PUTRAJAYA: The Rural and Regional Development Ministry has identified five key focus areas as the foundation for the planning and implementation of rural development programmes to ensure sustainable, values-based and people-centric progress.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the 5Ps are People, Place, Productivity, Prosperity and Prophetic.
He said under the focus on People, where social mobility is at its core, rural development efforts will begin with the empowerment of human capital.
“Rural development must begin with people. Rural youth should not continue to inherit limitations but instead be afforded wide-ranging opportunities.
“Women, persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups must be given space, skills and trust to build more resilient lives,” he said during the ministry’s New Year Message event here yesterday, Bernama reported.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister, said Place, the second focus, views rural areas as the nation’s new growth clusters through rural investment hub development, while Productivity focuses on ensuring stable and sustainable income by scaling up rural entrepreneurs.
He said the fourth focus, Prosperity, emphasises well-being while Prophetic is grounded in the leadership values of Prophet Muhammad as guidance in rural development.
“Insya-Allah, when the 5P framework is implemented with clear direction and sincere intent, rural development will not be measured solely by figures and reports but by a livelihood of greater dignity, renewed hope and strengthened confidence among the people,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid said rural development must be managed with a corporate mindset to ensure every ringgit spent delivers value returns to the people.
“It calls for efficiency and swift decision-making, as well as clear roles and timelines so that what we do goes beyond fulfilling social responsibilities but also produces tangible outcomes that deliver direct value to the people.”
Ahmad Zahid said a strategic thinking platform will be established as a rural think tank to guide the ministry’s work through focused, evidence-based policies while documenting rural development achievements via journals, reports and books for public reference.
