MALAYSIA needs to ensure it keeps its leading position in competitiveness among its Asean peers even as countries such as Vietnam and Thailand continue to leap forward.
“It is critical for the country to transform. We have to ensure that Malaysia is a fertile ground once again for investments in technology, finance and innovation,” Accenture Malaysia country managing director Azwan Baharuddin tells StarBizWeek.
“We are losing to our peers in this respect. We are already lagging behind Thailand and Vietnam, according to the National Trade Blueprint by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti).
“In the World Competitiveness Ranking 2020 report by the Institute for Management Development, we have dropped to 27th place,” he adds.
He notes that the Miti blueprint attributes the drop in ranking to the weaker performance in skill, finance and business dynamism.
“If you look at Vietnam’s GDP, it was so far behind some five years ago but if you look at it now, it is very close and is almost the same as ours. From nowhere to being at almost the same level in GDP as ours!” Azwan says.
He also highlights that in terms of GDP per capita, Malaysia has been falling very much behind recently and it would be to the country’s benefit to transform.
“It is important for us to transform. If we are not out there getting investments, our neighbouring countries will get it and Malaysia is going to lose out a lot,” Azwan says.
Improving competitiveness
He notes that the urgent need is to improve the country’s competitiveness so as to be an attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) destination again.
“If we get a lot of FDIs, it tells you we are doing well. It tells you that our transformation plan is working. It also shows that our policies are consistent and valuable to investors. This tells us that investors are here to stay and will stay for the long run,” Azwan says.
“We were ahead of many countries several years ago and now slowly we are slipping away. For example, in a Formula 1 race, you may be in the front two rows of the grid initially, but after 17 laps you find yourself in number 9th position and slowing further. We have to fix this,” he adds.
One of the areas that can be improved, Azwan says, is the last mile delivery to the people and this cannot be done through technology alone.
“While I’m optimistic about the role of new technology and improved public service deliveries, this is only part of the solution. Ultimately, we have to improve the citizen experience for public service delivery,” he says.
“This transformation will lead to better growth, more employment, higher salaries, better lifestyles and standards of living. The younger generation today wants instant gratification – if we are not able to do this and excite them, there will be another problem on the country’s hands,” Azwan adds.
He says if the government can’t cater to the needs of the younger generation – who wants things done instantaneously – these top talents would eventually be lost to neighbouring countries, which may have the investments and infrastructure that excites them.
“Malaysians are very good adopters of new technologies despite not producing much of these new technologies. We are usually the first to adopt them,” he says.
He says one area that can potentially excite the younger generation is the introduction of regulations toward improving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credentials such as in the areas of decarbonisation, sustainability or electric vehicles.
“Every time you create new regulations around these ESG that is exciting for the younger population – since it is saving the world so to speak – it creates a whole new ecosystem or an economy that would drive the country forward.
“It is also about focusing on the right industries, technologies and having the right incentives in place,” he says.
Service delivery
Meanwhile, Azwan says there is a need for the government to keep in mind the public’s experience when delivering services.
“This is what’s important. There is a need to look at outcomes measured by social and economic impacts that is supported by clear policies and regulations. Firstly, the government needs to centre everything on the citizen’s experience. Start with the design outcome, then re-engineer from there,” he says.
“Sometimes when we work in big organisations, people like to work in silos in the different departments and this happens all the time but for the government, this is more challenging because it is so big and there are so many functions,” he adds.
This could be simplified seamlessly through the use of technology, especially with the use of mobile apps these days, he notes.
“For example, the government can have a unified interface (for government services). It is good to have this seamless experience for government services,” Azwan says.
He notes that things are much segregated now with respect to government service delivery, comparing it to going to a restaurant but having to order the food, drinks and desserts from three different counters and paying for them separately using three different payment methods.
This implied that there were a lot of redundancies and duplication of work that could be vastly improved and easily done with the use of technology.
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