KUALA LUMPUR: Economic growth in a country can generate returns in terms of social progress when it is in the early stages of development, but benefits can peter off and become more difficult to achieve.
This is what has happened with Malaysia, said Economic Change Programme director Dr Katherine Trebeck.
According to Trebeck, the 6% growth in gross domestic product in the second quarter of this year, the strong rise of quality education and low unemployment rates were just some of the examples that have put Malaysia on a global standing.
However, emerging social and environmental concerns have seen Malaysians, especially the bottom 40% (B40) segment struggle to build lives today.
To counter this, Trebeck reckoned that wellbeing should be at the heart of any decision-making process in the country.
Using a research paper published by the World Bank last year, Trebeck made note of the fact that 70% of Malaysians feel the gap between the rich and poor is significant.
“What we have here is a story of success, but one that comes with a cost and now demands change.
“It is no longer about us serving the economy, but rather, imagining and creating an economy that serves us,” she said in her keynote speech during Praxis 2026, themed Reimagining Visions of Progress here yesterday.
Particularly for businesses, Trebeck said they need to focus on being purpose-based, whereby financial viability and profits are used to stimulate social and environmental outcomes.
“The wellbeing economy asks the market to do more of the lifting for shared economic prosperity through economic democracy, decent wages, and pricing in externalities rather than waiting for wealth to trickle down after the fact,” she said.
She gave examples like Greencity Wholefoods in Scotland, which is a worker owned co-op with a mission to serve their members and increase sustainability, as well as a prominent Dutch ethical and sustainable bank, Triodos Bank, which invests credit into areas that are critical.
“You can get a lot from economic growth, such as rising life expectancy, eradicating diseases, and lowering illiteracy rates; but these successes only emerge when economic growth is used to invest in collective institutions.
“The wellbeing economy is people-powered, which means putting people at the heart of the decisions that affect them.”
Meanwhile, executive chairman at the Institute of Strategic & International Studies Malaysia, Datuk Professor Mohd Faiz Abdullah, said becoming a high-income developed nation has seemed to become the be-all and end-all of development.
But, that is not the case any longer.
He said some of the richest countries, as measured by the metrics of the West, are grappling with deep-seated and existential social, economic and political dislocations.
“They are discovering that national wealth, without more, does not necessarily translate into good lives, cohesive communities, or a liveable environment.
“On the contrary, many of the wealthiest economies are simultaneously confronting ecological breakdown, eroding trust and belonging, and rising insecurity for ordinary families,” he said.
As Malaysia approaches the high-income threshold, Mohd Faiz said it is time for more urgency in this matter.
“This is why we asked this question this year – what would a hopeful future Malaysia look like?
“It is a question designed to loosen the grip of historical contingency – to widen the box from which we draw our sense of what is possible,” he explained.
More importantly, Mohd Faiz said he is hopeful that more will realise that history is not a destiny.
“The development frameworks which have bound us for decades need not be the only playbook available.
“And that the imagination of our young people deserves not merely our applause, but our attention.
“Let us therefore engage deeply, think boldly and collaborate meaningfully,” he said.
