11th Malaysian Plan – Second Thrust : Well- Being of the People

The Government has always adopted a balanced development approach that gives equal emphasis
to both economic growth and the wellbeing of the public. Wellbeing refers to a standard of living
and quality of life that addresses an individual’s socio-economic, physical, and psychological
needs. Wellbeing is essential to enhancing productivity and mobility, while simultaneously
strengthening social cohesion and national unity. The Government will improve the wellbeing of
all Malaysians regardless of socioeconomic background or geographic location. Every Malaysian
will have equal access to quality healthcare and affordable housing. Neighborhoods and public
spaces will be safer, allowing the people to have peace of mind and for communities to thrive.
Sports and physical activity will become an integral part of life, with most, if not all Malaysians
embracing a healthy lifestyle. Most importantly, there will be greater social integration leading to
a more united and cohesive Malaysian community. As we know in Malaysia’s 11th plan, six thrusts
has been introduced and one of the thrusts is improving wellbeing of nation. Economic growth and
the well-being of the people is crucial. What is well-being? Well-being refers to a standard of
living and quality of life that addresses an individual's socio-economic, physical and psychological
needs.

Under the second thrust of improving well-being for all, the government says it has always adopted
a balanced development approach that gives equal emphasis to both economic growth and the
well-being of the rakyat.

"The government will improve the well-being of all Malaysians regardless of socioeconomic
background or geographic location. Every Malaysian will have equal access to quality healthcare
and affordable housing. Neighborhoods and public spaces will be safer, allowing the people to
have peace of mind and for communities to thrive," according to the report.

One aspect in this thrust is the sports and physical activity. It is an integral part of life and it is
crucial that all Malaysians be encouraged to embrace a healthy lifestyle. Education in sports and
physical activity is crucial. We see bits and pieces happening and certain health and fitness
groups/societies trying their best to include education in what they do. Great efforts but support
and infrastructure must be put into this to ensure success.
Six Thrusts - Re-engineering economic growth for greater prosperity

The final thrust, re-engineering economic growth for greater prosperity would bring robust
economic growth and is crucial to ensure that the aspiration of becoming an advanced economy is
attained. Under this thrust, all economic sectors will migrate into more knowledge-intensive and
high-value added activities. In the services sector, there will be a shift towards modern services,
which includes Islamic finance, ecotourism, ICT, the creative industry, the halal industry, and oil
and gas. While the manufacturing sector will shift towards more diverse and complex products in
three catalytic subsectors -chemicals, electrical and electronics, machinery and equipment. The
agriculture sector will be modernized by promoting sustainable practices and adopting modern
farming technology to generate high-income.

Leadership Style of Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak

Our current Prime Minister or known as Father of Transformation who has set a dynamic
momentum to steer Malaysia's future to greater heights in the next five years. From this we can
say our Prime Minister has his own style of where he had brought many changes in a positive way.
All this shows that Prime Minister is using collaborative and competitive as his leadership style.
Under his premiership, the nation embarked on a journey of transformation within Malaysia’s
multi-racial, multi-religious context. The cornerstone is his 1Malaysia initiative, which
emphasizes national unity. If Malaysia is to achieve its objective of Vision 2020, the
transformation must start from the 1.2 million members of the civil service. Najib has already
begun the nation’s transformation program based on the Eight Pillars consisting key thrusts and
complementary values in his administration of the government.

In order to improve the well-being of nation, Perumahan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (PRIMA) was
introduced to strategize, develop, construct and maintain affordable lifestyle housing for middle
range household income. This contributes to the 11th Malaysia Plan of improving the well-being
of the nation as well as strengthening infrastructure which supports to economic expansion.

Besides that, Dato Seri Najib had a major role in this move to build a world-class education system
that is flexible and innovative in Malaysia as well as turning the country into a regional education
hub and center of excellence. Apart from that, due attention was given the well-being of teachers
with the introduction of time-based promotion, a better starting salary for new teachers and special
housing projects for teachers.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak has also launched the Government Transformation Programme to improve
the quality of public services, increase efficiency and make the government more transparent. The
programme sets key performance indicators to measure the performance of officials and agencies
and national key result areas to define goals for specific areas of public policy. He also introduced
a new cabinet position in charge of unity and performance management to implement the
KPIsystem. To drive the nation forward, Datuk Seri Najib Razak introduced the New Economic
Model with reforms to create a business environment conducive to economic growth, development
and investment. The goal is to make Malaysia a high-income nation and a developed country by
2020. Transformation and further liberalization of the economy are vital to this.

Dato Seri Najib introduced the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) national key result
areas (NKRA) reducing crime, fighting corruption, improving student outcome, raising living
standards of low-income households, improving rural basic infrastructure, improving urban public
transport. The Economic Transformation Programme was introduced in 2010 to turn Malaysia into
a high-income economy with an increased per capita income as per its Vision 2020 of over
RM48,000 in 2020 – from only RM23,700 in 2009.

The Programme was created to support the Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji
Abdul Razak’s motto of People First, Performance Now and will be implemented as a foundation
for the transformation of Malaysia. The National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) under the GTP were
identified to improve the socio-economic growth of Malaysia. The NKRAs are the priority needs
of the people. It represents a combination of short-term priorities to address urgent public demands
and equally important long-term issues affecting the people that required the Government’s
attention immediately.

Furthermore, under the Eleventh Plan, our current Prime Minister had mentioned that 60% of the
1.5 million jobs that will be created will require TVET-related skills. Meeting this demand will
require Malaysia to increase its annual intake gradually from 164,000 in 2013 to 225,000 in 2020.
Yet, the challenge is not merely about numbers. Industry feedback consistently reveals a
disconnect between the knowledge, skills, and attitudes these graduates possess, and what is
required in the workplace. Besides that, Malaysia like many countries across the world, is
grappling with the challenge of balancing a growing population and demand, with a natural
environment that is increasingly under stress. In the global context of increasing intensity and
frequency of extreme weather events, adopting green growth has now become an imperative for
Malaysia. It represents Malaysia’s commitment to renew and, indeed, increase its commitment to
the environment and long-term sustainability. This is done where is the waste to landfill is not send
whereas waste as resource that can be reused through recycling and recovery, for power generation,
and other waste to wealth initiatives. According to our Prime Minister, innovation is a key driver
for economic growth as it raises productivity through new or improved processes, technologies,
and business models. In addition, innovation can create additional sources of revenue through
differentiated products and services that serve unmet customer needs. As Malaysia continues to
move towards a high-value, knowledge-based economy with a strong focus on the services and
manufacturing sectors, innovation will be crucial to raise the overall efficiency and thus
productivity of each sector. In the enhanced innovation ecosystem, there will be greater
collaboration and integration across industry, academia, and communities. Research will be
closely aligned with industry demand, and the private sector will be active partners in the research,
development, commercialization, and innovation (R&D&C&I) process by contributing funds,
expertise, and other resources.
8th Malaysia Plan – Finance Module
In Malaysia’s 8th Plan, finance is of the key area that have been highlighted with few changes and
introduction to new area. The finance, banking and insurance sector entered the Seventh Plan
period on a sound footing with adequate capitalization levels and good asset quality. In particular,
the continuing efforts of the Government to develop the financial system and implement policies
to promote a robust and resilient financial system as well as reduce the potential for financial
instability ensured that the financial sector was able to remain sound and intact despite the severe
consequences of the recession following the Asian crisis. Consolidation of the domestic financial
institutions through recapitalization and mergers was also initiated to develop a core of strong
domestic institutions. For the Eighth Plan period, a comprehensive, efficient, resilient and
competitive domestic financial system will continue to be a vital element in meeting the economic
aspirations of the nation. Measures will focus on further strengthening the financial sector to meet
the challenges of globalization. In particular, these measures will be undertaken with a view to
creating a strong, efficient and competitive banking system that will be able to withstand future
shocks, thereby minimizing the adverse implications on macroeconomic stability.

As we know, the impact of the financial crisis, however, was much worse than anticipated and
affected the balance sheets of the banking institutions. As external demand declined, economic
activities contracted leading to cash flow and rising nonperforming loan (NPL) problems. Banks
began to tighten credit and the annual growth in loans decelerated sharply in 1998. The tight policy
stance was reversed in mid-1998. The Government promptly sought to address the NPL problem
by creating Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad (Danaharta), an asset management company
and recapitalized the banking institutions through Danamodal Nasional Berhad (Danamodal). The
banking institutions responded positively to these measures and in line with the recovery of the
economy, loans began to increase. By the end of 2000, outstanding loans recorded an annual
increase as well.
Leadership Style of Tun Dr, Mahathir Mohamad

During this era, it was our 4th Prime Minister, Tun Dr, Mahathir Mohamad who is known as a
charismatic leader. He is a person who is dominant, self-confident, convinced of the moral
righteousness of his beliefs and is able to arouse a sense of excitement and adventure in followers.

Besides that, he is also one of the leader who adapts the new paradigm of leadership where is good
in change and crisis management. All this can be seen through his economic reforms. Tun Dr.
Mahathir brought about privatization on a big scale to the country, in a bid to promote free trade
and foreign direct investments. He was a proponent of supplementing growth with equity, a move
seen as rather unorthodox, considering how the traditional route was for survival of the fittest. At
the end of 1996, real GDP was growing at almost 8.5 percent per annum for 10 consecutive years,
with this rate of growth expected to continue for many more years. By 1997 total external trade
reached more than 157 billion US Dollars, making Malaysia the 18th biggest exporting nation and
the 17th biggest importing nation in the world, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO.
When the financial crisis hit the region in July 1997, Malaysia’s currency was devalued to half
what it was. Tun Dr. Mahathir maintained that any policy towards solving this crisis as put forward
by the west would prove to be detrimental to developing countries. He implemented the
unorthodox formula of selective exchange control, measures which were deemed minimal. By a
strong sense of stability, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and his government managed to successful
overcome the financial crisis of 1997, and has to be noted without the support of IMF. Through all
this it can be seen that Mahathir’s tough personality is what makes him an outstanding leader as
he navigated his country to difficult times to economic prosperity.
Conclusion

Malaysians have always had high aspirations. Achieving developed nation status is a very
important milestone for Malaysia, and is the culmination of a 30-year journey towards realizing
this aspiration. The next challenge, post-2020, is to become a truly advanced nation in economic,
social, and environmental terms. It is envisaged that Malaysians will have an unshakeable national
identity and clear moral compass, while all members of society will enjoy an elevated state of
wellbeing. Malaysia will be guided by many inspirational leaders and towering personalities, who
are moulded by a holistic education system and driven by an insatiable appetite for knowledge.
Malaysia will be governed by trusted and independent executive, legislative, and judicial
institutions that protect Malaysians equally. Malaysia will have a government that delivers, led by
leaders with integrity and conviction who embrace the concept of amanah.

According to Richard L.Daft” Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers
who intended real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes”. A leader needs
principles in life, which are crucial element to be successful not just as a leader to an organization
or industry but also outside of an organization. Principles and leadership qualities makes you
stronger and capable, where it develops a lot of criteria and builds good attitude needed towards
achieving the state of an admirable leader. With the above said changes done in Malaysia politics
and government, the Malaysia Plan can be achieved towards envisioning 2020.