The Center for Market Education (CME) and Bait Al Amanah said there was no clear medium or long-term economic development strategy for Malaysia since the expiry of the 11th Malaysia Plan and Vision 2020 last year.

They said clear economic direction in previous years were key to thrusting Malaysia as a leading investment destination in the region, while development planning was central to guiding policymaking.

“With the new circumstances and challenges that Malaysia is facing, there is a need to steer the nation in the right direction with fresh ideas and new insights.

“All in all, we cannot allow another eight months of 2021 to go to waste,” they said in a joint statement today.

CME chief executive Carmelo Ferlito said several crucial steps needed to be taken to regain investor confidence, particularly with regional neighbours like Indonesia and Vietnam moving ahead.

“The key measures that need to be adopted include a tax reform, an investment attraction strategy, a direction on international borders and restructuring the labour market,” he said.

The think tanks said successive development plans have been central in growing the country and implementing socio-economic reforms ever since the Malayan Five-Year Plan was first introduced in 1955.

They said these have helped eradicate hardcore poverty, grown the middle class, diversified the economy and enabled Malaysia to attain an upper-middle income nation status.

They also said stimulus packages announced by the government such as Penjana were merely stopgap measures aimed at protecting jobs and income.

“Despite the helpful and timely initiatives announced, Malaysia still lacks a mainline economic narrative to instil confidence among businesses and investors on the future direction of the nation,” said Bait Al Amanah economist Benedict Weerasena.

Previously, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had said Parliament was allowed to reconvene during the emergency period until Aug 1.

However, de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan said the Cabinet would not advise the King to call for Parliament to sit.