Malaysia Inc 2.0
IN his previous term as Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad introduced the concept of Malaysia Inc. It was meant to be a bond between the public and private sectors, both working together to develop the country.
Malaysia Inc worked well as Malaysia managed transformed itself from an agrarian economy and saw the rapid industrialisation and the growth of manufacturing as the base of the economy.
It was during that time of Malaysia Inc where many of the privatisation projects were undertaken to rebuild national finances and kick start growth where businesses flourished, job in abundance were created and both the public and private sector flourished.
This time around, revisiting Malaysia Inc may seem like the right thing to do. The country’s finances need to be rebuilt, and there is a lot of scope for privatisation of government owned companies.
Many of them however will be smaller than the giant state owned enterprises that were headed to the stock market and help build corporate Malaysia.
The need to restart Malaysia Inc is also similar with the objectives when it first started. As the government seeks to shore up its finances, cut out the fat and eradicate corruption, its hands will be tied and preoccupied with rebuilding the civil service.
The role of creating growth, employment and wealth will then fall on the private sector, which has always been the priority of the government regardless of the times.
The private sector, however, needs to know the rules of the game has changed.
For long, there has been too much emphasis on who you know rather than what you can do. Hands had to be greased and that adds to the cost of doing business.
But now, with Malaysia Inc 2.0, the private sector would have fairer access to the market and choose what they want to do without being crowded out by the public sector and government-linked companies.
The government now has a golden chance to make Malaysia Inc 2.0 to be much better than the first iteration. And it should take that opportunity to make the private sector the engine of growth a more lasting one than before.