7,000 and a balanced budget, from a high of 6.7% in 2010.
At a time when the country needs a gross domestic product growth rate of 6% annually to reach its 2020 target, the government has stated that it will be a toss up between 4.5% and 5.5%.
Despite this however, the government has stayed its course, committing to continuing to reduce its fiscal deficit albeit at a slightly slower pace with the target for this year set at 3.2% instead of the 3% initially announced in the unveiling of Budget 2015.
The development plan to be announced at 11.30am today therefore will not only set the tone for the next five years but also the future of Malaysia in the years to come.