Gerakan asserts that the 10th Malaysia Plan (10th MP) is Malaysia’s only golden opportunity to lift Malaysia out of the middle-income trap and en route to a developed high-income country by 2020.

Gerakan Vice-President Datuk Mah Siew Keong said the 10th MP is our last chance to shatter the “glass ceiling”, once and for all.

“However the people must buy in the overall objectives, aims, missions, visions and strategies of 10th MP, otherwise its implementations won’t be smooth and effective, in such case we will definitely miss the boat to achieve a high-income, inclusive and sustainable economy,” explained Mah.

Mah said it is crucial that the people must have confidence in the government and its tough prescriptions under 10th MP to bring the deficit down to 5.3% this year, to reduce government debt and subsidy significantly, to bring greater value for money to government spending, and widen its revenue base, particularly through a more broad-based tax system.

“We are glad that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has showed great leadership quality by not backing down from his earlier stand that the status quo cannot continue, and proceed to emphasis productivity and innovation as a means to generate wealth as well as a more “market friendly and affirmative action to help those in the bottom 40% of the household bracket in 10th MP, despite strong objections by some,” stressed Mah.

“Here we are at the crucial crossroads in Malaysian history, which requires strong political will to embrace the paradigm shift towards a high-income, inclusive and sustainable 1Malaysia for a better tomorrow,” said Mah.

Mah urged all government agencies and departments together with the co-operation of the private sector and NGOs to come together to assist the PM in the noble goal of transforming Malaysia into a high-income, inclusive and sustainable economy by 2020.

“There is no other way to improve the perception of the rakyat than to really implement significant groundwork changes, this is what the rakyat wants to see, not just great plans,” reminded Mah, with reference to public cynicism that 58% of the public agreeing with the view that “the federal government was good in planning but weak in implementation”.

According to Mah, Najib administration’s main challenge, therefore, will be on how to restore public faith in his administration’s determination and sincerity in pushing the reform, and one of the surest ways to do that is to ensure the super effective implementation of 10th MP.