I HAVE long harboured thoughts that the five-year Malaysia plans have been overblown in effectiveness.
The five-year plan centralises too much power with the Federal Government to the detriment of state and local governments. State governments become beholden to long roadmaps set out by decision-makers far away.
It is even worse at the local government level. Councils are more or less incapable of reflecting grassroots needs and wants.
Take for instance public transportation. I would have thought how buses should be run is something best understood by locals, yet most decisions are made in Putrajaya.
The “Stage Bus Service Transformation” for Kuching has been announced by the Prime Minister in Parliament (thrice to my knowledge, in two Budget speeches and during the 11th Malaysia Plan {11MP} unveiling) but I know of no public engagement with bus riders here.
My other pet peeve with the plans are how vague they can be, coming across at times like advertisements rather than in-depth blueprints.
In the 11MP, it was said four cities – Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu – would receive special development emphasis.
State news agency Bernama said “competitive plans” would be drawn up along the principles of, “enhancing economic density; expanding transit-oriented development; strengthening knowledge-based clusters; enhancing liveability; adopting green-based development and practices; and ensuring inclusivity, to ensure communities have ample opportunities to participate in social, political and economic activities.”
But what will the four cities get specifically? There has been a lack of news articles on the plans for the four cities because little information has been made known.
In other matters like rural roads, it appears even the Sarawak government is not aware of how much funds it would get under the 11MP.
Last Saturday, state Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin told the Consulting Engineers Malaysia Association that he hoped Sarawak would get two thirds of the rural road budget.
“The Prime Minister announced under 11MP, there would be 3,000km of rural paved roads... We hope it would be divided by three; two-thirds for Sarawak and one-third for Sabah,” he said at a dinner for the association’s Sarawak members.
The word hope in this context does not inspire hope.
But don’t just take my word for it. Here is what MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd had to say regarding the 11MP:
“It seemed that the market was hoping for some positive surprises in the 11MP announcement...However, under this circumstance, no positive news only equated to a disappointment. Hence, the lack of good surprises in 11MP announcement may have led to the selling pressure post-announcement on Thursday, which saw the equity market benchmark again at below the 1,800-point level.”
Another report by TA Securities Holdings Bhd said not only did the 11MP “not spring any surprises”, but that there were still unmet objectives from the 10MP.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the small development expenditure under the 11MP. Of course RM260bil sounds like a lot, but one must remember that that figure has to be divided by five. Also, that is only an increase of about RM30bil from the 10MP.
In the last five years that was the 10MP, how much development was felt by rural Sarawakians?
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