Gerakan vice-president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said more needs to be done in Malaysia to strengthen its key institutions to stay competitive in today’s globalised world.

Datuk Mah urged the government to strengthen the integrity and efficiency of the civil service, judiciary, education system and other key national institutions to sustain and improve the overall competitiveness of the nation.

“Syabas to the government for introducing efficient and good policies to strengthen the country’s overall business and economic climate,” he said in a statement.

Datuk Mah was commenting on the latest IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2010 which said Malaysia’s competiveness ranking rose to 10th, from 18th a year earlier, as the country benefited from strong demand from Asia as well as implementation of efficient policies, especially government policies.

Malaysia, which is now ranked the fifth most competitive country in Asia Pacific, scored highly in business and government efficiency.

Datuk Mah said it was clear now that the government, under the helm of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, had managed to reduce bureaucracy and red tapes during the policies implementation process.

“However, in order for the people to buy in the idea that the competitiveness of Malaysia has improved, Gerakan believes the people want the government to fix any form of systemic corruption, leakages and malpractices by any quarters, from the top to the bottom,” said Mah, who is also head of the party’s central economic development bureau.

Mah argued ultimately the people must be able to feel and see that the GDP growth and improvement in competitiveness could bring tangible benefits to them.