“Had we not made the transformation …, we would be suffering today from great difficulties because of the sharp and sudden decline in oil prices which would have affected the government’s revenues,” said Najib, who is also Finance Minister, during a recent interview with Al Arabiya News Channel’s general manager Turki Aldakhil.
He was asked about Malaysia’s recipe for success since some countries describe it as a successful example of good governance and development.
He pointed out that one of the challenges Malaysia faced was being in the trap of the so-called middle-income countries.
“So, we needed a new economic model to get us out of this trap and enable us to become a country with a high income, fully developed with a developed economy,” he said.
Najib had then presented the country with the National Transformation Plan that included the ETP and Government Transformation Plan.
In addition, Najib said, the government decided to impose taxes on goods and services, namely the GST, as well as rationalising government support.
“These were necessary measures that were not very popular and we were faced with a lot of criticisms, but we stood our ground.
“Today, we see the results of the measures that we undertook a few years ago,” he said.
The ETP is managed by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), which was established in 2009.
Najib said Pemandu is a hybrid unit that combines the private and public sectors with a mission to ensure the implementation of the transformation plan.
He added that Pemandu had also visited some Gulf and African countries to share their expertise.