Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) president Muhammad Faisal Abdul Aziz said economic liberalism could spur more creative ways to address socio-economic problems faced by the people.

“If we stick to our current structure, we fail to move forward and be more critical in finding better solutions for the future of Malaysians.

“A liberal economy is very important, at least for us to be more creative in finding practical solutions for bread-and-butter issues,” he said today in an Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) webinar on Malaysians’ perceptions towards liberalism.

However, Faisal stressed that a line must be drawn for certain economic policies, such as having a threshold when providing wage subsidies for the poor.

IDEAS CEO Tricia Yeoh agreed, saying a liberal economy, to a certain extent, meant more competition which would bring about better economic activities and outcomes.

“If the government can step in to make a decision for you at any time, then how free are you to exercise your own intellectual reason and the ability to make decisions?” she questioned.

Another panellist, Kangar MP Noor Amin Ahmad, said it was important to acknowledge that Malaysia had been struggling to break out from its status as an “upper-middle-income” country for a long time.

In order for it to successfully become a developed country, Noor Amin said Malaysia should move away from always having the government intervene in economic matters.

“We need to identify what can be considered ‘productive interventions’ from the government,” he said. “They need to play a role to support an open economic environment.”

Noor Amin, who chose to speak in a mix of Malay and English to appeal to a wider audience, noted that the conservative Malay-Muslim community often had negative views towards liberalism.

He said this was because most discussions on the concept of liberalism were conducted in English, adding that such debates must shift beyond the limited sphere of the elite.

Noor Amin called for further research on the public’s misunderstanding of liberalism, saying this would help think tanks find more effective ways to promote the ideology and its benefits.